As schools in Ondo state resume for the 2024-2025 academic session, parents and guardians are crying over the high prices of stationery and other educational materials by some principals in both public and private schools in the state.
Our Correspondent, who went round some secondary schools in Akure, the Ondo state capital on Monday could see how some school principals have added to the economic sorrow of parents, in gross violation of the state government directives.
Recall that the state government, through the Commissioner for Education, Science and Technology, Laolu Akindolire, recently during a programme organised by the State Commissioner for Information, Wale Akinlosotu at the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ) Press Centre in Akure, for State Government officials to give stewardship of their offices, warned teachers in the state, particularly, secondary school principals to desist from extorting parents and guardians under the guise of collecting fees from them for the education of their wards.
According to him, the State Government will not tolerate any action of indiscipline from any school principal who indulges in collecting unauthorised fees from parents and pupils of the new intakes.
In preparation for resumption, he said instructional learning materials, science, mathematics and laboratory equipment are being provided to schools to enhance effective teaching and learning in our public schools.
Akindolire, said no schools should sell books and uniforms to students and parents, but findings revealed the opposite.
The findings revealed that some schools; Oyemekun Grammar School, St. Louis Girls’ Grammar School, Akure High School, Adegbola Memorial Grammar School, St. Dominics High School, CAC Adu Memorial High School, Omooluorogbo Grammar School, Ijapo High School, St. Michael’s Catholic High School, all in Akure, mandated parents to buy books and uniforms from designated places, especially for new intakes (JSS1 and SSS1) students, and items from other sources are not acknowledged.
The schools also charge varied fees as PTA, miscellaneous and other payable fees, which are not in compliance with the government-published approved collectables.
The parents, however, appealed to the state government to clip the wings of some secondary schools indulging in extortion which have now become a recurrent practice whenever a new session begins.
Meanwhile, a market survey by our Correspondent in Akure, also revealed a massive increase in the prices of school materials, leaving sellers and parents crying with pain.
BusinessDay found that there had been between 30-70 percent increase in prices of the commodities.
The majority of the booksellers lamented that the high cost of books has been the greatest challenge to patronage, according to them, “the current high cost of books affects parents tremendously, with some buying only one or two books due to insufficient funds, affecting book sales and stocking.”
According to them, book prices have risen by 50 percent, with some books increasing by over 60 percent. They, however, lamented the low patronage of books and other school materials by parents and guardians due to the increased cost of living.
They urged the government to invest in education, warning that unaffordable books could increase illiteracy.
Some of the parents who spoke with BusinessDay, expressed frustration over the high cost of educational materials in the face of economic hardship and scarcity of funds, saying the development has completely drained their pockets with nowhere to run to.
They stressed that the current inflation in Nigeria has affected every sector of the economy, not only education, due to fuel hikes.
“As parents, we appeal to the state government to make the free shuttle buses available for transporting our children,” they said.
