…Hike in fees, other charges, books, school runs expenses pose new challenges
• Accuse govt of suffocating masses, mull enrolling children in cheaper, nearby schools
By Enyeribe Ejiogu, Agatha Emeadi (Lagos), Scholastica Onyeka (Makurdi), Tony John (Port Harcourt), George Onyejiuwa, Stanley Uzoaru (Owerri), Jude Dangwam (Jos), Geoffrey Anyanwu (Enugu), Abel Leonard (Lafia) and Emmanuel Adeyemi (Lokoja)
These are terrible times for parents across the country. They are indeed facing excruciating pain occasioned by the removal of fuel subsidy by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu on May 29, which has astronomically pushed up the pump price of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) otherwise known as petrol.
Consequently, the prices of goods and services in the country have also skyrocketed. Today, most parents whose children and wards are still in school are struggling to ensure that they will continue to be in school. They have the challenges of high cost of transportation for those of them going from their homes and feeding for those in the boarding schools.
Worst still, as the schools are closing for the long vacation, most of the school authorities are contemplating jacking up their fees to meet up with their operating cost while some in anticipation of the proposed new minimum wage, which they said would also affect the welfare of their teachers if they leave the fees as they are. Already, some of the schools are introducing sundry charges, which most of the parents said are alien to them.
In this report, Sunday Sun provides representative details of the plight of parents who have children in primary and secondary schools across the country.
BENUE
As they contemplate what the immediate future holds, Benue parents, like their counterparts in other parts of the country, are not smiling. The third term will end soon and within a short time, they would have to pay school fees for the first term of the new academic session. Worse still is that some of them still have arrears of school fees yet to be paid. They are worried that the schools their children attend will increase fees, to cover the additional operating costs attributed to the removal of subsidy on petrol.
Investigations by Sunday Sun showed that the anxiety of parents is not misplaced as most private schools in Makurdi intend to increase school fees at the beginning of the new session.
Barring a reasonable intervention by the Federal Government to cushion the effects of the harsh economy, their might be a rise in the number of out-of-school children in Benue and the country as a whole.
For Mrs Ruth Baaki, the deteriorating economic situation has been difficult to bear. It has not been easy paying fees and coping with the high transportation cost which she incurs in taking her children to school daily.
“The removal of subsidy increased the cost of living, especially transportation. This situation has become a huge problem and has affected payment of school fees. Most of the time, it takes me up to the end of the term to finish paying the fees because it’s not only one child that I’m paying for.
“You pay for transport, you pay school fees and there are other things which the schools require from parents. In the face of all these, the salaries of workers have not increased. Some are not even being paid. So, I want to appeal to schools to delay the increment of school fees for now because there is no money to pay.
“I also want to advise that schools should reduce the number of books they ask parents to buy. For instance, we have English textbook and English workbook, we have Mathematics textbook and workbook. It wasn’t like this in the past. It’s too much of a burden. What is the use of the exercise books parents are made to buy? When you check the workbook, two thirds of the pages would not be used. The whole workbook is discarded and cannot be used by the younger siblings. The school needs to review this practice, to enable parents cope,” Baaki said.
Another parent, Mrs Celina Iorver, commended the proprietor of her children’s school, saying the Parents Teachers Association (PTA) worked out an arrangement, which allows parents who cannot afford the fees at once to pay in instalments.
“With the understanding brokered by the PTA, we have been paying in bits because you cannot come out and pay the whole amount at once. We pay half and then pay the remaining part later. My fear is that in September there will be increment. I don’t know if we are going to change to a cheaper school where we can afford the fees.
“We have not got any official notice, but we are hearing they will increase fees. We are waiting. If I don’t get an increment in my salary it means I will have to return to a cheaper school because I will not be able to meet up with the school fees.
“The worst part is how to take the children to school. This morning I had to hand over my child to my neighbour to drop off in the school. I don’t know how we are going to be buying fuel to go to school and come back every day,” lover said.
As a matter of urgency, she advised the Federal Government to consider immediate increment of workers salaries, to enhance parents financial capacity.
