Lagos — The new school year has been ushered in with parents and guardian of private school pupils paying more school fees, mostly without any consultations from the school. While school owners say such increases are inevitable, the payers said some of them are nothing short of a rip-off.

Paying school fees in a new school year is a challenge that many parents prepare in advance for. But when the time to pay comes, it is as if many parents do not prepare for it. A parent, Mr. Michael Okonkwo, spoke to THISDAY at a branch of a first generation bank, where he had gone to pay his children's school fees said that much. "The fees keep going up and with the poor state of the economy it is difficult to shelve other needs at home because of fees. Money kept aside is usually spent when there is a need at home."

Private school owners, Okonkwo said hardly give reasons for increase in fees and the only notice parents get are the tellers attached to results indicating the various fees to be paid and the deadline for payment and if a parent defaults, the child turned back from school.

While many schools would rather not discuss their fees, many of them were found to have increased their fees by between 30 and 50 percent of what it was last session.

School owners justify increase in school fees with the various projects that they embark on at the beginning of a new session. Some renovate and repaint their buildings, replace some facilities and generally make the schools more appealing to pupils, especially the new intakes. Some parents spoken to however described some of these projects as unnecessary and unjustifiable for the increase in fees.

But not Mrs. Bose Lawal, a parent who said though it pinches, the increase in school fees could be justified. According to her, "these private schools spend a lot of money on infrastructural development. Since their only source of income is the fees they collect from students, they have no choice but to increase it to improve facilities and pay teachers' salaries." She however noted that some schools tend to do this arbitrarily, without giving a thought to other responsibilities that parents bear and the biting economic situation in the country.

Another parent who preferred anonymity said: "School fees are high, but sometimes when I see how much these children have learnt, I don't mind paying them because quality education is the best thing parents can do for their children and it does not come cheap."

Defending the periodic increase in school fees, Head of School, Sunnydale Nursery/Primary School Ikeja Lagos, Mr. Gboyega Fadare said the high cost of commodities was a major contributor and since the schools buy from the same market, fees increase was inevitable for any school to remain in business.

Private schools, he said, also increase fees to enable them provide facilities, like computers, equipped laboratories and libraries, as well as conducive learning environment.

He added that most private schools do not increase fees without a corresponding improvement in the quality of education that they offer and the welfare of their teachers. Some employ more qualified teachers and re-train those already in their employment, while, in most cases, teachers' salaries are increased before the fees are increased. He advised those who may not be doing these to do so in order to justify the increase in fees/

Government also has a share in the blame. A proprietor, who spoke on condition of anonymity complained about indiscriminate and multiple taxation.

Fadare also described as 'choking' some state policies that require school owners to make annual remittance of a certain percentage of the value of their school buildings to the government. This, he said could force school owners to increase fees indiscriminately in order to break even.

According to him, government ought to give grants to private institutions like schools and hospitals, since they provide services that government alone cannot provide due to lack of funds. These grants he said could be in form of facilities or equipment and would discourage indiscriminate fees' increase in private schools.

The Head Teacher, Cedec International Schools , Apapa Lagos, Mrs. Ifeoma Ogoh said the main objectives of private schools was to provide qualitative education that would enable their products to stand out among their peers. To do this, she said, they need a conducive atmosphere for learning; well equipped computer rooms; music rooms; libraries and competent teachers, who would be properly remunerated. These things cost a lot of money, she said and considering the state of the economy, private schools have to increase school fees to afford them.

She said parents often complain when fees are increased, but with this explanation and the level of knowledge their children displayed, they gladly oblige.

If only government can improve the standards of his school, the fees may not jump up so often and so high. Mrs. Joy Akpan who has four children in private schools said she was uncomfortable with the high fees, but that she had little choice, given the economic situation in the country and the poor state of public schools. "If I had my way, I would send my children to public schools, but I cannot bring myself to do it because of the poor state of these schools. Government should improve infrastructures of public schools to attract parents because they have more qualified teachers than most private schools."