The 2018/2019 academic session kicked off on Monday with a gloomy weather. The weather seemed to reflect the state of the pockets of parents many of who lamented the high cost of getting their children back in school. Kofoworola Belo-Osagie, Adegunle Olugbamila, Jane Chijioke, Oluwatobi Junaid, Florence Udoh, and Barakat Quadri report.
A new school year began on Monday bringing with it mixed feelings for
parents. Though many were relieved that the holiday was over, others lamented the high cost of getting their children back to school.They have to contend with fee increment, high cost of books, change of uniforms, and others.
Some said they were prepared for all these, others stated that poor state of the economy made nonsense of their preparations.
Mrs Oluwatoyin Fatokun is in the camp many parents would love to be. She said she was well prepared for the resumption of the 2018/2019 academic session.
“I don’t think it is something stressful because it is a normal thing that is supposed to happen as long as you have children. I don’t like impromptu preparation so I like to prepare in advance so that it does not meet me unawares,” she said.
But the same cannot be said of Mr Adeniran, a father of three who sells electrical fittings in Igando area of Lagos. He outrightly declared that he did not look forward to the resumption period.
“I only live based on my income so I do not send my children to expensive schools. But even at that I have gone to source for loans to meet up with my children’s needs and their school requirements,” said Adeniran, who wished all school fees paying period could be fast forwarded.
Things used to be better for Mr Ajala Ilori. He said he used to be able to meet all the expenses for his son who has been attending the Command Secondary School, Ijebu-Ode in the past four years. But this session is different. He could not pay the boarding fees of N50,000 and had to beg for time.
“Things are pretty hard these days,” Ilori lamented. Since my son enrolled here, I had never failed to meet up with all his expenses. But, for the first time, even though their fees are very modest, I managed to pay the school fees, PTA, and books, except the N50,000 hostel fee. Unfortunately, their hostel is private sector-driven, so I had to go cap-in-hand to the managers of the hostel and signed an undertaking with them to pay the money before December.”
A single parent in Ikorodu, Ms. Onome Obiageli, could not enrol her nearly two-year-old son James, as earlier planned, because the school refused 50 per cent payment of his fees. This is despite his two older siblings attending the same school.
“It has been my desire before the long vacation started to enrol him this new session. Along the line, I realised I had to prepare for his two older siblings who are also resuming, and that affected me a lot financially as a single parent.
“However, since I had a good rapport with the school, I thought they would consider me paying half tuition but the school rejected my appeal. So, I have decided that James remains at home with me until I have the ability to meet his expenses. I do not want to gamble only for me to end up embarrassing myself if I cannot pay the other half of his fees,” she said.
Another parent, Mr Azeez Olaosebikan, who lives in Ojo area of Lagos, said he pays fees in halves. He added that this session, he could not afford to buy the complete books on the list for his wards.
“Before, I ensured I paid the tuition for my two kids in secondary school, one in SSI and the other in JSS 3. But I have not been doing that since the beginning of last session. I usually pay half at the beginning of each term and the rest before the school goes on midterm.”
“My wife has also insisted we pay for only Maths and English textbooks. She would buy the rest in the market so as to save cost. Before, the school would not allow students use books other than the ones they supply; but now, they hardly worry us parents because many could not even afford to buy books at all, let alone buy from the market. Schools also know things are bad and they have to tolerate us,” he said.
Some other families now split the cost between both parents to make school fees affordable.
Mrs Funmi Odeji, a business woman, who resides in Magboro, Ogun State said after splitting the fees for their four children with her husband, her share of the bill came to N700,000.
“The list for provisions for my first son that is in boarding school is just too much. I have almost N700,000 to contribute in preparation for the resumption; my husband will pay the rest,” she said.
Mrs Blessing Iselobhor, a resident of Ajao Estate, said she and her husband had to sacrifice to be able to pay fees.
“Since last month it has been preparation all the way. In fact, there are some things my husband and I had to forgo just to ensure that we get the school fees payment off our neck. One of my children in LASU resumed last month; that alone consumed much from me. Now the other two would take roughly N120,000 with other miscellaneous not inclusive,” she said.
With the challenges paying fees, some parents said they could not even contemplate changing schools as it would cost even more.
Mrs Peace Ogi, a business woman, said the cost deterred her from changing schools.
She said: “I am not changing my children’s school because when I think of the money for registration and other things in the new school, I am not ready for that.”
Mrs Rasheedat Quadri, a trader on Lagos Island, also said getting her children to change school was too stressful and money consuming for her.
But many of the school owners said they did not increase fees this year.Those that said they did claimed the increment was minimal.
The Proprietor, Precious Scholars’ Schools, Ajegunle, Ogun State, Mr Iboro Monday, said fees were not increased because of consideration of the high cost burden on parents at the start of a new session.
“The school has the system of not increasing school fees in first term as we consider our parents. They will be faced with many challenges like buying of books, bags, lunch box and the rest, and it will be proper not to increase the school fees as it might become an additional burden to them or they might end up withdrawing their children,” he said.
The Proprietor, Al-Islamdeen Private School, Evans Street, Lagos Island, simply called Mr Sulaimon, said except for books, there was no fee increment in his school.
“There is no increment in the school fees but there is in the textbook fee because the amount we are getting the books is increasing every time,” he said.
He added that school owners were not also finding it easy running schools because of the economy.
“Preparing the school for resumption is not an easy task and it requires the collaboration of both the teachers and the parents. We are facing challenges from the parents because most of them are not financially buoyant and they want the best for their children. Most of the teachers don’t want to work but want to get money. It takes a lot of willpower from me to put the right notion in their heads. Government is demanding a lot from us and not trying in any way to help us the way they help Public schools,” he said.
Mrs Grace Majekodunmi, Head Teacher of Excel Land Private School, Ajao Estate, said the two per cent increment on fees in her school covered improvement costs.
“Yes, there is about two per cent increase in the school fees. As part of our strategic plan to always upgrade ourselves, we are starting this term with a new uniform and also bought some computers for ICT classes. It is all about branding and improvement. The school fee was initially N17,500 but it is now N23,500,” she said.
Head Teacher of Little Eagles Montessori, Mafoluku, Oshodi, Mrs Shade Williams, said the school invested in an upgrade despite not increasing fees.
“We did some renovations in the school like repainting, added some furniture and basic educational tools but still the school fee remains the same. If there would be an increase, we would have conveyed it to parents before we vacated last term,” she said.