Resumption blues!

•Parents groan over high school fees, textbooks, others

By Gabriel Dike, Fred Ezeh, Abuja; Lateef Dada, Osogbo; Okey Sampson, Umahia; Aniekan Aniekan, Calabar; Praise Adeagbo and Grace Egbunuekhe

This is one time of the year parents with school kids dread most. It is also a period school managements and booksellers look forward to every year.

Activities in nursery, primary and secondary schools have come alive for the 2026/2027 academic session. Many parents are struggling to pick their children educational bills.

For some parents, the cost of preparing their children for the new school term has become a source of concern, with families adopting different ways to cope with the financial demands of resumption. This made some pupils to resume without the full complement of educational materials required for their new classes. Some even wore old uniforms.

Schools also increased their fees including school buses. Parents mostly affected are those whose wards are in the terminal classes such as SS 111 who are to write WASSCE and NECO and students preparing for junior WAEC.

For parents with SS 111 students, school owners gave them full bills for the entire academic session, which includes payment for the terminal examinations and graduation party. While book and educational items providers complained of low patronage, parents insist the cost of such materials is on the high side.

Parents struggle to meet kids’ needs

Mr. Samuel Adekola, with three kids in secondary school told Daily Sun: “My son will write WASSCE and SSCE next year. The school included it in the school fees. My one-month salary cannot meet his demand alone. I have discussed with the school owner to allow me to pay the bill installment for five months but he insists on three months.

“The other two kids will manage their old uniforms and few essential textbooks such as English and Mathematics. I intend to purchase the books outside the school to cut cost.”

Elder Uduak Effiong, said: “I have planned how to use the office contribution to fund my kids’ education. Though it will not be enough, I intend to cut cost by purchasing the important books they need at the bookshop and avoid new items such as uniforms and bags.’’

Florence Njoku, a parent residing in Kubwa, Abuja, said: “September is a new beginning and the start of a new academic session. However, it also comes with new financial responsibilities for us as parents.

“To prepare our children for the new session, we have to buy new books, shoes, bags, and other school materials. We also have to make adequate arrangements for their meals, including breakfast and lunch.”

“Parents should avoid the rush and ‘fire brigade’ approach and start making preparations as early as they can, while ensuring that school fees and other bills are paid promptly to avoid embarrassment.

“Getting the required textbooks and other learning materials is particularly challenging, especially when some schools make it compulsory for parents to purchase them either from them or open market.  It is really challenging for us as parents.

“In my own case, my husband and I began the preparation long before now for our two children aged five and seven respectively.  With the knowledge that it’s a new academic year, I started buying the necessary school materials shortly after the end of the previous term, little by little. So, nothing comes to me by surprise or pressure.”

Kassie Emem recently lost her husband: “Surprisingly, my son and daughter are growing faster than expected. I just noticed that my daughter is outgrowing her uniforms faster than expected, both the normal and sportswear

“Replacing the two uniforms for them has cost me N104, 000. That’s aside from the sportswear that is N18, 500 each. Two of them are N37, 000 for the girl. Add the boy own and you will see what it has cost me.  No help from anywhere. School fees and other things are not included in all these spending. Remember, it’s September, a new session. Sadly, the economy is not smiling on us all. But God will help us as He has always done.”

She appealed to school owners to be considerate to parents in their billings, stressing that the economy has been unfriendly to Nigerians especially to the parents at this time.

Tabitha Musa, said: “I am not going near a bookshop this period, neither will I visit market for the purposes of uniforms, shoes, bags, or other school items, because I don’t have money for such expenses. They should use the ones they have even though they are gradually overgrowing them.

“Not long ago, we were hit with an outrageous cost of rent. Our landlord slammed us with over a 300 percent increase in house rent with no option of negotiation. When I tried to look for a new location, the price was ‘out of the roof’. We had no option but to renew the rent with pain and anguish.”

In Abia State, Charles Chinekezi, with three children in secondary school said: “It has not been easy for me to buy books for my three children as they prepare to go back to school. As we speak, prices of textbooks and other educational materials have risen from between 20 to 30 per cent.

“When you add this to the ever rising house rents and the general inflation in the country, I must tell you that we parents are in trouble. With the way things are going, if nothing is done to checkmate this, many children will drop out of school as their parents may no longer be able to afford their educational requirements.”