She, however, expressed fears that moving children from one school to another would affect the quality of education that they receive. To prevent this, she begged the government to come to the aid of parents.
Another parent, Mrs Nancy Yila, a teacher, said that the situation of Benue teachers is pathetic as she is being owed salaries running up to 12 months.
“We have not been finding it easy here in Benue. The session is coming to an end and we are going into a new session which is usually the most expensive and we have not finished paying the old one.
“I have a child that is going into the secondary school for the first time, there is no money to pay fees. With the new administration, we expected that they will clear arrears and pay salaries, but that has not happened. Some of us have just collected June salary after November 2022 salary. So, it’s difficult,” she said.
Meanwhile, a school proprietor in Makurdi, Mrs Agatha Yanaga, has sympathized with parents over the economic situation in the country.
Yanaga said that their plan to increase the fees is not borne out of greed to make quick money, but to enable them pay salaries to their teachers that will reflect the current economic concerns and take some burdens off their workers.
According to her, school fees go beyond tuition fee, and includes all other materials needed for the children’s learning which are provided by their parents, especially books. In essence the general increments in the prices of goods affected the cost of books and other consumables.
“So, for that reason, there is surely going to be increment in school fees to cater for all of the recent price increments.”
While she noted that payment of school fees has been low in recent times following the subsidy removal, Mrs Yanaga said: “Most parents are complaining that they couldn’t pay because payment of salaries in the state is almost zero. Most parents have come to inquire about the new term fees and I told them there will be an increase. Most have expressed their fears, but I encouraged them and gave them reasons.
“Almost everything we use for our daily teachings have increased and we didn’t envisage this before now. I told them that despite the increment, God will make a way and their children will go to school.”
She said for parents who cannot pay at once, she has a system to allow them pay twice or three times to ease the burden on them.
Mrs Yanaga said that they increased school fees because they are also considering the teachers’ welfare.
“We pay the teachers from our tuition fee, but currently, we haven’t made increment to that effect. We want to give it a little time and see the turn of events. We heard there is going to be a review of the minimum wage and as soon as that is done, there will be increments in fees so we can upgrade the teachers salary to help them cater for their needs being that we are all operating in the same society, we can’t leave them behind,” she said.
RIVERS
Currently, in Rivers State, parents of school children are not talking about school fees. Rather, the greatest challenge confronting them is how to cope with the high cost of daily transportation to school. Though they said they would not object to an increment, if such decision is taken in the new academic session.
A parent, Mrs Margaret Nwokedi, who is a seamstress, lamented the excruciating hardship she and her family are passing through in the wake of the subsidy removal.
“The home is disorganized because it is very difficult to cope with the high cost of things. We have not recovered from the N520 per litre of fuel. On Tuesday, price of petrol rose to N617 per litre.
“I have three children; two are in secondary school, while the youngest is in primary. The problem my husband and I have now is how to transport them to school and bring them back. As for school fee, their school has not increased it. But, they have told us to expect increment from September. We know the school management will increase it, but they should not make it high,” Nwokedi pleaded.
Similarly, Mr Lucky Johnson, who provides commercial tricycle taxi service (Keke NAPEP) said that the school his four children are attending has not informed him about any increment, though he stated that he would not be surprised whenever the school takes the decision.
He said: “But the problem is, even if their school increases the fee, where will I get the money to pay for all of them? This Keke I am driving is not my own. Even if I take them to and bring them from school everyday, it is only when I have fuel that I can do so. I take every day the way I see it. I won’t kill myself.”
Also, Mr Emmanuel Ovundah, a civil servant, said that it is the good relationship he has with his children’s school management that he has been enjoying for several years, in terms of school fees payment.
Meanwhile, despite the steep increase in petrol price, some private secondary schools like Besona College, Greenfield Academy, Brainfield Academy and Wisdom Child are still accepting the old fees.
A teacher at Greenfield Academy, who did want his name mentioned, said that the school would definitely increase school fees, though it might not be high, but would be reasonably affordable.
