The proprietor of Mercy Seat Royal School and Mercy Seat Royal College, Mr. Anthony Ologho Igili, has admonished the various governments to bring education closer to the people, to reduce the number of out-of-school children. He said the government should build more schools, create a friendly environment, and provide other incentives, such as daily lunch, accessories, computers, and other gadgets for school children, to increase the number of children in schools and reduce the rate of dropout from schools.The proprietor, who owns a group of schools at Ejio in Arigbajo axis of Ewekoro Local Government Area of Ogun State, took time to analyse some of the challenges being faced by private school owners. He identified finance as one of those challenges. “You need to employ qualified and dedicated staff, and take good care of them, even if you are not getting enough money from the school. This requires a lot of money.”He classified the other financial challenges as ‘developmental.’ These include the provision of infrastructure like adequate classrooms, laboratories, libraries, IT gadgets and software, vehicles and, sometimes, hostel and staff quarter. Others include rent, government approval for the various levels of education, annual renewal fees, taxes, and other statutory levies, which have forced many good-intentioned people out of school business. “He said, “Getting some parents to respond promptly to school fees payment is another issues being faced by private school owners, especially after the wave of COVID 19, which had led to loss of jobs for many breadwinners.” Igili advised parents to take the training and development of their children as their major priority. “Property and estate acquired will loose their values overtime, but the children well-groomed with the right values will forever be a renewed asset to their parents and society,” he said.
