Group pleas with FG to establish education bank

An appeal has gone to the Federal Government to established education bank that will grant loan facilities to the students and operators of the sector, as well as accelerate the development of the system. The President of Association for Formidable Educational Development (AFED), Mrs. Esther Ifejola made the appealed during the national congress of the association, which took place in Lagos. “We need the Federal Government backing and support to spread affordable education to the north and other parts of the country,” she said, adding that “such assistance could be rendered through the establishment of education bank through which proprietors of schools could borrow money for the provision of qualitative education to the less-privileged in the society.”

While insisting that the federal government should grant private schools tax exemption, Mrs. Ifejola stressed that such move would prevent the operators or school owners from discrimination and harassment from government agencies. The president, however, added that, it had become a growing concern for stakeholders in the education sector the levity with which the sector is being treated, even as she pointed out that some of our leaders were yet to realise that education is more than a luxury, but a responsibility that the society owes to citizenry. “The performance index of the nation’s education sector is currently not on the fair side despite efforts by the government and some private individuals,” Mrs. Ifejola lamented, saying further that the over 10 million primary school age children who are out of school in the country portends a great danger for the future of the nation.