IMO
Most of the private schools are yet to raise school fees because of the biting economic situation as parents are struggling to even pay the old fees of their wards.
Mr Chijioke Uzoechi, whose two wards are schooling at Oak Schools, one of the elite private schools in Owerri, the Imo State capital, said that before the subsidy removal parents already had an agreement with the management for payment of school fees in instalments.
“Two of my wards are schooling at the Oak Schools and the school fees for two of them is over 100,000 for a term and what we have worked out with the management is to be paying in instalments and that is what I have been doing. You should know that the majority of the parents are civil servants and, therefore, cannot pay at once because there are other things to do.
“My two wards no longer use the school bus. I drop them myself unlike before when the school bus would pick them in the morning and drop them when they close. This is just to cut cost. My wife now picks up the children when they close from school,” Uzoechi said.
Similarly, the Proprietor, Climor Nursery and Primary School in Owerri, Mrs Chinwe Ejika, disclosed that the current economic hardship in the country has adversely affected most private schools as they do not receive any sort of subventions or assistance from the government.
She siad that to retain their pupils they have decided not to burden their parents with high fees.
“This hard situation (economy) has affected us more as middle class private schools as we cannot compete with the bigger schools in the state, especially here in Owerri. So, as a result we have not increased our fees in order not to put more financial pressure on parents. So, we made a marginal increase which would be from the next session in September. But for now we are maintaining the old fees,” she said.
For Mrs Linda Igwe, school fees is one of the greatest challenges faced by her family at the present time. Last term, Mrs Igwe, who has four children in the same school, said that she paid N25,000 for each of her children only for the fee to be increased to N28, 000 in the third term.
Mrs Igwe said that she is not sure the fees would not increase again following the present high cost of living in the country. The mother of four said that she doubts whether she would be able to pay the high fees again.
“It is not easy paying these fees, bearing in mind their feeding and transportation to the school everyday. I think the Federal Government should please help us so that we can train our children in school. They can pay half while we pay the balance,” she suggested.
However, the proprietor of Save the Lost Primary School, Owerri, Mr Victor Nwachukwu, while attributing the reason for the increase to the cost of transportation and other basic needs, said: “You can’t expect us to be paying our staff the same amount we have been paying them, when there is an astronomical increase in food items and transportation.”
PLATEAU
Listen well and you will hear the deep groaning of parents in Plateau State, who are feeling the effect of the painful punch of the increase in petrol price, which forced other prices to shoot up.
A resident of Jos, Ladi Emmanuel, told Sunday Sun that it has not been easy for parents as the school bills of their children were raised to accommodate the increase in price of petrol. “As a parent, honestly, it has never been easy for us. We have been passing through challenges with the increase in fuel price. Even school runs have not been easy,” Emmanuel lamented, adding that “some schools have increased their levies. My daughter brought home the list of things with new charges from her school. I saw remarkable increase in some of the charges. For instance, the N7,000 levy we used to pay is now N30,000. And we woke up today (day of the interview) with another increase in pump price to N617. We don’t know what to do, some of us are going to park our cars and start trekking to our destinations.
“With this, how can we manage the home front and still meet the children’s school needs? That is why we are crying to the government to do something before it gets out of hand.”
Another parent, Mr Douglas Francis, on his part said that the consistent increase in the price of petrol makes it look like the government is “insensitive” to the plight of citizens.
His words: “Could you imagine that few days ago, the price of petrol per litre was N530 and today it is N617? Because of the increase in petrol price I decided to park my car and use commercial buses.
“As it is now, I’m even thinking of changing my children’s school from where they are to a nearby school so that I will be able to meet up because things are difficult. And how much is my salary, how do I cope? It seems government is insensitive to the plight of Nigerians. The president came with a message of renewed hope, I don’t know what I will term this now! But then government must do something.
“School is resuming in September and my children’s school is quite a distance because of the standard of the school. But with this situation, I don’t have any option. If I say I want to keep taking them to that school I might collapse. This is not only me oh. As the fuel increment is biting harder, some parents in the Parents Teachers Association are already saying they will withdraw their children and enrol them in nearby schools.”
