Benin city – Professor Michael Ogunu of the Department of Educational Administration, University of Benin has expressed the need for school administrators and teachers to be knowledgeable on the fundamentals of Education law in order to be able to operate their schools effectively.
Professor Ogunu stated this at a one day seminar organized for catholic school Principals’ Headmasters’ and Teachers’ in the Benin Archdiocese by the catholic Education Commission.
He also reminded the school administration and teachers that gone are the days when majority of students in schools come largely from homes of non-literate parents who had little or no knowledge of their legal rights.
According to him, with more education, and greater consciousness of their legal rights and responsibilities, parents are now showing greater interests in what happens to their children and wards in schools.
“The implication of this happy development is that school administrators and teachers should strive to understand better the legal implications of the way they treat their students and demonstrate greater respect for their fundamental right realizing that any infringement of these rights could result in court action.”
The chairman of the Catholic Education Commission, Very Rev. Fr. Isaac Ebeigbe, said the seminar was to enhance education in schools by teaching school heads on the importance of observing the right and functions of their teachers and students and understanding the legal basis of school operation so that the rights of students and teachers cannot be violated.
Rev. Fr. Ebeigbe added that it was against education law for students to be sent home because of default in paying their fees.
He said that on Catholic Schools in the Benin Archdiocese, many of the students fees are subsidized while many that could not pay the fees are given scholarship.