By Emmanuel Udom
As expected, most private schools in parts of Ogun State are in for a raw deal this August. The schools are hustling for new and returning students, under the cover of organizing summer lessons, investigations reveal.
In Nigeria with about 20-million-out-of-school-children and 130 million people in over 230 million population living below poverty line, it is the in-thing across communities in the 774 local government areas of the country.
However, some private schools charge between N100 to N300 per students daily for the holiday coaching which started first week of August. Some even charge more for lessons and school fees.
Some of the A-list private schools around Ifo, Sango Ota, Ewekoro, Abeokuta and Sagamu, monitored by our correspondent are: Adedokun International School, DWAT Home School, Unique International Schools, Evergreen International School, St Jacobs Schools, Access College, St George Foundation School, Alpha T International School, Astute Schools, etc.
For the summer lessons, DWAT Home School for instance charged N6000 per student, which translates to N300 per day for each student. The school also packaged spelling bee, educational movies, sports, games and other packages for the students, in a lesson that began August 1, 2023 and is expected to end September 8, 2023.
Evergreen International School with Shodimu Abdulkabir, as founder, St George Foundation School, with Ola George Odunoye, a pastor as founder and Access College also advertise for holiday lessons.
But, our correspondent observed that St George advertised for admission of new students from May, while De Achievers placed advert banners at strategic positions around Ifo, Ewekoro, Sango Ota, around June, this year.
Our correspondent, who joined Good Tidings Model School, a private school with less than 30 students, located in an uncompleted building at Ogundimu Street, Bungalow, Ifo, initially planned to collect between N100 to N200 from each student for the holiday lessons, but no student turned up for the lessons, as at the time of filling this report.
Godwin Adamu, a self-acclaimed pastor and owner of the school was positive when he said that he “is sure more new students will join the school September in addition to the returning students”.
Astute Schools, Unique International Schools, have erected billboards around Sango-Ota, Abeokuta, Ewekoro, and Sagamu, seeking for admission of new students and hoping that the old students will return, it was observed.
However, a private school owner, who spoke off records, said that during summer lessons, some schools use incentives such as sweet, biscuits, soft drinks, etc to entice new students from other schools, who attend their holiday lessons.
“The ultimate intention is to influence the students to put pressure on their parents to send them to the schools that organized the lessons come September, when the 2023/2024 academic session begins.
Adesina Tunde Patrick, chairman of National Association of Private School Proprietors, Ifo Ward, when contacted penultimate Tuesday to speak on the admission moves of private schools, the differences in school fees, as well as other issues confronting the administration of private schools around Ifo, initially assigned his secretary to speak with our correspondent.
But, he later changed his mind and ordered our correspondent to walk threatening to call in the police, after seizing the ID card and jotter of our correspondent. He later returned the ID card, while refusing the return the jotter even as at the time of filling this report.
Abdulkabir however spoke on the differences in school fees charge by various schools saying that “the fees are determined by the communities that schools are located, as well the facilities on ground as well as the employment of qualified teachers”.
The Evergreen International School CEO further explained that holiday lessons or no holiday lessons, private school owners and teachers endeavor to deal truthfully and honestly with students and parents on their academic status of their children.
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