Kwara State government has set aside a sum of N135,500,000 under the Kwara State Social Investment Programme (KWASSIP) as interest-free loan to 1,119 private school owners across the state, according to a statement by Rafiu Ajakaye, Chief Press Secretary to the Governor.
Ajakaye quoted Mohammed Brimah, Anchor of KWASSIP as saying: “KWASSIP has engaged with the National Association of Proprietors of Private Schools (NAPPS) in Kwara State after they reached out for assistance to cushion the effects of school closure arising from the COVID-19 pandemic.”
He wrote that the 1,119 private schools have been grouped into two, each category receiving between N200,000 and N100,000 depending on their staff strength.
“Under the arrangement, category A schools — which totalled 236 and have 20 staff and above — will each receive N200,000 to support their workers.
“Category B schools, with 19 or less staff and totalling 883 schools, are to receive N100,000 each under the arrangement that is purely voluntary.”
This gesture is a fulfilment of the pledge earlier made by the state government to the umbrella bodies of private schools to offer interest-free loan to the owners as salary support for their workers to prevent massive loss of job and poverty surge in the education sub-sector.
The Chief Press Secretary said Governor AbdulRazaq would not be blind to the plight of any Kwaran, including proprietors and workers across private schools in the state who he acknowledged had been hard hit by the COVID-19 pandemic due to the closure of schools and some other businesses for months.