Parents across Nigeria are facing a new term of steeper bills as private schools raise tuition by 30% to 40%, with rising fuel prices and transport costs adding to the strain.
A private secondary school in Ipaja, Lagos, increased its tuition from N86,000 to N124,000 per term. Another school in Egbeda raised fees from N250,000 to N320,000 per term.
The new term started September 14 for Federal Unity Colleges, the government confirmed, but private school families are absorbing increases that hit before the first day of class.
Parents are also paying more to get children to school. The recent petrol price hike has pushed up transport costs, and some school owners are reviewing bus charges after sending bills in July, before the latest fuel adjustment.
A school in Alagbado, Lagos, stopped its bus service completely. Parents there must now drive their children or use the school's hostel.
John Aderiye, a parent, said driving his son to school no longer makes financial sense.
"I have decided to save my self needless stress by contracting a tricyclist in my neighbourhood to take my son to and from school. What I will be spending on that monthly is a fragment of what I would have spent on fuelling my car to do so," he said.
School owners say the increases reflect the cost of running a school, not profit. Otunba Yusuf Alaka, president of the Lagos chapter of the National Association of Proprietors of Private Schools, said the rise could have been larger.
"In fact, the increase ought to be higher than that if the cost of living would be taken into consideration in full force. The increase being complained about, that is 40 per cent, is small if we are to go the whole hog," he said.
Alaka pointed to unpaid fees, rising teacher salaries, rent, taxes and maintenance costs. He said many schools carry millions of naira in unpaid fees from parents who move children to other schools at the end of a term.
"If you look at a school and you see say 300 students, ask the owner how many students have fully paid their fees at the end of the term. That is apart from the operational cost that keeps increasing daily. We also have different levies and taxes to pay various tiers of government," he said.
Teacher pay is a major factor. "In some parts of Lagos now, you can't pay a teacher less than N150,000 monthly. If you have your own permanent site for a school, have you considered the cost of renting a place?!" he said.
The National Parent Teacher Association of Nigeria acknowledged that many families are struggling. Chief Deolu Ogunbanjo, chairman of its board of trustees, appealed to school owners to cut the size of the increase.
"School owners have increased fees by between 30 and 40 per cent and many parents are finding it difficult to cope because of the economic situation in the country," he said.
He asked owners to cap increases at 20%.
"Yes, we all know what the situation is nationwide, but we plead with them to reduce their fees. It should not be more than 20 per cent increase. Most of the parents and guardians that are going to pay don't enjoy salary or income increment, most are not civil servants and even what is the level of the salary increment that civil servants enjoy," he said.
He advised parents not to stretch beyond their means. "Private schools have levels, you don't have to put your children in the very expensive ones."
The Nigeria Union of Teachers urged parents not to let financial hardship stop their children's education. Hassan Akintoye, chairman of the Lagos council of the union, said education remains the best investment for children.
Parents with children in public schools face costs too. In Lagos, those who cannot provide tax clearance certificates through formal employment now pay a N20,100 levy, up from N10,100.
According to Pulse.ng.
