Many parents in Lagos
State have started withdrawing their children from private to public schools,
due to the current economic recession.
Punch learnt that many of the
parents took the decision when they discovered that their income could no
longer meet their needs.
Some proprietors of private schools, who spoke
with Punch,
said they were expecting such situation.
The Deputy President,
National Association of Proprietors of Private Schools, Mr. Abayomi Otubela,
told one of our correspondents that one of his members in Mushin, Lagos State,
had formally complained that parents were withdrawing their children in droves,
from her school to the public schools in the area.
A mother of three, Mrs. Favour Ukpong, whose
child attends a private school at the Fagba area of Lagos, told Punch
that she had withdrawn her daughter from the school and moved her to a public
school.
Ukpong said, “I just realised that I can’t
afford the fees any longer. More so, the proprietors have increased the fees
from N18,000 to N25,000.
“How much do I make from the second-hand
clothes I sell? I don’t make much. Paying N18,000 had even been a challenge for
me. I took my time to search for a good public school in my area. I am happy
with my choice.”
Another parent, Mrs. Wemimo Abiodun said her
child’s tuition had increased by N10, 000, which spurred her decision to
withdraw her daughter from a private school at the Ojodu-Berger area of Lagos.
She said, “There are good public schools that
have sound teachers. Many parents get carried away with the hype that comes
with having a child in a private school.
“I had wanted to withdraw my daughter long time
ago. The tuition was N40,000 and has now increased to N50,000. My husband can’t
afford that.”
Also, a banker, Mr. Steve Aliyu, who said he
was a victim of a mass purge in his organisation recently, said he had
withdrawn his four year-old daughter from a private to a public school.
He said, “I took the decision because I was
affected by the recent retrenchment exercise in one of the new generation
banks, and things have not been easy for me and my family.”
A small scale industrialist, Mr. John Adaeze,
also said he decided to take his two children to a public school in his area
when he considered the tuition fees and transportation fare to their former
private school.
He said, “Business is down and my wife is not
working yet. We were paying about N500,000 per term in the former school of our
two children. As a matter of fact, I signed an undertaking to pay their fees
before they were allowed to write their examinations last term.”
Similarly, a widow, who is a mother of four, in
the Ketu area of Lagos, who identified herself as Mrs. Davies, said she decided
to withdraw her children from a private school because she could no longer
shoulder the responsibility of paying their tuition fees in their former
private school alone.
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