ERC condemns tuition fees introduction in federal
institutions
Sodiq Oyeleke
The Education Rights Campaign has opposed the recommendation of the
Committee for the Restructuring and Rationalization of Federal Government
Parastatals, Commissions and Agencies headed by Mr. Stephen Oronsaye for introduction of tuition fees in Federal tertiary institutions in the country.
The group in a statement by its National Coordinator, Mr. Taiwo Soweto said the Federal Government should throw out the recommendation in the
interest of students and poor working class parents who are already
over-burdened by several fees.
He said, “ This recommendation if accepted by the Federal government will see
fees in federal universities, polytechnics and colleges of education rise up to
between N450, 000 and N525, 000. Together with the existing fees students pay,
this we see a huge drop in enrollment and significant rise in drop-outs.
“A good example of how fee increases
destroys public education is the case of Lagos State University where close to 70% of new entrants failed to take up their
admissions after fee was increased by over 725%. This has also threatened the
existence of some departments in the university because of sharp drop in the
number of students enrolled. There is even thinking in some official quarters
of scrapping some of the departments which will lead to retrenchment of
lecturers and non-teaching staff.”
According to him,
the report if
implemented will signal the death of public education in Nigeria, stating that several students drop out annually as
a result of the plethora of outrageous fees being charged at federal tertiary
institutions.
“The real
cause of the sharp decline in education quality and standard is the neo-liberal
policy of underfunding and commercialization embraced by succeeding governments
(both military and civilian) in Nigeria. We believe that the real solution to the crisis of public education
is for government to increase funding to the sector as a significant step
towards provision of free and functional education at all levels,” he added.
Written by NEWSTRAWL ONLINE UPDATE
Sodiq Oyeleke is a Media, Human Resources, Project Management and Public Relations Practitioner
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