About three years ago, when our first child was going to be two years old, I asked my wife to look around for a good school in our neighbourhood. Although she had accepted to stay at home for the first five years of our married life and take care of the home and our children, she had to renege on that agreement as the economic situation began to bite harder. A few days after I gave her the assignment, she came with a kind of ad-hoc report:

“You remember that school in Jibowu, not very far from WAEC?” she asked.

“Yes,” I replied. “It looks like a good school to me, though I have never entered the compound.”

“You will decide if it is still a good school after I have told you their fees.”

“How much is it?”

“They said it is N175,000 for crèche and N185,000 for nursery.”

“Is that per annum or for the entire period the child will be in school?”

My wife tried to hold back a chuckle but could not. As it turned out, that was what I would have to pay per term for a two-year-old if I wanted her to go to that private school. And that was minus other expenses like feeding, clothing, transport etc.; that was just the basic school fees.

Then I did a quick mental calculation. I do not know how much my parents spent to give me some primary and secondary education, but I am sure it was not up to half what someone was asking me to pay per term for a two-year-old. Even for my university education, I could not have spent close to N185,000 on the four-year undergraduate programme and the one-year master’s programme put together. And we are not talking about something that happened about fifty years ago. Indeed, times have changed.

That was how my first two children ended up in a reasonably cheap school in Ilupeju where I am currently paying about N150,000 per term (for the two). The problem is, my first child is going to primary school in September this year and that means looking for another school as the first one does not have a primary school. From what I have gathered so far, the average school fees per term for primary education in this neighbourhood is about N100,000. But it could be up to twice that depending on the school. And we are not talking about college or university education here; we are talking about basic education for one’s child or children.

If the truth were told, you would discover that not many people can afford such exorbitant school fees. As much as some of us have always managed to pay these fees, only God knows how many other responsibilities are suffering as a result. Today, my life practically revolves around paying school fees for toddlers. Just when you are about to take a deep breath after paying some mind-boggling school fees, the term is over and again you have to start another round of payments.

I have asked a few of my friends what the alternative is. “Send them to less expensive private schools,” I have been told. But that would mean relocating to some other parts of the state, far away from my place of work. Again, that is not taking into consideration the quality of education one would get in such cheap schools. My wife is even more comical about it. “Stop saying there are no cheap schools,” she often tells me. “There is Gbekele Private School somewhere and there is Olubusola.” The mere mention of such names makes me cringe. Even among private schools, there are private schools.

Another question is: why do we all have to send our children to private schools? My answer is, if I am certain that my children will get some standard education in public schools, I would prefer to send them there. After all, I did not go to a private school. Unfortunately, I do not know anyone who wants his or her children to go to public schools at the moment. Is it the dilapidated structures that will make you send your children there or the unmotivated teachers? That is why there are probably more private schools in most states of the federation today than public schools: there is total or near total neglect of public schools all over the country by different tiers of government. And whatever is true of primary and secondary schools is even truer of institutions of higher learning. The usual excuse is that the government does not have the funds to run or provide anything. Yet, there is money enough for our public office holders to steal and live in affluence.

My friend whose three children are boarders in a top private primary and secondary school somewhere in Ogun State went to the UK recently to look for a school for her oldest daughter who is writing her school certificate examinations. The tuition in her preferred school for A’ Levels? About ₤7,000 per term! That is a whopping ₤21,000 per session, just to do A’ Levels. By the time you factor in other costs, you will have a better understanding of the tragedy of our situation. And this is a country where those living below the poverty line are said to be over 70 percent of the population.  

In an analysis by a motivational speaker, Fela Durotoye, at the Annual General Meeting of the Lagos State Chapter of the Nigerian Institute of Public Relations about two years ago, the conclusion was that Nigerians (without any government assistance) spent over ₤30 billion per annum to get some education in the United Kingdom alone. And his conclusion was drawn from figures provided by the British embassy. One can then imagine what the figures will be when collated from every country where Nigerians run to for some standard education. Add that to the billions of Naira spent in private schools in Nigeria to get some education, then you will begin to weep for our governments and country. I cannot but wonder if our educational system will not take a great leap – for the better – if all that money (or fifty percent of it) was spent by the government to raise the standard in public schools and then recovered from parents one way or the other.

The unfortunate thing is that a lot of those children who go to the most expensive schools here and abroad are children of government officials who are in a position to revive our moribund educational system. And as long as they can send their children to top private schools and abroad with stolen funds, they will never consider doing something about our educational system. That is why I think we should press for a legislation that makes it criminal for public officials to send their children to either private schools or schools abroad. Their children should be made to go to public schools, like the children of those who do not have any choice, and let us see if they will be unconcerned about the demise of our hitherto vibrant educational system.

And one fear my friend who has enough money to send her children abroad entertains is that after we have spent all the money giving our children the best education anywhere in the world, they will come back (if they ever do) to have the so-called people with sub-standard education (or no education) work in and run down the companies they set up or manage. That is why she feels strongly that it will be in everybody’s interest that we do something about our educational system.

On my part, I have decided that as much as I love this country, if things do not improve shortly, particularly in the educational sector, I may be forced to go to where my children can have the best education at the most affordable rate. It is not in my interest, or their interest, or even our country’s interest to jeopardize their future.  

Robot  # 1 | 27.05.2009 20:19

About three years ago, when our first child was going to be two years old, I asked my wife to look around for a good school in our neighbourhood. Although she had accepted to stay at home for the first five years of our married life and take care of the home and our children, she had to renege on that agreement as the economic situation began to bite harder. A few days after I gave her the assignment, she came with a kind of ad-hoc report....Read the full article.