Parents, guardians struggle with fees, books, others as schools resume

By AYOOLA OLAOLUWA

Parents and guardians of children in public and private primary and secondary schools in Lagos have lamented the sharp rise in tuition and prices of books, stationeries, as well as other back-to-school items as schools across the state resume for another academic calendar, Business Hallmark can report.

Many schools, particularly public schools, it would be recalled, had reopened for academic activities on September 5, while a few others announced Monday, September 12 for resumption after about seven weeks of holiday.

While the children seemed happy to be back in school, with some seen trading banter with their mates, their parents and guardians are not so enthusiastic.

Some of the parents, who spoke with our correspondent, lamented the hike in their wards tuition, as well as the sharp increase in the prices of back-to-school items such as uniforms, shoes, sandals, textbooks, notebooks and stationeries needed by their wards.

The parents lamented that life had been tough in the face of current economic downturn and that in spite of plans they made ahead of resumption, they have not been able to procure all the basic items needed by their wards. While those that were able to do so said they spent fortunes in ensuring their children are comfortable and not distracted by unfulfilled wants.

One of the parents, Mrs. Solape Olubi, informed BH that she had spend over N500,000 more this term, compared to what she spent in 2021.

“I paid N350,000 last year for my three children in secondary school. When they vacated in July, their new fees were included in their results envelopes.

“I paid about N115,000 more on each of them this new term. And this is just tuition. The costs of textbooks and stationeries have gone up. Thankfully, my husband and I are relatively well off.

“Despite that, it still affected things as we could not afford to take the children on summer holiday this year. I just pray that things will improve for good”, Mrs. Olubi prayed.

It is not only Mrs. Olubi that have negative tales to share. Virtually all the parents who agreed to speak on the development lamented the continued rise in the cost of getting their wards sound education.

A federal civil servant whose husband works as an accountant in an engineering company, Jumobi Alake, said each back-to-school item she recently purchased had gone up by at least 70 percent compared to last year.

“The prices of books and stationeries have unfortunately gone up. Last year, I spend just a little over N40,000 buying textbooks for my daughter that gained admission into S.S.1.

“This year, I have spend over N80,000 trying to purchase the same sets of books for her brother that just entered S.S.1 in another school and I am not yet done with buying.

“For instance, I bought the New School Physics for Senior Secondary Schools by Africana First Publishers in 2021 for N4,200. I bought the same book for N7,100 last week.

“Also, the Modern Biology for Senior Secondary Schools (Revised Edition 2018) bought for N4,200 in 2021, was sold to me at the rate of N7,400.

“Likewise, Calculations in Physics for Senior Secondary Schools which I purchased for N1,500 last year was sold for N2,900. Almost hundred percent increase.

“If not that they are in different schools in different cities, I would have made them to share the books. I thank God that I only have the two of them. I don’t envy parents with four or five children”, Mrs. Alake said.

During BH visits to bookshops in Ogba and Agege last week, it was observed that prices of books and stationeries had gone up.

“For instance, a pack of Higher Education notebooks containing 10 booklets, which sold for between N2,500 and N3,000 (N250 – N300 each) in 2021, were sold to customers at the rates of N4,000 to N4,500.

The ’40’, ’60’ and ’80’ Leaves Big Notes (per bundle of 10 pieces) went for N1,150, N1,450 and N1,700, as against N650, N950 and N1,100 in 2021.

However, the retail prices of the commodities are quite higher in neighbourhood markets.

For example, an Higher Education Note Book which sold for between N300 – N300 per one in 2021- is now at least N500 per one. While a 40 leaves notebook is now N120 as against N70; 60 leaves now N150 as against N100 and 80 leaves now N170 as against the previous price of N120.

It was also observed that the prices of other accessories like biro, pencils, rulers, erasers, mathematical sets and calculators have gone up.

For instance, a packet of biro (1 dozen) that previously sold for N250 in 2021, is now N400. However, in the open market, a biro sells for between N50 and N100 depending on the brand and location.

Meanwhile, a mass exodus of students has hit several private schools operating in Lagos State, as parents who can no longer afford their high fees have been withdrawing their children from their current schools to new ones.

The affected parents and guardians, BH learnt, have resorted to either changing their wards to cheaper schools, or enrolling them in public schools where tuition is practically free due to the current economic downturn in the country.

