The Kwara State Government has issued a serious warning to proprietors of coaching centres across the state to immediately stop the poaching of students from various schools under the pretext of preparing them for the Senior Secondary Certificate Examination, SSCE, or face the full wrath of the law.
The Executive Director of the Agency for Mass Education, Malam Saka Yusuf, issued the warning during a meeting with executive members of the Association of Private Coaching Centres of Nigeria, ASSOPCON, held in his office in Ilorin.
Malam Yusuf expressed displeasure that, despite sensitisation and advocacy efforts by the agency, many coaching centres still failed to comply with regulations, thereby poaching students, particularly from Junior Secondary School 3, JSS 3, Senior Secondary 1, SS1, and Senior Secondary 2, SS2, which could ultimately derail or jeopardise their future.
He warned perpetrators of such acts to desist immediately or face the dire consequences of their actions.
He said: “Henceforth, coaching centres should not take students from schools and register them as conventional students. The act is totally at odds with the provisions of the education ordinance in the state.
“Proprietors are therefore charged with working towards complementing the government’s efforts to improve the education standards in Kwara State.”
In his response, the President of ASSOPCON and proprietor of Lumex Tutors, Mr Olumide Agboola, supported the state government’s stance on sanctioning those found guilty of the act. He added that coaching centres caught engaging in such malpractice should be dealt with according to the dictates of the law.
Also commenting, the proprietor of Gama Tutors, Mr Thomas Adebiyi, assured the government that all coaching centres would immediately comply with its directives on the issue. He pledged that they would desist from such practices and adhere to the rules and regulations guiding the association.