The Anambra and Enugu governments say they have no legal authority to regulate tuition fees in private schools.

The two states disclosed this in a survey on exorbitant school fees paid in private secondary schools and employment of unqualified teachers.

Anambra’s education commissioner, Ngozi Chuma-Udeh, said for one’s child to attend any school, be it public or private school, depends on how much the person can afford.

According to her, public schools are available if parents cannot afford the private school.

Julius Udekwe, the deputy chairman of the Association of Private School Owners in Anambra, said, “We don’t bill parents and guardians too much, considering the current economic hardship we are facing right now.”

Mr Udekwe noted that establishing private schools aimed to compete with public schools and bring about standards.

“What we do is to equate the cost with the standard of education we offer and not to turn it into a money-spinning business,” he added.

Enugu’s education commissioner, Ndubueze Mbah, described the high tuition fees charged by private schools as “parental choice.”

The commissioner said Enugu was working hard to leave a quality and affordable education legacy to children. According to him, parents can choose to send their children to study in any part of the world and pay any amount they want to pay.

“The ministry has no power over that, but what we are doing is providing free Universal Basic Education to all children in the state as Enugu has the best school system in Africa through Enugu Green Smart Schools,” said Mr Mbah.

A parent, Blessing Ejiofor, noted that rising tuition fees are worrisome, decrying that she and her husband paid through their nose to enrol their son in a missionary school.

She said they spent over a million naira to pay for their son’s tuition, exam fees, textbooks, hotel, laptop, and others.

In Ebonyi, some private school owners under the National Association of Private Proprietors of Schools said tuition fees and other sundry charges charged by members are moderate.

“Private schools are responsible for paying their own teachers and other staff, unlike public schools, which are funded by the government. Private schools need to pay for facilities and maintenance and cover the costs of educational programmes, classroom materials, technology infrastructure, and extracurricular activities,” said the association.

Paul Ogwale, a private school owner in Abakaliki, said proprietors of private schools struggle to pay the salaries of their staff and other running costs due to the high cost of maintaining the schools since the government did not fund them.

He added that only a few private secondary schools, especially those in the state capital, charged school fees up to N50,000, stressing that most private schools collected between N25,000 and N30,000 per term as school fees.

“In terms of school fees, Ebonyi is where you can get the best without compromising quality and standards of teaching and learning. The fees are affordable; as operational costs rise, private schools may be compelled to increase tuition fees to sustain their operations,” he added.

Mr Ignatius Ugbala, a school proprietor, said that the services rendered by private schools were far more than the fees paid by parents for their children to acquire quality education.

Meanwhile, Raymond Onwe, a parent whose three children attend private schools, said it was due to the strict supervision of teaching and other academic activities, unlike in public schools.

(NAN)