Abuja, like the commercial city of Lagos with unmerous shops, is flooded with private primary and secondary schools. Owners of these schools which are strewn all over the city, set their eyes on the parents, like commercial banks would target prospective customers. Their primary target? Making money while providing the needed educational services for the students come second.
Although many of them are making waves as centres of excellence going by the sustained production of high-flying graduates yearly, parents of such students are paying through the nose for the educational services.? They don’t mince words about the exorbitant rates.
Compared to public schools in the city, which charge peanuts, the private ones are milking poor parents who desire a reasonable level of education for their children. The average range of fees in a secondary school is between N5, 000 – N10,000 per term while their private counterparts charge a fortune. Their fees range between N100, 000 – N500, 000 per term, a charge which most parents consider out of reach.??? ?
One parent, Mr Obi, whose son attends? a private school in Abuja, laments that the fees keep changing every term without notice nor justification.
“Just last year, I paid N120,000 as school fees for my son who was in SS1 but I just paid N150,000 for the same child in the same school, who is now in SS2.” ?
The annoying thing about these private schools is that every year they increase one fee or the other apparently because the public schools are decaying very fast and not much is being done to arrest the rot,’’ Obi added.
But he is not alone in the frustration. Mallam Sani Abdullahi, a resident of Gwarinpa whose children attend a private school in Wuse 2, recalled how he had to cough out N660, 000 for his three children in the private school this term alone. “I had to pay for new sets of uniforms including blazers, sport kits, books, and school fees.? I think the proprietors of these schools just wake up and decide the fees without considering what parents can afford’’.
But like Shylock, the more money they get does not translate into better services for their workers and the students. Most of the private schools have not witnessed any significant growth in terms of facilities despite the ever-increasing fees they charge parents. Nor have they considered increasing their workers salaries. While the charges continue to rise every term, most of the workers in private schools earn a meagre pay for life. They cannot complain because of very stringent and almost ridiculous employment conditions put in place for the workers to sign upon assumption of duties. As one of the private school workers pointed out, the condition of service in the schools are very strict and dehumanising.
‘’ It is not as if whenever there is an increase in school fees, our salaries are increased. I have been working in this school for the past three years now but I can tell you that my salary was only recently increased by a paltry N10, 000 by the authorities,” a female worker in one of the schools in Karu lamented.
?But have the high fees deterred parents who want quality for their children? Mrs. Ruth Isibor, whose three children attend one of the most expensive schools in Abuja, is quick to root for the private school instead of public schools.
She said: “The difference is very clear between a child in a private school and another in a public/ government school. Their command of English is very good. As a parent, I am always proud when my children speak in public: they are not only well-spoken but they are very confident.
?They also know a lot about science and technology and many other fields.? Most of the time, my kids educate me; they fill me in on all the new and exciting things they are exposed to in school. So really, I get value for my money,’’ she confessed.
‘’I strongly believe in private schools. If God has blessed a parent with a lot of money, the child or children should be sent to a good private school because these schools tend to look out for the children. They have a lot of good facilities used in training their students and they also conduct extracurricular activities such as music, dance, drama, swimming and karate classes which make the students well-rounded” these were the words of Mr. Solabi, a teacher and father of four whose children attend a private school in the city.
Most of the public schools on the other hand, lack the basic facilities for teaching and learning as well as the capacity to enforce discipline and control needed to bring about better performance by the pupils.
While most of the private schools assign 20 to 25 students to a teacher, the reverse is the case in public schools. A typical public school has as many as 60 pupils in a class, which in many cases are conducted under the tree or in dilapidated classrooms.
Mr.? Adejumo, a class teacher in one of the most popular public primary schools in Abuja said that a classroom in a public school has as many as 50 students while in a private school, it is almost impossible to record such number of students in a single classroom.
He counseled that there should be a standard number of children in a class to make room for proper teaching and learning. He noted that in a private school with 12 pupils in a class for instance, it would be easier for the teacher to? communicate with the pupils and impart knowledge to them than in a crowded classroom in most public schools.