PARENTS in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja, have lamented the new hike in school fees by government-owned schools and a few private schools.
The parents opened up in interviews with Nigerian media, News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), in Abuja on Friday.
While citing the hardship brought upon parents and school proprietors by the fuel subsidy removal, they called on the government to put in place measures to cushion this burden.
One of the parents, Mr Rotimi Lawrence, a civil servant, revealed that he has now withdrawn his son from school due to the fee hike.
“It is heart-breaking to note that private schools are increasing school fees but we understand with them. Government schools which should be a succour to parents also increased theirs.
“We are aggravated with an already dire economic situation of the removal of petroleum subsidy and schools are compounding the problems by increasing fees which we can’t cope with.
“For me not to allow this problem to continue, I had to withdraw my daughter from school when I heard that government schools had increased fees to N100,000, this is apart from other payments for new students,” Lawrence said.
Another parent, Lizzy Ogbu, prayed the government intervene in the issue so less privileged kids are not denied access to education.
She said, “we can’t bear the cost of sending our children to good schools. Most parents want quality education for their children but the fee hike is preventing this.
“I have to withdraw my child from the school because of the increase in school buses by 100 per cent.
“I know that I will not be able to sustain the payment of the school bus; hence I withdrew my child to a nearby school where he can trek to and from school, not minding the quality of teaching.
“I want the best education for my child, but it’s becoming increasingly unaffordable. These rising costs of textbooks and other costs are pushing us to our limits.
“We know that education is a fundamental right, but it is disheartening to see it becoming a luxury for many. We plead with those in authority to take this seriously.”
AfriqueCan gathered that the Federal Government had promised to set up a formal negotiation team between the Parent Teacher Association (PTA) and relevant stakeholders to in an effort to address the hike in school fees.
The Minister of State for Education, Dr Yusuf Sununu, warned that schools could come under attack if the issue is not tackled.
“So many areas that require finances are being attacked but we must also look at the constitutional provisions. The constitutional provisions expressly states that free education but with caveat ‘when government can afford’ and that is why it also comes as voluntary contributions by all stakeholders.
“So we are going to encourage formal negotiations, where we cannot provide PTA and relevant institutions so that we can agree to a term that is acceptable to all of us.
“Also, we will encourage a lot of partnerships as part of areas that can bring peace. Whether we agree or not, we must appreciate the role of PTAs in sustaining services in lots of our schools at both local and federal level.
“So, while we do that with scarce resources, at the ministry level, we try to see how we can block leakages and see how more funds can be available to schools to ensure that quality education is affordable, acceptable to every Nigerian without decreasing the quality of education,” the Minister stated while speaking at a forum recently.