Hardship: Parents Withdrawing Children From Private Schools

School children in Lagos (Photo: Emmanuel Oshodi)

 

An investigative report conducted by Vanguard has revealed that Nigerian parents have commenced withdrawing their children from private schools to public ones, attributing their action to the harsh economic situation in the country, as school children resume from the long vacation.

 

Speaking to correspondents on Tuesday, some parents and school owners, lamented the bad economic situation, with proprietors stating that since resumption, their schools have been witnessing a low turnout of returning pupils. 

 

Mrs Gladys Adewumi, whose three children were in Living Joy Nursery and Primary School in the Ikorodu area of Lagos, said she withdrew two of her children from the private school to a public school when it was apparent her husband could not cope financially. 

 

“I operate a beauty salon and my husband is a plumber and we have three children in a private school. For about a year now, my husband has not been able to live up to his financial responsibility to the family, which led to over N100,000 indebtedness to the school.

“To reduce the financial burden, we agreed to remove two of our children from the private school to a government school at Elepe. The challenge I may encounter now is the distance between our residence and the school, which is about five miles,” Adewumi said.

 

School children in Lagos (Photo: Emmanuel Oshodi)

 

On his part, the proprietor of Gosfat Nursery and Primary School, Agege, Mr. Gosfat, lamented that “the recession has affected every home,” and regretted the heavy toll it has had on his school.

“Most parents have withdrawn their children and wards and taken them to public schools despite the fact that our fees are low.