Safiu Kehinde
A group of parents of Oriwu Model College students in Ikorodu has, 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 Sept. 9, but we received a memo that one week has been added, which expired today, Sept.15.
“To our surprise, another memo came out on Sept. 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 reacting, Mrs Adedoyin Badmus, who spoke on behalf of parents in the Igbogbo Area, Ikorodu, said education was supposed to be free.
Badmus slammed the government for making it difficult for the children of many average Nigerians to acquire education with the sudden and astronomical increase in boarding fees.
In the same vein, another parent, Mrs Mary Enaayi, appealed to Gov. 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, the careers of those wards will be shattered because their parents can not afford to pay the N100,000.
“Some have two or three children in the school, which means they have to withdraw due to the sudden increment,” she said.
According to reports, 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.