More negative reactions have continued to trail the N10,000 fees charged by the Lagos State government for parents who wish to register their child(ren) into the state’s junior secondary model colleges and upgraded colleges, saying the amount is tantamount to pricing education out of the reach of the poor.
Pointing out that two versions of the screening test – CBT and pencil-based – would be adopted for the 2015/2016 entrance examinations into junior secondary model colleges and upgraded colleges, the State Commissioner for Education, Mrs. Olayinka Oladunjoye, said parents and guardians are expected to pay N10,000 to designated banks before the candidates can be registered through a customised compact disc issued by the State Examination Board.
Describing as ‘scary’ the educational policies of the Lagos State government, the President, Muslim Students’ Society of Nigeria, MSSN, Kaamil Kalejaiye, said the burden of bringing quality or change in the education system should not be borne by parents.
Kalejaiye said “Lagos State is at it again with their anti-masses educational policy. Why must parents always pay for things that government should do. It seems the government has misplaced its priority and it is absurd that the state government is asking parents to pay because it is not parents’ responsibility to sponsor educational innovation, unless if it is voluntary.
“Why is Lagos’ government always running from its responsibilities when it comes to education? The fear is that this is just the beginning as government may soon begin to ‘indirectly’ ask parents with children in public schools to start paying ‘token’ school fees. The high fee regimes in the state institutions of higher learning have made the educational policies of LASG scary and mostly anti-masses.”
Calling on concerned stakeholders to intervene, the MSSN President said the high fees would not have risen if the state government had judiciously spent the $90 million World Bank education loan.
Also, the Education Rights Campaign, ERC, through its National Coordinator, Mr. Hassan Taiwo Soweto, has called for the immediately reversal of the said amount in the interest of the good people of the state.
Soweto said; “Public education should be a vital social responsibility. Given the glaring deficit in Nigeria’s school population, especially to the disadvantage of the girl-child, it is expected that government ensures that less of the cost of education is put on parents and guardians in order to promote enrolment.
