Parents Mobilise Protest Over King’s College Concession, Raising Concerns About Students’ Education
Parents and other stakeholders at King’s College, Lagos, are rallying behind a mass protest against the Federal Government’s move to come up with a concession agreement for the 116-year old public secondary school to King’s College Old Boys’ Association (KCOBA).
The planned protest is in response to increasing concerns over the impact of the new arrangement on students, governance of the school, and access to quality public education.
The Chairman of the Parent-Teacher Association, Peter Oluwaseye, told Vanguard that the concession was not in line with the wishes of parents and other stakeholders who decried the possibility of devolution of King’s College from public to private hands by the former students.
Oluwaseye said that parents were not interested in the move and some senior civil servants were opposed to it as well.
Earlier, KCOBA President Kashim Ibrahim-Imam had announced that he would be taking over the management of the college under a concession deal. The association has also established a N100 billion endowment fund which will support infrastructure, teacher development, digital learning, scholarships, research and students’ welfare.
Ibrahim-Imam said the deal is not a privatisation or selling of the school. He said it was a new governance system which will allow the old boys to cooperate with the government to modernise and sustain the institution.
The controversy underscores the importance of keeping the interest of the student at the heart of issues that impact public schools, from a child protection and development point of view. All governance arrangements should ensure that children’s rights to safe, inclusive and quality education are protected and that meaningful opportunities are created for children and their families to be heard.
