Ekiti pry, secondary students to pay N500, N1,000 development levy

As part of the decisions arrived at during the recent Education
Summit in Ekiti State, students of public secondary schools are now to pay N1,000 per term towards educational development in the state while N500, proposed for primary school, is yet to be approved by Governor Ayodele Fayose.
The State Commissioner for Education, Science and Technology, Mr Jide Egunjobi, who made this known in a statement in Ado-Ekiti on Tuesday, said all stakeholders in the education sector, including parents and teachers consented to the introduction of the Education Development Levy.
He said: “Before now, secondary school students were paying N100 as PTA levy, N300 for Extra Lesson and N600 as Examination Fee while primary school students were paying N100 as PTA levy, N300 for Extra Lesson and N200 as Examination fee, making N600 per term.”
Apart from the Educational Development Levy (EDL) of N1,000, Secondary school students will pay N500 as Parents Teachers Association (PTA) levy, N600 for Examination, N300 for Extra Lesson, making N2, 400 per term while it is proposed that Primary school students will pay N100
as PTA levy, N100 for Extra Lesson, N100 for Examination, making a total of N800 per term.
There are 178,263 students in the 879 public primary schools; 48,960 in Junior Secondary Schools and 55,677 in Senior Secondary Schools in Ekiti State, making a total of 282,900.
The Commissioner for Education, who said the levies were not new in the state, added: “Students of public schools in Ekiti were paying PTA, Examination and Extra Lesson levies before Governor Fayose assumed office.”
He reiterated the government’s commitment to the restoration of the state’s lost glory in the education sector, saying; “Ekiti State recorded 36.5 per cent performance in WAEC this year as against 25 per cent last year and that only happened because strict measures were introduced and teachers were greatly motivated and encouraged.
“It should be recalled that in 2003 when Governor Fayose assumed office then, Ekiti State was number 35 in WAEC and by the time he left office in 2006, the state was number eight. That feat can still be recorded and we are working assiduously towards returning the state’s lost glory.”