Parents protest as principals charge school bus, furniture levies

Community Senior Grammar School
| credits: Folashade Adebayo

Parents who have had to pay unauthorised levies to the management of some public schools in Lagos have cried out to the state government for intervention.

The parents, who are alleging that principals of the affected schools forced them to pay N1,500 before they could collect the report cards of their children, are asking the state Governor, Mr. Akinwunmi Ambode, to stop the schools from further extorting money from them in the name of the state government.

It was learnt that the money was meant for the purchase of a school bus.

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One of the parents, Mrs. Kike Anibaba (not real name), alleged that her son, who is a pupil of Community Senior Grammar School, Aguda, Surulere, paid N1,500 on Monday to his class teacher on the instruction of the school principal.

She also alleged that the school ran a poultry where chickens were sold to members of the public.

“I had to borrow the money to pay on Monday. My son who was in SS1 paid the money to his class teacher before he was given his report card. They were initially asked to come with the money on August 20 but many parents could not pay up. Imagine collecting N1,500 per pupil. There are 78 pupils in my son’s class alone.

“A lot is happening in government schools and I am bitter about it. Did the pupils ask for a school bus? We even had to pay another N100 to collect the report card. Why? This particular school also charges N2,500 for customised uniforms. We are forced to buy from them. The times are hard and most of us enrolled our children in government schools because we could not afford private schools. Why are they extorting money from us in the name of government? The school has a poultry within its premises and the principal is always saying it is for Biology practical,” she said.

Calling on Ambode to step into the matter, Anibaba said the principal of the senior school, whom she identified only as a woman, had frustrated efforts of the parents to challenge her.

Another parent, who spoke to our correspondent on condition of anonymity, said she had to struggle to get the money when her daughter said she might not be allowed to resume with other pupils later this month.

“This idea of a school bus is strange. But I had to give my daughter the money though I budgeted it for something else. This is supposed to be a low-cost school and I don’t know the type of bus they want to buy. My own grouse is that the money is simply too much. We also attended public schools. We did not have a school bus in our time because it was not a priority. Do you know how many pupils are in a class and the entire senior school by extension? This is fraudulent and smells of corruption,” said the parent.

Our correspondent, who visited the school on Wednesday, established that pupils indeed pay the amount before they could collect their report cards. On the pretext of being the guardian to one of the pupils, this reporter met a teacher, identified as Mr. Bello, but was told to wait for one Mrs. Macauley who is in charge of payment.

Macauley, however, denied that the school birthed the idea when confronted on the issue.

“It was a decision taken during one of the parents-teachers meeting. The Junior School has a school bus and we teachers used to drive the pupils to events and competitions. There was a time we had to take 40 pupils to an event and we were running up and down.

“The parents saw this and decided, on their own, to donate N1,500 per pupil to enable us to buy a school bus. A committee of parents was even set up to that effect. The school did not force them,” she said.

The teacher, who declined to provide the contact of the PTA chairman, also denied that the school was running a poultry.

“The Lagos State Government is trying but it cannot provide everything. The government donated 200 birds to the school. We did not have computers and projectors until the state government provided them. But nowadays, parents see the need to intervene,” she said.

However, findings by our correspondent showed that the school many not be alone. A self-employed man, Mr. Olu Benard (not real name), whose son attends the Lagos Progressive Junior Secondary School, also in the Surulere area of the state, told our correspondent on Wednesday that the principal also charged N1,500 for furniture given to the school by the state government free of charge.

Pleading on behalf of other parents, Benard asked Ambode to appoint supervisors whose duties would be to periodically monitor public schools in the state.

He said the school was already giving the government a bad name because theywere told that the state government directed them to collect the money.

There were no teachers in the premises when our correspondent visited the school on Wednesday but the security man asked her to come back in order to pay for the furniture.

Speaking to our correspondent on Thursday, a source in the Ministry of Information said while the PTA could make its own arrangements, the school was not expected to compel any parent to pay.

“It is not supposed to be a fixed charge or tied to report card collection even if the PTA arrangement is true. Parents should have been allowed to donate anything they have,” said the source.

However, the Public Relations Officer of the ministry, Mr. Jide Lawal, told our correspondent on Thursday that necessary measures would be taken against any errant official.

“We are going to investigate and will take disciplinary actions against any teacher or principal found culpable. We will also take necessary measures to forestall a recurrence,” he said.

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