Our correspondent who visited some schools from September 6 to 8, observed that most classes were half filled as many students did not return to school.

A proprietor of one of the affected schools based in the Ifako-Ijaiye area of the state while speaking with our correspondent on the low turn out of pupils in the first week of resumption, lamented that the parents of some of his students had notified the management that their wards won’t be resuming with them this season.

“Though, the first week of resumption is always like this, with pupils always returning late for studies after just returning from vacations, this year’s own is different.

“I can tell you as a matter of fact that these empty seats your are seeing are not going to be occupied soon as some parents have notified us that their wards won’t be returning to us this session.

“These are even the ones who have the courtesy to inform us. Most parents did not even bother.

“When we asked them why they were withdrawing their wards from our school, they blamed it on the biting economic condition in the country, saying they could no longer afford the fees”, the distraught school owner who did not want his identity disclosed informed our correspondent.

The proprietor of Torts International School based in Ijaiye-Ojokoro, Mr. Simon Adewale, also claimed that some parents and guardians had informed the school management that their children won’t be returning to the school this session.

According to Adewale, the trend (withdrawals) started as far back as 2020 when most parents lost their jobs or were affected by the negative impacts of the Covid19 pandemic on the nation’s economy.

“I can’t really blame them (parents). The situation of things in the country is quite bad. Though I shouldn’t be telling you this, but I will do so that you can have the true picture of things.

“One of our esteemed parents who coincidentally was the immediate past chairman of the Parents Teachers Association (PTA) is among those affected by the downturn.

“We are very close so I know much about what he is passing through. In June 2020, his employers sacked about fifty percent of the workforce, while the lucky ones were given the option of either accepting a 50% pay cut or leave.

“He humbly accepted the pay cut which brought his salary from N300,000 monthly to N200,000. Not quite long after, his employer also cut his salary by another N50,000, leaving him with only N150,000. Two years after, he is still collecting the same amount.

“I saw the current situation coming as he struggled to pay the fees for his four children totalling N600,000 last session. That was apart from the cost of using our school bus at the rate of N50,000 per ward, making it N200,000 per term and N600,000 for the three terms.

“The business of his wife that had been supporting him was also affected. So, when he approached me at the end of last session in July that he would be changing his children to a nearby school to save the cost of transportation and also further cut the cost of tuition, it didn’t come as a surprise to me.

“Though, we have also admitted some students who came from relatively higher fees paying schools in order to drive down cost, the number of new intakes is not commensurate with the numbers that left”, Adewale moaned.

A pupil of a popular school in the Fagba area of Lagos told BH that many of her colleagues did not resume with them in the new term.

“We used to be around 30 in a class in the last three years, but we are now reduced to 15. According to my colleagues, most of them from far locations like Ogba, Kola, Meiran, Agege, Agindingbi and others left because their parents can no longer afford the high cost of transportation.

“While one told me that her dad told her that the cost of transportation alone is enough to pay half of her fees, another confided in me that her father lost his job and her mum is a petty trader and that they could no longer afford her fees.

“It would have been worse as 18 out of the 30 in my last class changed schools. The three that made up the 15 are new intakes who also relocated from other schools”, said the S.S.1 pupil who preferred to be recognised only as Tobiloba.

While private schools are daily losing their wards, public schools in the state are becoming the brides with growing number of enrollees.

An official in the Lagos State Ministry of Education said the numbers of new enrollees in both public primary and secondary schools have doubled in the last one year.

“Before now, we used to embark on enlightenment campaigns to woo parents to come and enrol their wards in public schools. But today, the reverse is the case.

“The harsh economic condition, I think, is responsible for the upsurge in students enrollment. The surge is more pronounced in government model colleges, as affected middle class parents daily besiege them to get their wards enrolled”, the source disclosed.

BH checks revealed that many middle income earners, particularly senior government workers who used to send their wards to private schools, are daily withdrawing and enrolling them in model colleges scattered across the state.

One of the reasons for this, BH learnt, is because tuition in the schools are free, with only boarding students paying N25,000 boarding fee.

“What I used to pay at The Ambassadors, Ota for one child covered the expenses I just paid for three children in the model college. I advise Nigerians to avoid the headaches of always sweating to look for scarce and vanishing resources and enrol their children in special public schools”, George advised.