By Femi Adewale
Some parents of students of Oriwu Model College in Ikorodu, on Sunday, protested the sudden increase of boarding fees by the Lagos State Government.
The parents, who carried out the peaceful protest at the gate of the college, demanded the immediate reversal of the boarding fees which was increased from N35,000 to N100,000.
Mr Kazeem Oladuni, Chairman, Parents Forum Association (PFA), Oriwu College, appealed to the state Ministry of Education to reverse the increment to enable their wards resume school.
“Our children were supposed to resume on September 9, but we received a memo that one week has been added, which expired today, September 15.
“To our surprise, another memo came out on September 13, indicating that the boarding fees have been increased from N35,000 to N100,000
“We held a meeting with Lagos State Coordinator of PFA and resolved that the fees are outrageous for any parent at this time of hardship in the country,” he said.
Also, Mrs Adedoyin Badmus, who spoke on behalf of parents in the Igbogbo Area, Ikorodu, said education was supposed to be free.
Badmus, however, said the government was making it difficult for the children of many average Nigerians to acquire education with the sudden and astronomical increase in boarding fees.
Similarly, another parent, Mrs Mary Enaayi, appealed to Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu to consider the plights of many parents who are petty traders and struggle to ensure that their children access quality education.
Enaayi urged the state government to urgently reverse the fees to allow dividends of democracy to cut across all strata of society.
“I am appealing to LASG to consider that some parents are traders, but because they want their children to have quality education, that is why they registered them as boarders.
“With this outrageous amount, careers of those wards will be shattered because their parents cannot afford to pay the N100,000 each.
“Some have two or three children in the school, which means they have to withdraw due to the sudden increment,” she said.
The parents carried placards with inscriptions like ‘No reduction, No resumption’, ‘We need free education’, ‘Our government is wicked’, ‘N35,000 to N100,000 is too outrageous’, among others.
