Education
THE National Association of Proprietors of Private Schools (NAPPS) has called for the establishment of a central digital validation platform.
The National Secretary of NAPPS, Dr. Kayode Adeyemi made the call in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Tuesday in Ibadan.
He said the call became necessary due to the inability of schools to verify the authenticity of birth certificates and other admission documents presented by parents.
According to him, most schools currently rely solely on visual inspection of birth certificates because there is no database through which schools can authenticate the documents.
He said schools only reject documents where obvious signs of tampering were noticed.
Adeyemi said that for teaching and learning to be effective, learning ought to be based on the actual age of students.
“We actually do not verify them. Once you don’t see any forgery or alteration, you simply accept the document because there is no central record where schools can confirm authenticity,” he said.
Adeyemi said while cases of document manipulation were not widespread, some parents alter children’s ages, particularly when seeking admission into junior secondary school or transferring children between schools.
He said that some parents claim they had relocated and could not locate previous school records or other supporting documents pertaining to their children.
According to him, this makes it difficult for schools to establish the true identity and academic history of such pupils.
The NAPPS secretary said a digital verification system linked to birth registration records would significantly improve confidence in school admissions.
Adeyemi disclosed that Oyo State was developing a learner identification system expected to assign every pupil a unique learner identification number.
“This would enable schools access pupils’ educational records when they change schools, ” he said.
The NAPPS secretary, however, noted that the initiative was still under development and had yet to become operational.
Adeyemi also said that many private schools were gradually migrating from paper records to digital student management systems, although adoption remained uneven because of cost constraints.
(NAN)
W.U
July 7, 2026
Tags: Dr. Kayode Adeyemi