Parents celebrate N35,000 boarding fees

Parents celebrate N35,000 boarding fees

Parents of pupils attending Lagos State Model Colleges are celebrating the victory of their efforts to get the Lagos State Government to reduce boarding fees from N50,000 to N35,000.

It was learnt that the Ministry of Education and the parents on Tuesday reached an agreement that pupils of the 16 Junior and Senior Model Colleges and upgraded secondary schools should pay N35,000 as boarding fees.

The agreement followed the setting up of a committee by the House of Assembly Committee on Education to proffer solution to the fees controversy last week.

The six-man committee comprising equal number of representatives of the parents and the education ministry, agreed on N35,000 – which is N15,000 less than the amount the government proposed pupils should pay, and N5,000 more than the amount the parents said they were ready to pay.

It was gathered that the committee’s report recommending the N35,000 boarding fee would be presented for Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu’s consideration.

When contacted, the Public Affairs Officer in the Ministry of Education, Mr. Ganiu Lawal, said: “The ministry will react at the appropriate time.”

Pupils of the Model Colleges will resume in batches from this weekend.

However, the Ministry of Education has not confirmed the new boarding fees.

Before the fee hike was announced in July (N75,000 initially), parents paid N25,000 as boarding fees for their children – an amount Education Commissioner Mrs. Folasade Adefisayo said was in place for 18 years.