The federal government has agreed to pay private school teachers whose salaries have not been paid since the COVID-19 lockdown came into effect in March
The president of the National Association of Proprietors of Private Schools (NAPPS), Mr. Yomi Otubela disclosed this at a zoom conference yesterday.
He said the salaries would be paid from the N2.3 trillion stimulus package recently approved by the federal government to support businesses, including private education sub-sector.
However, Otubela clarified the point that only private schools under the umbrella of NAPPS will benefit from the federal government’s bailout.
On how the decision to bankroll the payment was arrived at, Otubela explained that the association sent a proposal to the Economic Sustainability Committee asking the government to pay the salaries of the private school owners.
He said the association intimated the federal government that “these teachers are teaching Nigerian children and they need to keep them and their families together during the lockdown.”
“Our justification for requesting palliatives from federal government was borne out of the fact that the abrupt closure of schools to protect the students in the country from the outbreak of the pandemic, unfortunately, brought a lot of untold hardship to private school owners who rely heavily on fees to meet up with obligations such as payment of salaries, operational costs and repayment of loans obtained from various financial institutions.
“The recent announcement of the approval of N2.3 trillion stimulus package to support businesses by the federal government with the inclusion of private schools is a welcome development to save private education sub-sector from imminent collapse.
“NAPPS, therefore, appreciates the government for the swift response to our request for support. We are hopeful that the government will soon release guidelines for private schools to benefit from this support. We are already talking to them to know the modalities for the disbursement,” he said.
He added: “We also requested for a single digit loan for private schools to cushion the effect of the COVID-19. We requested for support for schools that have existing loans; that the federal government should liaise on our behalf with the Central Bank of Nigeria CBN and CBN will liaise with commercial banks and other financial institutions to ensure that they give them soft landing in terms of moratorium to repay and deduction in the interest loan.”
He also appealed to the federal government to review its stand on the suspension of the West African Senior Secondary School Examination (WASSCE) and other public examinations for graduating students, saying the decision was not in the best interest of the country.
