- ‘No extra lesson fee, no examination’
ZAINAB ONI
Parents have kicked against alleged malpractices perpetrated by teachers in public schools in Ogun State.
The parents have particularly condemned the ‘compulsory’ payment of N1,900 by each pupil in primary school for private lessons, organised by the teachers after the normal school hours. The money paid by the pupils, they alleged, was usually shared between the school authorities and the teachers.
The practice, the parents further alleged, had resulted in a situation where the teachers “now deliberately teach their subjects with levity during school hours in order to compel their pupils to subscribe to the private lessons after school hours.”
Our correspondent gathered that pupils, who failed to pay the fee for the extra lessons were usually prevented from writing the end of term examinations by the school authorities and the teachers.
A parent, Mr. Daniel Omoniyi, told our correspondent that his ward, who is a primary 5 pupil in one of the primary schools, had been a victim of the teachers’ alleged extortion in two consecutive terms in the last school session as she was initially prevented from writing her examinations because she defaulted in the payment of the private lesson fee.
Omoniyi said it was his decision to go to her school in company with a human rights activist, who confronted the school authorities over the matter, that eventually compelled them to allow her to write the examination.
“I feel this practice of forcing students to subscribe to private lessons by not teaching them properly is wrong. It means they are trying to sabotage the efforts of the state government in its provision of free education to pupils in the state. If I had not gone to the school with an activist, then it means my child would not have written the examination. This act must be curbed,” he said.
Another parent, who pleaded anonymity, expressed her dismay at the enrolment and admission process in public secondary schools in the state.
She condemned the alleged demand by school authorities that primary six school pupils seeking admission into the Junior Secondary School 1 and those going into Senior Secondary School 1 from JSS 3 in the state, should provide their own furniture, specifically tables and chairs, before they could be allowed to register in their new schools.
“As I am speaking to you, I am still owing my relatives the money I borrowed from them to enable me to pay for my child’s table and chair so that they could process her admission. I was told, if my child didn’t provide the furniture, her name would be struck out of the admission list. So, I had to quickly borrow some money. I feel this is not right, the government should address this issue.”
she said.
When contacted, Ogun State Commissioner for Education, Science and Technology, Mrs. Modupe Mujota, said that the state Universal Basic Education Board handled primary education in the state and such an allegation could not be taken
seriously.
“On the basis of the enrolment at the beginning of the session, we prepare and conduct examinations and mark on the basis of that enrolment. Any parent that says their child is excluded from examination cannot entirely be said to be saying the truth because we compare the enrolment figure with the examination scripts at the end of the session. We also have inspectors that go round during examinations to ensure that nobody is disenfranchised; that the examinations are conducted in a free and fair atmosphere, so that the results can then provide information with which we can plan for the next academic session,” Mujota said.
She argued that allegations about pupils being forced to pay for extra lessons could not be proved, because the education ministry in the state had directed the parent/teacher associations to ensure the presence of a zonal education in all their meetings.
Mujota said that the parents, in many cases, usually made the demand for extra lessons for their wards and even go as far as employing teachers for the purpose, adding that since they had the right to free association, the authorities could not stop them.
She, however, assured that no teacher forcing students to pay for extra lessons could get away with such because the state education ministry also had a curriculum content that the teachers must implement, and the subject masters and experts come together to form the examination board that brings out the unified examination questions.
The commissioner added, “That is not to say that some parents won’t be dissatisfied. Indeed, in the private sector, that also happens. But we must also recognise that not all children learn at the same pace. So, there can be need for some children to be schooled outside of the normal classroom environment so that they get the extra attention they require, because, perhaps, of their own way of learning differently.
“So, it is not something you can take in isolation. There are a number of factors that could be at play together that bring this out. But one thing that we are trying to do, as the government, is to limit the number of potential points that could be exploited, whether by the parents or by the teachers or even by the school system, that could in any way or manner or form exclude anybody or make them feel under compulsion to do anything.”
