The recent hike in school fees of some schools across the country, particularly the increment by the federal universities, has continued to attract the ire and condemnation of Nigerians, especially parents and students.
The Academic Staff Union of Universities, ASUU, the umbrella
body of teachers in the universities has also added its voice to the growing
concerns, warning that if the trend was not reversed and adequately addressed,
it would lead to mass dropout of students from the universities in the next two
years.
The ASUU president, Prof Emmanuel Osodeke, who handed down
the warning, predicted that between 40 and 50 percent of students in the
universities would definitely drop out of school in the next two years if the
trend was allowed to continue.
The university don lamented that the people’s standard of
living is at its lowest ebb following the high cost of living as a result of
continued downward slope in the value of the naira against the dollar and other
foreign currencies, and instead of finding a way to improve the living
condition of the people, the university authorities are adding to the people’s
pain and misery.
He said: “Today, universities are arbitrarily increasing
tuition fees. Is that correct in an environment, where the minimum wage is
N30,000 per month, and where they have to pay rent and pay heavily for
transportation? And you are enforcing this thing on the students?
“As a result of this, I can assure you that if nothing is
done about this heavy fee being introduced all over the country today, in the
next two or three years, more than 40 to 50 per cent of the students who are in
school will drop out.
“If you say school fees of N300,000, how can the children of
somebody who earns N50,000 a month be able to pay such fee?”
He condemned the government attitude to education funding,
even as he urged the federal government to increase its education budget from
the paltry 3.8 percent in 2022 to about 15 percent of the overall budget sum if
the government is serious about developing education in Nigeria.
This, he said, would not only contribute to education
development, and by extension to the overall development and growth of the
country’s economy, but also relieve parents of the strain of paying expensive
fees for their children.
Many public colleges and universities have raised tuition
fees in recent months to reflect what they called the current country’s
economic realities in the country.
At the last count, no fewer than three federal universities
have announced an increment in their schools fees, forcing students to respond
with peaceful protest.
On September 12, students of the University of Jos, Plateau
State, took to the streets to protest what they called an outrageous increase
in their school fees. The placard-bearing students had stormed the streets of
the Tin City State to reject a 300 percent increase in their school fees.
According to the students, the school had, in 2017,
increased its fees from N27, 000 to N45, 000; an increment that was
collectively agreed upon by both the university authorities and the
students/parents through negotiation. They lamented that barely five years
after that agreement was reached, the university authorities woke up this
current session to announce a 300 percent increase, forcing the 100 and
200-level students to pay a whopping N213,000, and N160,000 for the 300-level
students, respectively.
Recall that similar protests had earlier rocked the
University of Nigeria Nsukka, and the University of Lagos, where similar
arbitrary increments were pronounced by the university authorities.
According to reports, the UNN recently increased the school
fees for the 100-level and 200-level students, despite protests by students on
December 1, 2022, when fees were raised by 100 percent for the 2021/2022
academic session. The recent increment raised the fees from the old N45,000 for
returning students to between N85,000 and N95,000, depending on the course and
faculty.
It was also reported that after the students’ protest, there
was a deduction of N10,000, bringing it to between N74,000 and N75,000
respectively for old students, while new students are required to pay between
N114,650 and N120,650, respectively. Going by the latest increment, a returning
student in the school is expected to pay about 90,750, depending on the faculty
and department.
Even with the reduction in the school fees following
students’ demonstrations as can be seen in UNILAG, Prof Osodeke is concerned
that parents/guardians may find it difficult to pay the new fees.
However, many believe that the recent increment in school fees
by some universities is not unconnected with the recent subsidy removal in
education and the introduction of students’ loan.
Those who hold this opinion argued that although the
constant increment in school by federal universities has been there, they
became more prevalent a few months after the Students’ Loan Act was signed into
law by President Tinubu on June 12, 2023. The law stipulates that students can
fund their education through the loan and repay within two years after
completing their National Youths Service Corps (NYSC) programme.
But the ASUU president does not believe that the students’
loan would change anything. He expressed fear that the loan scheme would fail.
He stressed that if the scheme must be effective, then the lending policy must
be examined.
Prof Osodeke is not alone in his world of scepticism about
the students’ loan scheme as many students have also continued to express
similar fear, insisting that the loan would not work due to the high
unemployment rate in the country.
But, tertiary institutions have remained adamant and
unperturbed as they have continued to increase the school fees. They do so in
the firm belief that with the students’ loans, no student would drop out of
school. But, students are saying that even if they would be able to repay the
loans after school, accessing the loans is very tasking.
A student from the Department of English and Literary
Studies, Lagos State University, Ojo, James Okunade, lamented that the
conditions for the approval of the loan were unbearable.
“The process is overly rigid. If one manages to obtain the
loan and then struggles to complete his or course of study, finding a job
within the stipulated time becomes a big problem.
“Again, depending on loans as a student could mean
graduating not just with a degree but also with a debt certificate. In addition
to this particular loan, many students take out other loans just to access
education, leaving them with both degrees and debts.
“So, both the government and the school authorities should
recognize the fact that these approaches are ineffective. Nigeria has not yet
reached that level. I’ve heard that Unilag has reduced its school fees. I urge
other institutions to follow suit. If the government truly wants this country
to progress, they should prioritise education,” he stated.
Decrying the development, a 200-level mass communication
student in Unilag, Mary Ayodele narrated how she struggled to pay her school
fees for the 2021/22 academic session, lamenting that she couldn’t register her
courses.
She added that it had a serious negative effect on her final
results as she lacked concentration when she wrote exams for the courses she
did not register before the exams.
She expressed doubt about her ability to pay the current
school fees.
“The school fees were supposed to be N74,000, but they later
increased it to N90,750. It will be hard. I haven’t told my dad the actual
amount we’re meant to pay now, but I know it won’t be easy. He might get
furious and stop funding my education,” she stated