Grandiose Parlor

Piggy backing on the earlier post- the privately founded Eton-like African Academy, “a new research shows that even in the poorest parts of the world, such as Lagos shanty-towns or rural areas in Ghana, some 70% of people prefer to pay for private education, rather than accept sub-standard state schools”, according to the BBC.

Based on my experience in Nigeria, private schools started emerging in some regions of sub-Sahara Africa about two decades ago, and are becoming nationally prominent in many West African nations. My guess is that about a quarter of elementary (primary) students in urban cities in Nigeria attends private schools. And an increasingly higher proportion of students will find their ways into private colleges and universities over the next decade.

But as bad as public schools are, how sustainable is this new education model?

My high school Alma Mater, a public school, marked its Golden Jubilee last year, would many of these privately funded schools stay long enough to mark their tenth anniversaries?

I have a sibling who is a federal education inspector, so I know federally funded schools in Nigeria are routinely evaluated, but this may not be case with schools on the more local level. Are these schools being regulated, at all?

These and many others will determine the future of main of the private schools dotting the urban landscapes of Nigeria and others part of the continent. And I can only hope that the success and prominence of the privately funded schools do not lead to government’s diversion of funds from the public school systems.