President, National Association of Proprietors Private of Schools, Lagos State chapter, Chief Alakayusuf L. O., has disclosed that the NAPPS Day celebration slated for Saturday, October 12, would provide private school stakeholders the opportunity to honour individuals and teachers as part of the success story of NAPPS over the years.
Alakayusuf, who is also the proprietor of Malizzay Private Schools, Ajah, said the NAPPS Day would celebrate 2500 teachers and over 2000 school owners for their remarkable contributions from private school platform in strengthening education in Nigeria.
The NAPPS President said “And coming Saturday we will be doing what we call the NAPPS Day, where we would be celebrating 2500 teachers and over 2000 school owners at Agege Stadium. Sir Shina Peters is the musician for the day.”
He added that “We want to encourage all school owners and teachers to continue doing the work. We are working to encourage them not to be perturbed by the multi-taxing that are coming from various angles.”
Stating the achievements of the association under his leadership, the President of NAPPS in Lagos State said “We stand for the welfare of all school owners. And from that point we move to achieve the best for us to unite, we defend their rights in term of advocating, we engage the government.
“There are lots of things that are going on in government, that government have come to recognize that we are doing what they have not been able to meet up. If you look at the whole nation, private schools is 80% more than public schools.
“We are there to ensure that no child is left behind in quality education. And the Lagos State Government sees us as partners in progress, and they engage us in most of their activities. They see us as major stakeholders and they don’t leave us behind. So we help pioneer that aspect,” he said.
Alakayusuf also noted that the association established a microfinance bank to provide soft loans for school owners to meet their financial responsibilities.
According to him, “There are situations that some schools could not function optimally due to paucity of fund, so we established NAPPS Microfinance. This will help our members, so that during the holidays they can get small loan to provide some things in the house that will help them to improve.
“We are also involved in providing training for members, we train teachers, we train school owners, we do various scientific exposure for our students.
“We are also working on the mental health of school owners to make sure that they live above the gun. And we will be doing international training that is sponsored next year. The president of Zimbabwe has recognized us and will be giving us awards in Zimbabwe.”
On why payment in private schools is deemed smaller compared to the public schools, the President said “Concerning teachers remuneration, it depends on what you call teachers take-home pay. What we drive in NAPPS is satisfaction of teachers. It is not money. You cannot tell me that it your salary that you are taking in the Nigeria of nowadays that is taking you home.
“Under NAPPS, remuneration for teachers is not just salary. Teachers have monthly salary, teachers have other money that they collect, and teachers have reduced school fees for their children in that particular school. And sometimes, teachers also collect token gift from their school management. From there you can see, all things been equal the benefit of teachers is more than the salary.”
When asked by completelagos.com.ng why some private schools do not pay their staff while on holidays, he said “On why some schools don’t pay teachers while schools are on vacation, that is why we establish the microfinance loan. The loan will take care of that, if only that school is under NAPPS.”
He disclosed the criteria a private school owner would meet to be a member of NAPPS, “You must be a school owner. Your school must have adequate infrastructure that you can use to teach children. You must have the required teachers. And you must have the required space to train the students. Learning must be taking place in your school.”
