Ministry of Education officials risk being denied entry into schools if they do not present their identification cards (I.D).
The Director-General, Office of Education Quality Assurance, Mrs Ronke Soyombo, who disclosed this at the 2015 third quarter Quality Assurance Stakeholders Forum for private school owners, held at the Adeyemi Bero Auditorium, Alausa, Ikeja, last Tuesday, said Quality Assurance officers must also sign visitors’ book when they visit.
She urged private schools to deny entry to officers without I.D.s.
Conversely, failure of school managers to ask for identification and present visitors’ books to the inspectors, would count against them in safeguarding rating.
Mrs Soyombo said safeguarding is taken very seriously as one of the quality assurance requirements.
“Don’t allow us in without signing in. If you do, your feedback for safeguarding will be poor. Never allow us in without asking for I.D. cards. We are not too big to be asked to show our I.D. cards,” she said.
In the new dispensation of Quality Assurance, Mrs Soyombo said all schools in Lagos State, would be expected to measure up to the minimum standards of ensuring that school children achieve learning outcome for numeracy and literacy.
Lamenting that many children in primary school had deficient foundation in reading, Mrs Soyombo said the deficiency constitutes a problem at the secondary level where many junior secondary school pupils have to be taught to read again from the scratch.
She noted that research has showed that in Lagos State, many pupils had good word recognition, but poor language comprehension.
To raise the profile of reading in pupils, Mrs Soyombo advised schools to set up reading corners in classrooms; encourage regular use of the school library; integrate read-aloud sessions into classroom activities; and pay attention to teaching of listening and speaking skills, among others.
She said: “Between ages zero to seven, let us not joke with literacy in our schools. We have a lot of children in secondary schools, who cannot read properly.
“Let students participate in a lot of oral reading sessions and use open-ended questions to encourage them to express themselves. Pay attention to the various learning styles so you can capture all the learners. Let us put a lot in our foundation so that children can read.”
Mrs Soyombo also urged schools in the top category to mentor upcoming schools and support public schools in their vicinity.
“This is the time for top schools to mentor other schools that are below standard. If you want to partner with us, come and partner with public schools in your domain. Please we need your support,” she said.
The forum provided a platform for the school owners to table issues bothering them before the government authorities.
Earlier in her speech, Lagos State Deputy Governor, Dr Idiat Adebule, described the private school owners as critical stakeholders in the education sector and assured them of being carried along when government formulates policies for the sector.
The next stakeholders’ forum holds December 5.
