NEWS HEADLINES Kwara ready to return mission schools to owners —Ahmed ) Kwara State government has said that it is ready to return missionary schools to the owners as being demanded by churches and Christian denominations. Speaking with journalists in Ilorin on Wednesday against the backdrop of peaceful protest by some Christians who demonstrated in the streets of Ilorin for return of their schools to them, Governor Abdulfatah Ahmed said that the state government had reached out to the state’s House of Assembly to seek repeal of 2006 Education Law which would give the government power to return the schools to their owners. The Christians’ protest coincided with resumption of schools in the state on Monday, after a prolonged holiday caused by outbreak of Ebola Virus Disease. The chairman of Ilorin District of Christ Apostolic Church, Pastor Peter Ogunwale, had told journalists during the protest that the schools were being grant-aided by the state government since 2006, a development which he said had conferred ownership status on the government, and which the churches are rejecting. However, Governor Ahmed said that government would be contravening the law to return the schools without the law being passed, adding that the process of returning the schools to the owners had started. “There are two types of schools; the first one is government-owned and the second one is privately owned but government-grant aided. The government-owned are straight-jacketed; the grant aided ones have been entered into agreement with the government under Kwara State Education Law on how grant-aided schools are supposed to be run. “Once you build a school either a faith-based, community-based, individuals or groups and you desire to seek for grant aiding by government, then you would be run under Kwara State Education Law on grant aiding of schools. And those schools give the proprietors limited power and give government limited power. This is how schools have been run so far. “As a matter of fact, it is premised on this that government says, ‘ok, since there are desires by certain individuals and groups to take back their schools, government is also willing to give back their schools to them. However, the enabling law that is making them run under the current grant-aiding process has to be taken back to the House of Assembly for repeal or replacement with a new law that will enable government give back the schools to them. And today, the law is already in the House of Assembly, they would soon call for public hearing. So, I don’t understand what the grouse is all about.”
Posted on: Thu, 16 Oct 2014 09:53:42 +0000
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