Education

Sanwo-Olu to increase boarding fees of model schools by 100%

Gov Sonwo-Olu

By Ezurike Ugochukwu

The Lagos State Governor Babajide Sanwo-olu may be up against the wrath of parents if he accedes to the planned 100 per cent increase of the boarding fees of the 32 model colleges in the state from N25,000 00 to N50,000.00.

Strong indications emerged from a negotiation meeting held recently between the Chairmen Forum of the Unified body of Lagos State model colleges and the officials of Lagos state Government led by the Hon. Commissioner for Education Mrs. Folashde Adefisayo.

According to our sources, government was said to have pegged the fees at N50,000 in a take it or leave it manner, after a lot of explanations and a back and forth arguement from both sides.

Ms Adefisayo

The Commissioner explained that government is unable to fund boarding schools although all government schools are equal in terms of tuition fee; reiterating that those who think they are unable to pay the new fees have an alternative to withdraw their children from the boarding schools and enroll them in non fee paying public schools near their home

The chairmen were said to have changed their position on the 30,000 earlier presented with a plea to the government to consider 40,000 but this was not agreeable to the government. Although the Commisioner did promise to take the plea of 40,000 back to the governmemt, she gave no guarantee that this will be accepted.

At an earlier meeting,Mrs Adefisayo was said to have told the chairmen that government has decided to increase the fees to N125,000 per child in order to be able to improve boarding facilities. She said that out of the N125,000.00, government will subsidize it by paying 50,000.00 while parents should pay N75,000.00.

According to insiders,the mere announcement of that amount ellicited instant impulsive reactions from parents at the meeting which became so rancorous and noisy that the commissioner angrily dismissed the meeting and asked the representatives of the 32 schools to go and meet and bring their consensus to the government.

At the resumed meeting, the chairmen asked if the government subsidy will still be on the basis of 125,000 as earlier proposed, but the Commissioner was non committal in her response.

However, an agreement reached bordered on the issue of Hostel requirements. Hitherto, parents used to provide basic consumables, beddings and uniforms for their children, the new boarding fees will now cover other requirements and govt will henceforth issue the requirements and no longer the schools.

It was also agreed that upon the implementation of the boarding fee hike, parents are not to pay any other amount and under any guise to the school as the boarding fees will be all encompassing.

The heist of the meeting came when some chairmen requested for permission to take Parents Forum Association(PFA), dues from parents, the Commissioner directed that any need for such should be through approval from the Lagos state ministry of education.

The governmemt also hinted on the establishment of a School Based Management Committee (SBMC) in which the principal, parents’ representatives, students representatives, community representatives, religious representatives and traditional institutions representatives will be members. This SBMC according to them will be responsible for the management of the funds in each of the schools.