He alleged that the educational system in Nigeria is so terrible that the owners and proprietors of schools are only interested in money.
His words: “The moment this fuel increment came, what they did was not to increase only the school fees per say, but also other charges. They have introduced new charges even though schools will be closing by next week. Now, they’re saying we should bring development levy, we should bring graduation levy, we should bring building levy, we should bring seat levy, they’re bringing all manner of levies that are alien to us.
“Today again, we woke up with another increment, a litre of fuel is N617, that means one gallon of fuel is almost N3,000 and where can it take you to? Maybe some of us that have cars with manual gear, when we take a sloppy road, we switch off the car and start it when we approach the hilly part.
“Just look at it, what is the transport situation? Before now, you would pay N150 from Dadin Kowa to Terminus. After the removal of subsidy, it rose to N300. With this fresh increase of N617, what will happen? That is why sometimes you see people trekking on the road. Their collapsing is not far fetched, given the situation we have found ourselves.”
Mr John Farinlola said that he has since adopted a measure that is working for him: “Whenever we leave the house, we only come back in the evening with my wife and the children. I had to put them in a school closer to my wife’s shop. She sometimes walks to the school and bring them to her shop. They will wait for me to close in the evening before we go home.”
Mrs Comfort David Akume, a parent, is concerned that she may not be able to visit her son in the school due to the cost of fuel price.
“My children are in boarding school. I’m not affected by the daily movement, but we are due for visiting day and that’s my headache now.
“I cannot afford to fuel my car with this price of N617 per litter. So, I’m looking for somebody and we can jointly fuel one car, to visit our children. This thing is not sustainable, government just has to do something about this fuel.”
The School Administrator of Graceville Christian School in Jos North, Mrs Adeloye Lucky, told Sunday Sun that the Nigerian government is suffocating the masses.
“The increase in this fuel price is affecting education already. As we are talking, Nigerian books which we used to buy at N1,200, now cost N2,000, some N2,500 for the same book because of the cost of transportation and you can’t blame them because they can’t sell at a loss either, they have to sell it at a profit,” Lucky said.
She noted that some parents on their own are beginning to think of how they can cope. “We have parents that come from as far as Du in Jos South to Graceville. They are thinking of how they can come together so that one parent can do the school run for one week and another parent will do the next week! Some are even thinking of withdrawing their children.
“Fuel is our lifewire in this country, it is something that when you touch in this country it will affect everything. Cost of food for children is sky-rocketing, and we don’t produce these things. As we speak, they have added money to fabrics for school uniforms again,” she disclosed.
She said that despite the fuel increment, the school has not increased either school fees or any charges yet. “But we are thinking of adding something small, no matter how small it is, because you have staff and they also need improved welfare package given the increment in prices, aside the running of the school itself. If government does not do anything, I tell you, most private schools will close.
“Our government should know that fuel affects everything, they should make things easy for the common man. People are suffering, I often come from ECWA Staff, the road is always empty this days. Sometimes Keke will carry only me through Polo down here, people are trekking. Our government should look into this, they should allow us to breath at least, they’re suffocating the masses,” she lamented.
The Principal of Junuco Private School, Jos, Mr Joshua Adeshino, affirmed that the school was not considering raising school fees for now.
He explained: “Rather, we want things to stabilize for the common good of everybody in the country. We ply the road and pay very high to come to the school and parents are also passing through the same thing. Some days, parents are unable to bring their children to school.
“The cost of food is very high, you have to feed your children before they come to school. Because of the cost of transporting food from the villages to town, we don’t have grains again.
“The way things are now, I think it is not advisable to increase school fees. We just pray that things will get better because the money is not even there, so I think for now it is advisable to maintain whatever it is so that people can get over this, maybe later if things improve we can also increase school fees.”
ENUGU
In Enugu, schools are still in session and any increase in school fees will be at the end of the term, to be effective from the next academic year, probably September.
Though some parents and proprietors believe there might be increment of school fees in the forthcoming next session, following the spate of increases in almost everything, more especially fuel price, none is sure now what the percentage will be.
