By Vivian Onyebukwa And Vera Wisdom-Bassey
Most schools in Nigeria, especially private ones are rounding off studies for the third term of the 2021/2022 academic session. And for many of them, parents are expected to pay up their wards’ school fees ahead of resumption for next academic session if they truly want them to continue with the school.
Saturday Sun findings, however, have shown that some parents, who are unable to meet up with the payment, sometimes withdraw their children from their previous schools in order not to pay such fees again. This practice is fast becoming the order of the day in many places. Almost every school owner interviewed admitted to the existence of such sharp practice which they attributed to the economic crisis in the country. Also, circumstances such as unemployment can make a parent to look for such short cuts.
Why practice exists
The ordeals of Ike Ezenwa who lives in Ijesha, Surulere, Lagos would throw some light on why there exists such phenomenon. He said: “I had two young wards who were about to sit for their West African Secondary School Certificate Examinations (WASSCE) at the same time. One was my son, and the other, my sister-in-law staying with us. At the beginning of the first term, the school authorities calculated their fees from first to the third terms, including their graduation fees. They amounted to N149, 500 for each child. So when you calculate the total for the two, it gives you N299, 000. It was a whole lot of money, and I was not financially buoyant at that moment. Now, school lesson or fees for extramural classes were not included. So it was difficult for me. To be honest with you, I contemplated taking them to another school to register them for the WASSCE, without them attending normal school classes to make it easier for me. I tried to negotiate with the school proprietress, promising to pay by instalments. But she refused, probably because of their previous experience with people. To me, this is one of the reasons parents cut corners. My question is, how can you insist on collecting third term school fees from graduating students when you know quite well that they won’t do third term after their WASSCE?” Ezenwa informed that he was able to pay the required fees after borrowing from his business partner.
But Abiola Adesanya, a businesswoman had no alternative than to move her daughter from her previous school to another where she registered for WASSCE only. She made her attend the school’s extramural classes only, to save cost. She stated her reason thus: “My daughter, Anu Adesanya, could not attend first term for financial reasons. When she wanted to register for WASSCE, the school proprietor insisted that she must pay the first tern fees. So I had to take her to another school where I registered her for the exams. She joined them in ‘lesson’ without going for normal school classes. I did not pay any school fees throughout her duration in SSS 3. Guess what? She still performed very well in her WASSCE.”
Oluchi Patrick’s experience buttresses further the existence of the sharp practice among parents. He said: “When my daughter, Chidinma wanted to register for WASSCE, the school authorities asked us to pay N120, 000, plus another charge for extramural classes. I could not afford that at that moment. So I took her to another school where she registered for WASSCE. There, I paid N50, 000 for WASSCE registration, N1, 500 for a hired uniform, and N7, 000 every month for extra-mural classes which she attended for five months. I did not pay for second and third term school fees. In the end, I was able to save some money.”
He blamed the private school owners for being insensitive to the plight of parents. He therefore advised the government to caution them on the unjustified increase of the fees beyond the stipulated amount.
Rosa Anthony, another parent also complained about this growing complaint against private schools. She said: “After paying N48, 000 for school fees, N55, 000 WASSCE fees, and N22, 000 for extramural classes for my son who just finished his exams, the school authorities are still telling us to pay extra N20, 000.” This, she noted, is why some parents move their children from school to school in their bid to avoid paying such burdensome school fees. She remarked: “One thing school owners fail to understand is that the economy is bad. Parents don’t pluck money from the trees.”
School proprietors react
However, Saturday Sun’s interactions with some school proprietors unearthed a counter-narrative on the growing sharp practice. While they agree that getting parents to pay the school fees of their awards these days has not been easy, they confess that many schools are finding it difficult to meet up with their financial commitments. To stem the tide, some private schools are said to have banned extramural classes in their schools, and teachers who used to benefit from it in that such classes provide them with extra cash, are said not to be too happy with the development. But the schools are insisting that there is nothing they can do about it, at least, for now, unless recalcitrant parents begin to pay up.
Adeleye Kehinde, the administrator of Prime Touch Schools, Ikotun, Lagos, admitted to the existence of the problem in a chat with Saturday Sun. According to him, some parents who think they are smart can send their children up to five schools until they get to the senior secondary school (SSS) classes without them paying a dime in form of school fees. He noted that it is not something he would want to recommend because it is a form of wickedness, which, like other ventures in life, has serious implications on those who practise it, as they could also meet with similar misfortune in their dealings with other people.
He said: “We want to do good, to show some understanding of the times we are in, to identify with the parents’ plights. But financially it affects the school. I sent a reminder to a parent concerning his child’s school fees. This is because we realised that when it is time to pay, they begin to give excuses. We realised that they would owe until they get to third term, and then they leave the school. You would be lucky if those debtors live near the school so that you could go after them for your money. During our days, when you leave a school before exams and you owe, you would never get another secondary school to attend. Yes, such things as what parents are doing today in navigating their children through secondary school, paying little, do exist and they are affecting the finances of the schools involved.”
David Aro, proprietor of White Waters Schools, Ishashi, Ojo, Lagos, who said that the college has been in existence for about a year, confessed that he has heard about the practice but had yet to experience it. But he noted that, “it all depends on how the schools handle the parents that owe them. But allowing their children to get a special centre or attend only extramural classes and, thereby fail to pay the necessary school fees, is totally a no-no for me.”
Gloria Obi, proprietress of Crestgate Schools, also in Ishashi, Lagos, and who also admitted to the existence of the worrisome development, advised on how schools ought to handle it. She said: “We don’t find such in my school. But we once had it. When we realised it, we began to educate parents on the need to retain their children in the school where they have been studying.” She advised school authorities to educate parents and students on the danger of moving them from one school to another to avoid payment of school fees. “If parents know the implication, it will be very minimal. When we educate them, it will go a long way in stopping the rampant practice.”
Angela Ogbonna, Principal, Child Care Nursery, Primary and Secondary Schools, Owerri, Imo State, condemned the practice, adding that a lot of private schools had been worse hit by backlogs of unpaid school fees because of it. According to her, many parents in that category simply register their children in another school to start a new term, while failing to clear up their wards’ outstanding school fees with their previous school. She noted: “It is very bad.” She, however, advised parents to send their wards to schools whose fees they can afford.”
A teacher in one of the schools in Orile Iganmu, Lagos, explained how she lost her job owing to paucity of funds. She attributed the phenomenon to the failure of many parents to pay up their children’s school fees.