Checking Extortion In Private Schools

A man and his family relocated to Port Harcourt from Europe last December.

As soon as schools re-opened on Monday, January 7, he started going from one school to another, seeking for admission for his three children in primary school.

In almost all the private schools he went, he was given a list of fees and compulsory levies to be paid by each child before being admitted in the schools. This included a development levy of N100,000.

The man was alarmed and could not understand why children should be forced to contribute to the infrastructural development of schools owned by individuals.

“You mean I should pay N300,000 for development levy for my three kids. That is so absurd”, the man exclaimed.

The continuous extortion of parents and guardians by private schools in the state is indeed a dangerous trend which must be checked in the interest of our children and the education sector.

Parents are now co-builders of schools. They no longer only pay for tuition, they now pay for buildings many of which were erected long before these pupils were born.

Private schools seem to be under no authority’s control. The proprietors fix and increase fees arbitrarily, even when there is little or nothing to show for such exorbitant fees and levies. Most of them have no play grounds or qualified teachers. Yet, they charge prohibitive fees to give an impression of quality.

Many people today see schools as one of the most lucrative businesses which can be operated without any control. They devise  different means of exploiting parents. Some insist on providing books, school shoes, and school uniforms for their pupils, at very high costs.

Many schools collect levies for sports, computer, library and other things that they don’t provide.

The Ministry of Education cannot stand by and watch some greedy proprietors, milk parents dry in this state. The Ministry and its parastals should provide the needed control.

They should do routine checks, levies and teaching scheme and supervise thoroughly what goes on in these schools. Can’t the authorities categorise the schools and fix school fees for them?

It is true that the present government in the state has invested hugely in building state-of-the-art schools across the state and would wish that its facilities would be able to accommodate all the children and give quality and free education to all school children in the state. But since this expectation cannot be met in the foreseeable future, adequate attention should be paid to private schools which cater for greater number of children in the state.

No doubt some of the private schools have contributed to qualitative education in the state but more control of the schools by the authorities would lead to better results.

Besides, teachers and workers in public schools need to compliment government’s efforts towards improving education standard in the state by showing more commitment and dedication to their jobs. I believe if they can be half as dedicated and committed as those in private schools, if the public schools will be well equipped and properly maintained, many parents will withdraw their children and wards from private schools to public schools.

I also urge parents and guardians to resist the current exploitation and extortion by private schools. The Parents Teachers Association (PTA), of each school should be able to agree on and approve whatever levies and fees to be paid by the pupils.

They wear the shoes and feel the pinches and so should be able to raise alarm and make suggestions aimed at curbing the anomalies in the schools.

Calista Ezeaku