Parents cry foul over illegal fees at Benin girls college

Parents have complained of illegal fees imposed on their wards by authorities in federal government colleges across the country. Students were made to pay huge sums of money under various guises apart from the normal school fees. Though the federal government earmarked funds for their upkeep but the schools’ authorities still ask students to pay […]

Parents have complained of illegal fees imposed on their wards by authorities in federal government colleges across the country. Students were made to pay huge sums of money under various guises apart from the normal school fees.
Though the federal government earmarked funds for their upkeep but the schools’ authorities still ask students to pay monies for such purposes.
Trouble is therefore brewing in Federal Government Girls College, Benin, Edo State, over allegation of illegal fees imposed on students by the school’s management. Parents are complaining of being fleeced through payment of fees not known to the law for their children and wards in the school running into millions of naira.
Principal of the school, Mrs. Pat Uyi Erahon, is at the centre of the unfolding drama which some parents say they could no longer condone. Some parents said they would rather transfer their wards to other schools if government refused to take action on the matter.
The school collects fees such as ‘skol media fee, diesel fee, meal subsidy fee, etc. some of which are collected by the school’s Parent Teachers Association (PTA), Daily Trust learnt. The student population of the school is put at 1,900.
In the last academic session, for instance, each student was made to pay N5,000 for what it tagged ‘skol media’ fee.
The skol media fee is reportedly for laptops and projectors for each class but a parent told Daily Trust that, “Outside SS2 classrooms, no other arm got the gadgets. She has again started the collection for this session. Students pay N5,000 per term. With about 1,900 students, that amounts to N9.5 million. Federal officials in Abuja were allegedly aware of the illegal fees but have yet to take action.”
Also, students are made to pay N1,900 each for diesel every three months, while graduating students pay N4,000 each.
“Yet when there is power outage, the school is enveloped in darkness,” another parent complained, requesting anonymity for fear for his child. That totals N3.6 million.
The PTA reportedly collects same amount as diesel fees.
A particularly worried parent told Daily Trust in an interview that he was appalled by the fact that his daughter often complained that they were left in darkness each time there was power outage from the electricity supply company.
“We often have to buy rechargeable lanterns for my daughter when she’s returning to school,” he said.
Also worrisome, according to the parent, is the introduction of students’ insurance. He said students are made to pay N5,000 each for insurance retroactively.
He said: “The insurance issue was brought up last year but it took effect this year yet the school has insisted that the students must pay that of last year. The question is how do you charge premium for an insurance cover that didn’t exist at the time you claim to be collecting to cover?”
The school also “collects N1,000 from each student as ‘security money’ and gets the PTA to collect same amount for the same purpose. On the average, about N1.9 million is collected for security from the students every term.
The school also collects N1000 from each student every term as meal subsidy. “It gets the PTA to collect same amount for same purpose amounting to N3.8 million for meal subsidy from students per term,” the parent told Daily Trust in an interview. Yet another parent alleged that “the school is again compelling students to pay for an insurance scheme,” adding that “there are other sundry items the school uses to collect money from students and parents. But the principal insists she is fair to us.”
When contacted, the school’s principal, Mrs. Pat Uyi Erahon, said the allegations were untrue. She admitted, though, that fees were being charged but “with reasons.”
While inviting the Daily Trust reporter who called her to visit the school for more investigation, she said, “I am not saying there are no charges but there are reasons for them.
“I didn’t start the skol media. I only came here last year and met it,” she said.
Earlier, Mrs. Erahon had told Daily Trust in a telephone interview that her school was not the only one charging money for skol media, saying Queens College, Lagos also does. She said she was in Lagos and would call back when she returned to Benin.
She didn’t call.
At about 4:45p.m. when Daily Trust called again, she said that the N4,000 clearance fees for outgoing students was split into two: N2,000 for the school magazine and N2,000 for the printing of their documents.
While keeping mum on other sundry charges including insurance, security and diesel fees, she said, “We sat with the school’s Parent Teachers Association (PTA) and they agreed on the fees.”
One official at the Federal Ministry of Education, Abuja said “government had not released schools’ funds in the last two quotas of last year, and the situation did not change this year. That might explain why the school was asking for monies from students.”
But ministry’s spokesman Mr. Olu Lipide said, “Apart from the usual school fees, government is not aware of any other charges.”
He said the parents in Benin have not complained to the ministry about the development, otherwise an official inquiry would have been launched. Daily Trust has reported complaints by parents of students at the Federal Science and Technical College, Orozo, Abuja, about illegal fees.
One of the parents, who did not want his name in the print for fear for his ward, told Daily Trust that the charges were becoming unbearable and that some parents were likely to withdraw their wards from the school. He said the fees were paid into a designated bank account in installments under various headings.
According to him, students were to pay the sum of N8,000 as boarding fee and later pay N300 as house dues and N1,000 for damages. They would also pay caution fee of N500 as well as another N1,000 as security deposit.
 “All these are meant to serve same thing and then students are also asked to pay N1,000 for website maintenance, though it was N2,000 initially,” he said.
He also alleged that the school deducts N100 from the students’ cashless voucher for every N1,000.
Another parent said the PTA levy for old students “was N6,000 while incoming students pay the sum of N65,000 out of which about N45,000 will be channeled into the school’s account to enable the principal complete a perimeter fence.”
Also, the parent of a student at Federal Government Girls College, Bwari, Abuja, had alleged that officials took bribe to offer admission to students. Daily Trust hasn’t independently verified the allegation.