The Kano State government has vowed to bring sanity to the education system by prosecuting private school owners whose learning facilities violate required standards.
This comes over a month after declaring a state of emergency to address critical challenges in the sector.
A delegation from the Kano State Private and Voluntary Institutions Board (KSPVIB) conducted an unscheduled inspection of three private schools on Friday, monitored by newsmen.
The team visited Matasa Senior Arabic Secondary School, Naibawa; Best Alternative Comprehensive College, Sheka; and Ibn Masud Science College, Kabuga.
The inspection revealed deplorable learning conditions, including cracked decking, stinking toilets, broken roofs, lack of electricity connection, and unkempt classrooms.
Despite these conditions, students in the affected schools sat for the Kano Educational Resource Department (KERD) Internal exams and the National Examination Council (NECO) exams, which concluded on Friday 26 July 2024.
Sa'adu Abdulkadir Sheka, the Best Alternative Comprehensive College proprietor, claimed that KERD and NECO officials inspected his school and approved the conduct of the exams despite the condition.
However, the school's decking was supported by wood, and the building where students wrote exams was faulty.
The Executive Secretary of the KSPVIB, Baba Abubakar Umar, threatened to take legal action considering the health and environmental risks posed by the schools.
He highlighted recent building collapses in Jos, Lagos, and Abuja, emphasizing the need to reign in erring private school owners to forestall danger.
Umar noted that arrangements have been made to synergize with the State's Ministry of Justice and Anti-Corruption agency to clamp down on schools violating the Private School Act.
According to him, "The schools you visited are part of those who have refused to revalidate themselves. We as an institution of government will do our best to bring them to order."
When contacted, the spokesperson for the Kano State Urban Planning and Development Authority (KANUPDA), Bahijja Kabara, demanded the details of the affected schools for a follow-up.
