EXPOSED: How local school authorities scam poor parents and undermine free education policy in Lagos

Nigeria is estimated to have the highest number of out-of-school children globally, with over 10.5 million children, according to United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). Of this lot, Lagos State is said to share 33,000 of the number, as noted in a 2014 DFID report. The majority of the children live in rural areas and the antics of local school authorities contribute highly in forcing them out of school. Ripples Nigeria, in this investigation, unravels the corrupt acts of some local school authorities in Ajegunle, Lagos state.

For Peter and friends, there won’t be school this term or even next term!

On a cool Monday morning at a slum in Ajegunle, a surbub in Ajeromi-Ifelodun Local Government Area of Lagos State, Peter Adekanbi, an 11-year-old boy who had just concluded primary education in a public school, and waiting to be enrolled in a public secondary school, was lost in a game of football.


Peter Adekanbi… Has beautiful dreams about schooling
He was not alone.

There were six other children, aged between 7-12 years, who were enjoying the round-leather game with Adekanbi. Many other teens in Tolu-Ajegunle community loafed around while their mates were in different schools learning. This Monday morning held no special attraction to these seemingly jobless young lads. Just, perhaps.

Adekanbi loved football but he also had beautiful dreams about schooling. When asked why he was not in school but playing football on a Monday morning, he said: “I have not paid the N1, 500 registration fee the principal of Alakoto Junior Secondary School asked my mum to pay.

“We are in the middle of the first term and I do not think I will go to school this term again or even next term because my mum does not have money.” Adekanbi hurried back to join others who had suspended play in his absence.


Alakoto Junior High School… Adekanbi’s mom could not afford the fee
Adekanbi’s case is one of the thousands in Ajegunle where parents lament that authorities in public primary and secondary schools deprive their children of education, as a result of the inability to pay some illegal fees and other levies imposed by the schools.

Some parents in Ajegunle, who felt the need to send their children to school as a result of persuasions by concerned Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) and individuals, alleged that the corrupt practice of collecting money from them, in the form of fees and sundry levies, forced families to withdraw their children from schools.

A mother’s cry… ‘I took them home since I couldn’t afford to pay’

Adekanbi’s tale was amplified by a mother in her late 30s who simply identified herself as Iya Aminat. She shared the story of her encounter with authorities at Wowo Nursery and Primary school, Ajegunle, where she had made futile attempts to enrol three of her children. “The child I wanted to put there was to be enrolled in primary one but the teacher demanded N3, 000. The other child was to be enrolled in a nursery class, but the teacher asked me to pay N2, 000 before the child could be admitted.”


Wowo Nursery/Primary School… Iya Aminat took the kids home because she couldn’t afford to pay
Iya Aminat’s pleas for some concessions fell on deaf ears, and when the authorities insisted that she had to part with the exact fees, she sought cheaper alternatives that were far from her abode. “I now took them home since I could not afford to pay. I then took them to Apapa. At a school in Apapa, they collected N500 for one of my children to be enrolled in a nursery class. Apapa is very far from here (Ajegunle). Sometimes, if there is no money for transport, they will stay at home and not go to school for days, sometimes weeks,” she said.

Iya Aminat, whose abode is a decrepit one-room apartment, runs a make-shift tailoring outfit in the same one-room structure which she shares with the rest of the family. She fears that if nothing is done to alleviate the plight of the poor, many parents would end up not sending their children to school. She added that there were already numerous children in the area who had stopped going to school.

Full details: https://www.ripplesnigeria.com/exposed-local-school-authorities-scam-poor-parents-undermine-free-education-policy-lagos/

RipplesNigeria:
EXPOSED: How local school authorities scam poor parents and undermine free education policy in Lagos

Nigeria is estimated to have the highest number of out-of-school children globally, with over 10.5 million children, according to United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). Of this lot, Lagos State is said to share 33,000 of the number, as noted in a 2014 DFID report. The majority of the children live in rural areas and the antics of local school authorities contribute highly in forcing them out of school. Ripples Nigeria, in this investigation, unravels the corrupt acts of some local school authorities in Ajegunle, Lagos state.

For Peter and friends, there won’t be school this term or even next term!

On a cool Monday morning at a slum in Ajegunle, a surbub in Ajeromi-Ifelodun Local Government Area of Lagos State, Peter Adekanbi, an 11-year-old boy who had just concluded primary education in a public school, and waiting to be enrolled in a public secondary school, was lost in a game of football.


Peter Adekanbi… Has beautiful dreams about schooling
He was not alone.

There were six other children, aged between 7-12 years, who were enjoying the round-leather game with Adekanbi. Many other teens in Tolu-Ajegunle community loafed around while their mates were in different schools learning. This Monday morning held no special attraction to these seemingly jobless young lads. Just, perhaps.

Adekanbi loved football but he also had beautiful dreams about schooling. When asked why he was not in school but playing football on a Monday morning, he said: “I have not paid the N1, 500 registration fee the principal of Alakoto Junior Secondary School asked my mum to pay.

“We are in the middle of the first term and I do not think I will go to school this term again or even next term because my mum does not have money.” Adekanbi hurried back to join others who had suspended play in his absence.


Alakoto Junior High School… Adekanbi’s mom could not afford the fee
Adekanbi’s case is one of the thousands in Ajegunle where parents lament that authorities in public primary and secondary schools deprive their children of education, as a result of the inability to pay some illegal fees and other levies imposed by the schools.

Some parents in Ajegunle, who felt the need to send their children to school as a result of persuasions by concerned Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) and individuals, alleged that the corrupt practice of collecting money from them, in the form of fees and sundry levies, forced families to withdraw their children from schools.

A mother’s cry… ‘I took them home since I couldn’t afford to pay’

Adekanbi’s tale was amplified by a mother in her late 30s who simply identified herself as Iya Aminat. She shared the story of her encounter with authorities at Wowo Nursery and Primary school, Ajegunle, where she had made futile attempts to enrol three of her children. “The child I wanted to put there was to be enrolled in primary one but the teacher demanded N3, 000. The other child was to be enrolled in a nursery class, but the teacher asked me to pay N2, 000 before the child could be admitted.”


Wowo Nursery/Primary School… Iya Aminat took the kids home because she couldn’t afford to pay
Iya Aminat’s pleas for some concessions fell on deaf ears, and when the authorities insisted that she had to part with the exact fees, she sought cheaper alternatives that were far from her abode. “I now took them home since I could not afford to pay. I then took them to Apapa. At a school in Apapa, they collected N500 for one of my children to be enrolled in a nursery class. Apapa is very far from here (Ajegunle). Sometimes, if there is no money for transport, they will stay at home and not go to school for days, sometimes weeks,” she said.

Iya Aminat, whose abode is a decrepit one-room apartment, runs a make-shift tailoring outfit in the same one-room structure which she shares with the rest of the family. She fears that if nothing is done to alleviate the plight of the poor, many parents would end up not sending their children to school. She added that there were already numerous children in the area who had stopped going to school.

Full details: https://www.ripplesnigeria.com/exposed-local-school-authorities-scam-poor-parents-undermine-free-education-policy-lagos/

which wicked world?
Only option left for Nigeria populace on Education is:
Parent School
Parent School will be a School administer by student parents of the School.