Slowly but steadily, the Nigerian public school system that began to deteriorate in the military era has continued along that line. This has attracted the attention of investors, including educationists, who have been coming in ostensibly to improve on standards. And, when the private sector gets involved in such business, with little or no government intervention, profit becomes the main focus. The tiers of government that used to keep an eye on standards in schools appear to have lost grip of their constitutional roles in the sector and today, Nigeria is not only battling with a falling standard of education, but with a dying public education system.

The effects of this can be seen in the number of out-of-school children in Nigeria, which is one of the global highest at more than 20million. Not only are the private schools out of the reach of most parents, the care that students get in some of these schools is below par. Many of them now operate at the whims and caprices of their proprietors. Most of the private schools operate below standards. Sadder is the fact that many of these schools operate largely unchecked and unsanctioned.

This, in fact, is why we are now having all manner of scandals, including rape, physical assaults and even deaths in some of the highbrow private schools, especially in Lagos and Abuja in the last few years. Governments have left undone so many things they ought to have done.

The most recent report of the death of 12-year-old Whitney Adeniran on February 9 during the Chrisland schools’ inter-house sports in Lagos has again added to the scandals recorded in the school in the last few years. The school has had one of its personnel sexually violate a minor. Mercifully, he has since been jailed. Last year, some students of the school were involved in a sex scandal during a trip to the United Arab Emirates.

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