ERC CALLS ON OBI TO REVERSE THE POLICY OF HANDING OVER PUBLIC SCHOOLS TO CHURCHES
Education Rights Campaign (ERC)
November 25, 2011
Press Statement
ERC CALLS ON OBI TO REVERSE THE POLICY OF HANDING OVER PUBLIC SCHOOLS TO CHURCHES
FOR ADEQUATE PUBLIC FUNDING AND DEMOCRATIC CONTROL BY THE WORKING PEOPLE
Education Rights Campaign (ERC) condemns the handing over of public schools to churches by the Governor Peter Obi-led government of Anambra state.
Governor Obi recently handed over 1,040 public primary schools to churches and equally gave them N6 billion, purportedly for maintenance of the schools. It is appalling that the state government which had hitherto refused to adequately fund education which account for the poor state of the schools could afford to illegally release a whopping sum of N6 billion to private bodies. This huge sum would have been put to far better use if managed publicly and democratically.
It should be recalled that the missionaries and other private owners had been compensated when the schools were initially taken over from them by the government. In other words, the action of Peter Obi is simply the transfer of the public assets to private organizations not only free of charge but also with outrageous donation of princely public funds for private interest. As it has been already the case with schools and universities established by churches in the last few years; it is clear that the new owners will charge outrageous fees that will price the schools out of the reach of the children from poor background.
According to Governor Obi, “The collapse of education in Anambra State is directly connected with the takeover of schools owned by the missionaries, churches and voluntary organizations in 1970. That singular exercise signaled the disappearance of morality and the building of character from our school system. This can no longer be allowed to continue.”
This is a fallacious argument geared towards justifying the abandonment of primary responsibility of the Obi government and to equally sustain cuts in public spending. Besides, it is a fact that a sizeable number of the leaders, both civilian and military, who have brazenly stolen the wealth of the society and ruined the economy since independence and thereby deprived majority of populace a decent life attended the so-called missionary schools– both Christian and Islamic– with all the fabled morals in their curricula.
It should be also recalled that the Bola Tinubu administration of Lagos in 2001 returned public schools to missionaries with a similar argument: “the return of schools to missionaries would ensure proper maintenance of schools.” 10 years down the lane, most of the schools returned by the Tinubu-led government have not recorded any significant improvement in terms of facilities and teaching. What have obtained are introduction of high fees and the sales of some portions of the landed property. As a result of high fees, fewer pupils now attend the same schools. This is also the experience in other states where similar anti-poor policies were introduced, and Anambra is not going to be different. Hence, the handover is going to worsen the present appalling state of education in Anambra state.
We hold that what is responsible for the collapse of education is not the takeover of schools owned by missionaries but the neglect and underfunding of education at all levels by successive governments in line with anti-poor neo-liberal capitalist policies of privatization, commercialization and cuts in public spending.
The ERC calls on the Anambra state government to reverse this policy and adequately invest in the funding of education alongside democratic management of the schools with involvement of elected education workers and communities representatives. We also call on the Nigeria Union of Teachers (NUT), parents and students to reject the transfer of the public school and begin mass actions aimed towards keeping these schools public and for adequate funding of education that will guarantee meaningful learning for all.