Schools These Days Are Money Minded!

_{Emily Ranquist}

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There was a time that public higher institutions were cheap for everyone, all that was required was that the student made the required grades and the admission they were after would be theirs for the taking. School fees and the like were on the low side and that way it was easier for more and more people to attend school.

But now, after so many years. These so-called public schools are almost willing to cut our throats with the exorbitant fees that they keep on charging. As it stands, fewer and fewer people are going to school each year because of the financial obligation that it involves. And I’m not just talking about the fees.

Now, I know that many of you might argue that it is all due to the devaluation of the currency. And you won’t be wrong, after all the currency today is a far cry from what it had been twenty to thirty years ago. Money had more value then and little amounts had large purchasing power.

But as the value of the currency dropped, the cost of living skyrocketed and so did the cost of maintaining the schools. So, it should be understandable, right?

But that’s where I get a little bit stumped.

You see, the schools are all run by the government, right? Even though we pay school fees and other fees, it’s the government that pays the lecturers, pays for the maintenance of the schools, and gives money for the expansion and growth of the school. If the government is in charge of the purse strings of the schools, then why do they keep increasing the school fees every year?

Because with the way this trend is going, I am beginning to believe that most higher institutions in Nigeria are becoming more business inclined than actually having the interest of the students at heart.

_Pixabay

In the past, it was possible to finish studying your entire course without paying a single fee. You’ll be owing the school, but nothing would be done to you, and why? Because they were going to withhold your certificate. And without the certificate, you would not be able to serve and subsequently, you would not be able to get a job. As if that’s not enough deterrent, they added fees for late payment.

So when students consider all this, they try to pay their fees on time so that they will not accumulate and become something that’s too big for them to handle in the future. But there will always be those who will be unable to pay those fees at that time for one reason or the other, and the school withholds their certificates until they clear out all their debts with the school. Only then will they be free.

This was a good strategy because it didn’t interfere with the learning process of the students, and they didn’t lose any money because the students always returned for their certificates.

_Cottonbro

But now, in the last few years, this method has been abandoned by school authorities and they now try to make sure that every student pays their school fees within the first semester. And if they don’t, they won’t be allowed to seat the examinations. This is bad in all ramifications because then it interferes with the learning process of the students. Those that should have been studying for the forthcoming exams would have to begin to run around, looking for money to pay their fees.

Looking at all this, it can be argued that the schools are changing with the times. After all, the school system is so financially frustrating that more than sixty percent of the population are part-time workers, struggling to make money so they can cater to all the needs of the school. So many students end up learning one skill or the other, trying to get better at what they do so they can convert it into cash flow.

And maybe the school became scared that when such people graduated they would never return to the school if they were owing simply because they would not feel like they needed the certificate. So they felt it wise to get it from them while the going was still tight. This is just my idea, but that’s the only way it makes sense to me.

Because many of them are now employing the Computer Based Test (C.B.T) tactic. Whereby if you were yet to pay your school fees, then you would be unable to seat the exam. And slowly and steadily, it’s spreading all over the place.

_{Mathias Reding}

Now, schools are on strike, Nigerian universities to be precise, if they were taking so much money from the students why go on strike? Where does all that money go and what makes the authorities see it okay to keep on inflating them regardless of how it was affecting the students? After all, if the government is in charge of the purse strings then it should be in charge of the coming and going of funds in the school.

I still don’t know how that particular system works. Why do we have to pay so much when the government is in charge of the maintenance? Maybe it’s just for us to support the ministry in our capacity, but then that should be a minimum range and not be subject to inflation at the start of the new school year.

There are still a lot of things unclear to me about all this, but with time I will be able to clear the air around it and know for sure what is really happening.

_{Keira Burton}

Thank you for reading. Feel free to place your thoughts in the comments section below, I’ll love to hear what you feel. See you in the next post.

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_{Borderimage credit: @deimage.}