Some residents of Bauchi State have decried upward review of school fees by private school proprietors as pupils resumed for the 2024/2025 academic year.

The hike in school fees had forced many parents in the area to keep their wards out-of-school as they could not afford the exorbitant fees.

Many private schools have increased registration fees for the new intake and returning students by about 40 per cent compared to the 2023/2024 session.

A cross section of the parents, who spoke in separate interviews on Wednesday in Bauchi, described the situation as “worrisome.”

One of them, Paul Isiah, said that the increase in school fees was discouraging, and exposed them to difficulties.

Mr Isiah said the schools increased their fees amid rising cost of living and transportation occasioned by the fuel subsidy removal in the country.

He said that the school fees increased to N67,000 as against N47,000 in the last academic session.

He stated, “I have four children all attending private schools and there is a significant increase in their school fees. Private school proprietors have a way of extorting money from parents through text books and other unnecessary charge.’’

Mr Isiah said that most parents have high preference for private schools due to lack of standards and quality education in public schools.

He called for practical measures to reinvigorate the basic education sector to encourage parents to enrol their wards in public schools.

Another parent, Ahmed Mohammed, said he was contemplating transferring his children from private to public school as he couldn’t afford the fees.

Mr Mohammed said the school fees jacked up to N25,000 as against N15,000, per pupil, adding that, “my salary remained the same while the cost of commodities including school fees are going up the roof.”

Corroborating earlier opinions, Adeyemi Monday, said that payment of school fees was now beyond most parents struggling to give their children a modest education.

He, however, said the school proprietors should not be blamed for the hike in fees amid high cost of teaching and learning materials to enable them to deliver quality education.

He said, “Previously; I was paying N40,000 and N30,000 as school fees for two of my children. Now, I have to pay N55,000 and N45,000, respectively. Let the government make public schools good to serve as alternatives to such parents who can no longer afford to fees in private schools.’’

Similarly; Sikiru Raji, said that he couldn’t afford the school fees due to inflationary trend and lack of wage rise.

He said, “I paid N90,000 as school fees for my child and now it has been increased to N135,000.

A teacher in one of the private schools, Olubunmi Adetoye, said that hike in fees was necessitated by the persistent inflation in the country.

He said that prices of educational materials and cost of transportation had gone up while the proprietors increased salaries of teaching and non-teaching staff due to economic realities in the country.

“With all this, the increase in fees in private schools could be justified,” he said.

A member of the Private Schools Proprietors Association, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the development was necessary in view of the rise in wage bill and cost of maintenance of the schools.

The official attributed the hike in fees to the high cost of teaching aids and materials, adding that, “I’m in the system, I know how it feels, I know how a school is difficult to maintain and I know many schools are crashing now because of the present economic situation of the country. It’s not really easy on both sides of the school owners and the parents because we all know that things are not easy right now. Based on this reason, for some school owners, if they don’t increase the fees, their schools are going to crash and standards will fall. And when this happens, parents are the first people to remove their children from that school.’’

The official advised parents to enrol their children in schools they could afford, adding that, “it is not how expensive a school is that will determine how successful their children would be in life.”

Reacting, the state Commissioner for Education, Dr. Jemila Dahiru, said that basic education is free in the state.

She said the ministry would investigate alleged increase in school fees by some private school proprietors in the state.

She said, “The private schools unit under the Ministry of Education is going through these complaints, and I assure that we will check whether these were done legitimately and if not, we’ll take actions against such schools. This is because there is a framework, a kind of structure or policy that guides how you can increase your school fees. And from our own side, we are trying to ensure that our public schools are upgraded and that we put mechanisms in place so that parents can send their children to public schools and that we are able to accommodate them.’’

(NAN)