Dean, Faculty of Arts, University of Ibadan, Professor Afeez Oladosu says for school proprietors to gain more respect, they should possess qualifications above their teachers.
Oladosu stated this at the formal opening of the annual Conference of Association of Model Islamic Schools, AMIS, Oyo State Chapter held at the Islamic Centre, University of Ibadan Central Mosque.
He said school proprietors from time to time should acquire more knowledge that would place them above their subjects as this would put them in a vantage position to effectively control their schools.
“Do we have what it takes to run school? We need to increase our capacity. As the headteacher, you must be better than your teachers, as the proprietor, you must be better than everybody in the school. You as a proprietor, you employ a Masters degree holder who knows you are an NCE holder, there will be crisis”.
He also called on associations of proprietors to put in place internal quality assurance mechanisms to ensure that certain standards are met before joining the association.
One of the award recipients and wife of the Deputy Governor of Oyo State, Professor Amudalat who also emphasized on regular updating of knowledge of school proprietors urged them not to compromise quality as such would affect the image of the school.
She enjoined parents to complement efforts of schools through regular payment as quality services required good money.
“To get quality education, parents must be ready to pay. There is nothing free even in Freetown”.
Oyo State Commissioner for Education, Science and Technology, Barrister Olasunkanmi Olaleye who was represented by Deputy Director in the Ministry, Alhaji Ibrahim Afeez said private schools should report cases of parents withdrawing their children after backlog of debts to public schools.
In an acceptance speech, the new chairman of AMIS, Oyo State Chapter, Alhaji Tohir Ahmad who called for the support of the members promised to take the Association to an enviable height.
The 3- day conference with the theme “Vision, Creativity and Transformation: moving our schools from good to great ” was attended by 465 delegates comprising of 349 school proprietors, 47 headteachers and 69 teachers.
Ridwan Fasasi.
