Parents face hard times as schools raise fees over rising costs

…Costs of books, basic education items surge

Uwaezuoke Okorie, a transporter and father of three who resides in Egbe, a suburb of Lagos, used to get enough daily wages to cater for his family and comfortably pay his children’s school fees.

But now he has fallen on hard times and finds it difficult to meet up with his daily returns to the owner of the vehicle owing to fuel price hikes and high cost of vehicle parts.

He spends an average of two to three hours at petrol stations daily struggling to get petrol at N1,000 per litre, which now eats into his income. As a result, he is unable to meet his several obligations.

Okorie is among millions of parents grappling with the country’s worst cost-of- living crisis that has deepened since the fuel crisis began.

He constantly struggles to pay his children’s school fees and has decided to withdraw them. He can no longer cope with the increasing cost of keeping them in school in the face of rising costs.

“I asked my three children to withdraw from school because the school has increased its fees over the recent fuel price hike. And I’m faced with a quit notice from my landlord,” he said.

“Right now, my main concern is to get accommodation to shelter my family. Though it is not my initial plan for my children, the truth is that I can’t cope with having them in school with the rising economic challenges,” he explained.

Parents are struggling to educate their children as schools raise their fees due to rising costs in the economy.

Emmanuel Oluwaniyi, a civil servant, decried the surging rate of school fees amidst rising inflation, noting that his six-year-old daughter’s school has just hiked the fees again.

“My daughter’s school fees have been increased from N150,000 to N250,000, a 67 percent rise. I don’t know their criteria for the increase. It is probably a spiral effect of the fuel increase,” he noted.

Read also: Petrol price hike compounds parents’ woes as schools resume

“I think I will have to look for a nearby micro school and register my child,” he said.

Michael Orji, a businessman and a father of two, said the petrol pump price hike on the eve of school resumption has caused more harm to parents than good.

“To be honest, as a father, I’m groaning within myself. It is an ugly situation to narrate. The price of food is on the high side, which the children cannot do without, and now transportation.

“My blood pressure has gone high because my salary cannot meet the family needs. I decided to withdraw my children from using the school bus because I can no longer cope with the bills,” he said.

A parent with a child at an Oke-Afa, Isolo school in Lagos, told BusinessDay that he has paid N126,000 as fees as against N90,000 last year, indicating a 40 percent rise in tuition fee. He said the cost of a bus fare was increased from N40,000 to N50,000 in the new term.

A parent whose son is in a school at Mowe in Ogun State decried the almost 100 percent increase in his child’s school fees.

“The school authority just notified us of new fees. They have increased the school fees from N70, 000 to N130, 000, an 86 percent rise,” he said.

Apart from the rise in school fees, prices of books and stationery have also been on the constant rise, making parents seek cheaper alternatives.

Read also: Families prioritise food, education on school resumption, economy

Millions of Nigerian parents are buying used back-to-school items to cope with the amplifying cost-of-living crisis in the country.

At Aswani, a crowded Isolo suburb in Lagos, BusinessDay met parents turning to second-hand markets to pick up stationery, school bags and other essentials for lower prices.

Mary Oladamola, a baker and mother of three, who was at the market to make purchases of fairly used back-to-school items for her children, said she cannot afford buying new items for her children.

To cope with the rising costs, she noted, “I have opted for fairly used school bags and food flasks. I usually buy them from Aswani and Kotangwa markets.”

The cost of New General Mathematics for JSS1 has surged by an average of 133 percent to N3,500, from N1,500 last year.

Intensive English – Goodbye to Failure in English – now goes for N3,000 as against N1,400 in 2023, indicating a 133 percent increase in price.

New General Mathematics for SS1 now sells at N4,000 as against N2,000 last year, a 100 percent price increase. Active Basic Science and Technology now goes for N3,700 as against N2,000, indicating an 85 percent price increase.

A pack of 40 leaves exercise book goes for N2,200 as against N1, 400 sold last year, representing a 57 percent rise in price, while a pack of biro now sells for N2,700 as against N1,350 last year.

Nigeria’s inflation slowed to 33.4 percent in July, according to the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), and looks set to rise over the recent pump price hike, analysts said.

Africa’s biggest economy has been grappling with double-digit inflation since 2016.

Mercy Nnokam, the proprietress of Argil Pearls Academy in Port Harcourt, lamenting the rising cost of living amid the recent petrol pump price increase, said it is tremendously affecting the operation of school business.

“It’s more challenging coping with overhead expenses such as running the generators, school daily supplies, and utility bills. Parent’s inability to meet up with payment of previous school fees, staff salary, state and local government levies, among others, are burdensome,” she said.

Nnokam, however, said, the school does not intend to increase fees but would adopt other measures to trim overhead expenses.