A proprietor confided in Sunday Sun that some schools may increase fees, especially those that did not increase theirs recently.
He said: “Please don’t publish my name or that of my school, you know we are in competition with other schools. You can see that the cost of everything has sky-rocketed and it is affecting us seriously. See, the cost of fuel now is almost N700 per litre and you know the public energy is not always there. So, we run our generating sets most of the time. The school buses go on school run in the morning and after school every day. So, definitely, many schools will increase fees, but that will be after this session.
“Again, we are in competition, people will be waiting for others to do first before they know what to do, so that they do not increase themselves out of business.”
Another proprietor who runs a secondary school said: “We are really in a dilemma here because we increased our fees at the beginning of this academic session. We moved from about N35,000 to N56,500. With what is on ground now except things change, it will be very difficult for us to operate effectively with our present fees, but how again will you ask parents for another increase, you can see our dilemma.”
The civil servant said: “It is already extremely difficult to pay school fees now. To now imagine what will be the fate of my children if fees are increased. I don’t want to think about it and I pray it doesn’t happen.”
NASARAWA
Gorgeous Montessori School, located on Kwandere Road in Ombi 2, Lafia, is among several educational institutions in Nasarawa State facing a significant decline in payment of school fees. School proprietors and parents alike are expressing frustration over the prevailing harsh economic condition, which has left many families struggling to meet their financial obligations.
Mrs Oby Nwafor, proprietress of Gorgeous School, lamented the decline in payment of fees for the current academic session, stating that only 40 per cent of parents had so far paid their children’s fees.
She attributed the trend to the hardship faced by families, which has made it increasingly challenging to allocate funds for education.
“In comparison to the previous academic sessions, even though parents tried their best, we have observed a sharp decline in the number of parents paying school fees on time,” Nwafor said, adding that “parents have been citing the harsh economy as the primary reason for their inability to make timely payments.”
In response to the hike in petrol price, the schools also raised the fees paid for their buses, which convey pupils to school and back home.
Mrs Margaret John Leonard, a concerned parent, shared her experience, saying: “It has become increasingly difficult to transport our children to school due to the exorbitant fares charged by commercial motorcyclists, commonly known as bikes. Furthermore, the school bus fees have also sky-rocketed, making it a pressing issue for many parents.”
She is earnestly praying and asking God to intervene in the situation.
KOGI
In Kogi, the confluence state, the story is not different as residents like Hajia Risikatu Alabi, a petty trader at the Kpata market, is feeling the record level of heat related to the hike in transport fares.
For her, it has been difficult to pay the school fees of her three children, who are all in a local nursery/primary school, which increased the fees from ₦18,000 per pupil to ₦23,000.
She explained: “Oga, you can see that I am a petty trader. My husband is an Okada rider who has no motorcycle of his own. In fact, he delivers ₦2,000 everyday to the owner, buys petrol of between ₦2,500 and ₦3,000 everyday. We feed from the little that is left, after paying daily contribution of ₦500, which we use to pay school fees for the children.”
Also, Mrs Awwal Abdullahi, who sells garri in the same market complained bitterly over the high prices of everything, positing that the Tinubu administration should have retained the subsidy till December, to allow Nigerians prepare adequately for the hardship, stressing that things are getting worse everyday.
“My husband is a pensioner who is under percentage payment, collecting between ₦8,000 and ₦9,000 per month, and sometimes for two months nothing is paid. So, how do we survive and pay school fees of these children? It is terribly bad,” she said
Investigations by Sunday Sun revealed that most of the private schools in the state have decided to increase school fees, which will take effect from September this year.
The proprietor of Confluence Excellent Group of Schools, Mr Adewale, said that the management of the school has scheduled a meeting with the parents under the umbrella of PTA, where the issue of the proposed increase of the school fees would be comprehensively discussed.
According to him, the cost of running the school has been seriously aggravated by the removal of subsidy.
“This has drastically doubled the cost of fuelling and maintaining the school bus. This in effect makes the upward review of the school fees inevitable,” he said.