Parents groan as schools prepare to resume

By Maria Famakinwa
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Despite the fact that it has become a tradition for parents to prepare their children for new academic session, the prevalent economic realities appear to have made payments of tuition fees and buying of textbooks ahead of the first term resumption a herculean task.  Some parents who spoke with The Hope at different book shops in Akure, the Ondo state capital called on publishers to change the idea of including assignments in textbooks  and appealed to school owners to show understanding by allowing installmental  payment  of tuition fees.

    A parent, Mr Jeremiah Ike, who revealed that he used to pay his children’s school fees for the new term before resumption,  lamented that he could  not now. “I am a businessman,  and I love to give my children the best education money could afford, that is why I paid my children’s tuition fee before resumption,  but I don’t  have such capacity now. Feeding itself is not  easy. The economic situation has affected my source of income. Business has not been moving like before. Things are hard and people are now more careful with their spending.

    “As you can see  these are the lists of textbooks my children are to buy for the first term, but what I will do is to buy textbooks for  compulsory subjects like English Language, Mathematic and two others, because I have five children, he said  and I cannot afford all the textbooks , since I will still pay for school fees.”

    Sharing similar sentiment, another parent, bemoaned the idea of publishers conniving with proprietors to short-change parents through what he termed the  exploitative idea of preventing younger ones to use their senior’s textbooks. “Two of my children were promoted to the next class, but I was surprised that their younger ones cannot use the same textbooks for the same class because the textbooks came with assignments which must have been done, marked by the first user of the textbook. This simply means that I must buy new textbooks for those promoted to the class their brother just left.

“This idea which started of recent is an attempt to compel parents who are struggling to educate their children to pay through their noses  despite the situation in the country. A dozen of 60 leaves exercise book that was sold between N700 and N800 last term, just three months ago is now between N900 and N1000. Yet the students will need other things like shoes, bags and feed well to concentrate. You can see that most parents,  here are not happy.”

    Another parent, Mrs Ibukun Ebenezer, who revealed that some of her colleagues were already considering the idea of changing their children’s school to those with less tuition,  also doubted the possibility of her children returning to their school because of the school fee. “Everyone knows that things are not easy  and my children were instructed to come to school with their teller, yet, I have two children in higher institutions. I think the best thing to do is to adjust in order to meet up,  she said.”

   On what she planned to do, she  said that she will discuss with the proprietor of her children school to give her grace for instalmental payment and if she refused, she would  have no option but to change their  schools.

   A parent and teacher, Mr Bode Olatunji, opined that even though times are hard, parents should not lose sight of the fact that schools would resume in the first or second week of September. “Parents should learn to save for their children’s fees during holiday. This is important, so that they do not compromise their children’s education and future, she said.”

   On why schools are insisting on payment before resumption, this reporter gathered that such decision became necessary for effective and efficient running of schools, and to address the sharp practices of some parents who always like to change the school of their children to avoid paying their debts. “Most parents are not sincere when it comes to payment of  school fess. If only you can see records of most schools and how much they are being owned, you will understand my point better. You cannot run a school without money. Even  those attending  government schools also pay money,  only that it is not as much as what private schools pay. The same parents will be the one to complain if teachers are leaving the school, and the only thing that can keep teachers in any school is regular payment of salary because teachers also have children in higher institutions to care for including meeting other needs  said one respondent.”

    A school proprietor, who simply wanted to be addressed as Mr Daodu, commended parents and guardians on their determination to give their wards best education despite the hard economy situation, but refuted the allegation that they connived with textbooks publishers to short -change parents “The relationship between proprietors and publishers is purely formal, because it is not mandatory for parents to get their textbooks in the school. It is quite surprising that any parent will have such thought, he said”

    On why siblings cannot use their senior ones textbooks he said, “They cannot use it because each textbook  comes with different assignments and once the original owner of a textbook has done the assignment in the textbook and marked by the teacher, such textbook automatically becomes useless for any student. The reason for the idea according to my findings was to save textbook publishers from running at lost. “Findings shows that most textbooks publishers could no longer sustain the business because they are running at a loss.

   “For instance, a family with four children will not buy textbooks for three of the children once the parent are able to get for the first child. This is because the younger ones will be using the textbooks of the eldest child, unless it is changed. Sincerely, if this idea continues, textbook publishing business will go into comatose, which brought about the idea of including assignment in textbooks, and frequent changing of textbooks and school proprietors have nothing to gain from it.”

    The proprietor, who advised parents to always plan ahead of resumption  in order not to be caught napping, hinted that school owners were also  affected with the economic situation across the country and urged parents and school managements to reach a compromise to make tuition payment easy for both parties, since education, according to her, remains  the best  legacy for any child.