Charles Ogbonna bemoaned the rising cost of textbooks: “It wasn’t like these two years ago. Textbooks we bought two years back have now risen in price to as much as 30 percent and it is very difficult for some of us to come over this.

“This high cost of textbooks and other educational materials have added another financial pressure on the pockets of poor parents. The government should do something urgently to arrest the situation. If something is not immediately done, many children will drop out of school and the society will be worse for it.”

Alhaji Busari Adekunle lamented: “The rate at which private schools are increasing tuition, textbook prices, and uniform fees is overwhelming. Having multiple children in school makes it even harder. I have only managed to buy a few books so far. Depending on what I can stretch, I will have to clear the remaining fees and balance gradually after they resume.”

Mrs. Kemi Oyewale: “School materials have become extremely expensive, and money is tight right now. In the past, I always bought everything two weeks ahead of time. Now, it is difficult to keep up. I plan to purchase the books directly from the school, but only when funds become available.”

Mrs. Blessing Adeyemi, a teacher in Lagos said she has started buying some school items for her children. She first checked what they have before buying new ones: “School items are expensive this year compared to last year. Textbooks, shoes, bags and uniforms are some of the items that have increased in price.

“School fees are a major part of preparation for school resumption. I planned for the fees early so the family will not feel too much pressure when school resumes.”

Mr. Chinedu Okafor, businessman, in Lagos, said he checked his children’s school items before buying new ones and that he only purchased the things they really need: “I prepared the kids by getting them back into their normal school routine and encouraged them to be ready before resumption.”

Mrs. Aliyah, a mother of three children aged, 15, 12 and 10 said: “Preparing them for resumption comes with the added responsibility of providing for their everyday’s needs. I take up different cleaning jobs to earn a living and provide for my children’s needs.

“I have spent about N35,000 on school preparations but was yet to complete the purchases. Uniforms, bags and textbooks as some of the expensive items. There has been a slight increase in the cost of educational materials compared with last year. School fees also increased slightly.”

Mrs. Samuel, a nurse and mother of three sons aged 15, 12 and nine, said she had already purchased all the materials needed for her children. She spent more than N170,000 on preparations, noting that textbooks were particularly expensive:

“Last year was cheaper than this year. Primary school fee increased by N3,000, while the secondary school fee increased by N2,000.”

Bookseller hit by low patronage

Amasi Amadi owns a bookshop in Orozo, Abuja: “Ordinarily, we should be making good sales this period but that’s not the case. This is a new session, and ordinarily should come with an impressive response from schools and parents, but you can see, we are sitting and looking.

“In previous years, customers would be trooping in here to make purchases this kind of time but the case is different now. Obviously, economic and other issues are at the base of the development. Parents are unarguably implementing the principles of economics, particularly the principle of scale of preference.”

Amadi expressed fears that things might not improve as expected because of the increasing digitization of the education system: “Increasingly, authors are migrating to the digital system as the new innovation now. Additionally, Artificial Intelligence (AI) is penetrating the system faster than expected. These are some of the challenges we are facing.”

He also made reference to the changing policies of the Federal Ministry of Education through the National Education Research and Development Council (NERDC) that keeps making pronouncements and directives to authors regarding books to produce.

Vitus Akasike, another bookseller: “This time every year is the booming period for our business, but this year, we are facing a different scenario. In the past, this time each year was the booming period for our business. But this year is quite different. The economic hardship in the country coupled with the high cost of textbooks and other educational materials have combined to bring lull in our businesses.”

He said should things continue this way; some of them might be forced to look for other things to do.

Mr. Samuel Alex, a bookshop director, said: “In better economic times, parents would purchase their children’s school supplies at least two weeks before resumption. This year, the economic situation has severely hindered them. Only a few who can afford it are buying early. Most parents are now purchasing items gradually, and we expect this slow trickle to continue even after classes fully resume.”

A bookshop proprietor, Mrs. Ayomide, said parents had started coming to purchase school materials with exercise books among the items they bought the most. She, however, said there was not much difference in business activity compared with the same period last year:

“Prices of books remained unchanged, but the prices of pens increased. Parents are increasingly buying school materials gradually rather than purchasing everything at once. They will buy small this week and then they will buy small another week.”

From our Correspondents findings in some states showed that parents are experiencing financial pressure while preparing their children for the new school session. The gradual purchasing pattern observed by the booksellers reflects how some parents are adjusting to the cost of back-to-school preparations.