Parents, students jubilate as Rivers abolishes school fees

Many parents in Rivers State are jubilant over a directive by Governor Ezenwo Nyesom Wike abolishing fees in public schools in the state. The move is meant to expand access to equitable and quality education as well as ensure that kids from poor backgrounds have a chance of doing well in school. To soften the […]

Many parents in Rivers State are jubilant over a directive by Governor Ezenwo Nyesom Wike abolishing fees in public schools in the state.

The move is meant to expand access to equitable and quality education as well as ensure that kids from poor backgrounds have a chance of doing well in school.

To soften the blow of the directive on the budgets of public primary and secondary schools, Governor Wike said government would be sending direct allocations to school managements for operations.

Mathar Ukachi (not real name) has four children in public schools; the first son is a senior secondary student at Government Secondary School, Oyigbo and the second son is in JSS class of the same school. Two other kids are in Town School Primary School in Oyigbo. The fees and levies her husband pays on their four children from his meagre salary are telling much on the family’s finances.

Ukachi said she paid N8,000 each as registration fee for the two children in primary school and N1,500 each as examination fee prior to the new policy.

For those in secondary school, Ukachi said she paid N13,000 for each as registration fees.

“I want to thank Governor Wike for lifting this burden off my shoulders. It was really tough when my children entered primary and secondary schools. We paid lot of money for their registration and all that. They said that both primary and secondary schools are tuition-free but when you go to the schools you find out a different thing.

“The school management also extorts money from parents under the guise of fees. But the governor has come to our aid and we are not going to pay any fees anymore,” the highly elated Ukachi told our reporter in Oyigbo.

In a bid to create access to quality education, Governor Wike had a couple of weeks ago  announced  the total abolition of all forms of fees and levies  in public primary and secondary schools across the state.

The governor directed state-owned primary and secondary schools to carry out the directive with immediate effect. He stated that henceforth, the state government will be sending direct allocations to all primary and secondary schools’ managements for their operations.

The governor gave the directive during a meeting with the heads of primary and secondary schools, State Senior Secondary Schools Board and State Universal Basic Education Board in Port Harcourt.

“From today henceforth, no child either in primary or secondary school should pay fees and levies in any school across the state.

“The monies you collect from these children are just used for your personal purposes. If I hear that any school head collects any fees or levies, be they examination, NECO or WAEC fees, that school head would be sanctioned.

“We shall not only dismiss the school head who collects fees or levies, we will prosecute the person involved.

“Government will work out grants that will be sent to the schools for their regular management and operations,” Governor Wike was quoted as saying at the meeting.

The governor further directed the Ministry of Education, the State Senior Secondary Schools Board and the State Universal Basic Education Board to monitor all public schools across the state to ensure compliance.

According to the governor, his administration funds the salaries, allowances, examinations and equipment of all public schools. He assured parents that the government would remain committed to the provision of quality education, which would be accessible to the less privileged.

“I have abolished all fees and levies and it will never happen again in our public primary and secondary schools. Nobody should collect fees and levies from the children of the less privileged,” he said.

In the meantime, while parents expressed happiness over the development, the teachers are apparently not comfortable with it.

A primary school teacher in one of the government-owned schools in Port Harcourt said the abolition of fees has generated tension in some of the government schools because school managements were not happy.

The teacher, who pleaded for anonymity, alleged that principals and head teachers of various government-owned schools imposed all kinds of levies and fees on vulnerable pupils to enrich themselves.

“Primary and secondary school education in Rivers State is supposed to be free of charge but you find the head teachers and principals imposing all kinds of levies on students. They collect registration fees, sanitation fees as well as examination fees and all this money is not accounted for,” he said.

He called on the state government to set up a monitoring and implementation committee that would ensure compliance with the new directive.

Another teacher in a public primary school at Borokiri in Port Harcourt who simply gave his name as Mark, said the abolition of fees will go a long way to check corruption among principals and head teachers in government schools.

Abolition of fees and levies in Rivers State did not start today. Previous administrations in the state abolished tuition fees and levies but you find out that students still paid all the levies,” he said.

A principal in Port Harcourt said the total abolition of fees in government schools would affect their administration, explaining that they will run at a loss and won’t have funding for improvement.

The principal, who would not want to be named, said “total abolition of fees in government public schools will affect the smooth running of schools.

“Some of the fees collected are used to buy uniforms, stationeries as well as for maintenance of infrastructures.

“Government does not provide all these things to the schools. But with the promise of the governor that he will be giving out monthly subvention for the running of schools, I am hopeful that things will get better,” he said.

A student of Umuakpahu Junior Secondary School, Oyigbo, Chidinma Eze, commended the state government for the abolition of fees.

“I want to thank the governor for abolishing the fees. My parents pay a lot of money as fees but with the cancellation, the burden of school fees will be removed from them,” she said.