The Federal Government has said the recent fee hike in Federal Government Colleges (Unity schools) only affected boarding and textbook fees, as well as uniforms.
POLITICS NIGERIA reports that the government said tuition fees for students in Unity schools remain free.
The clarification came after the Ministry of Education issued a circular on May 25, 2023, directing that new students of Unity schools would pay N100,000 on resumption.
The circular also indicated an increment of N15,000 in boarding fees, N3,000 in textbooks, and the sum of N2,000 added for notebooks.
However, the government said that the additional N49,500 added to the fees of JS1 students in the new school fees regime reflected on uniform, boarding, medical, utilities, textbooks, notebooks, and prospectus fees.
The government said that the fee hike was necessary to improve the quality of education in Unity schools.
The government also said that the increase in fees was insignificant and that it was still lower than the fees charged by private schools.
“The school fees were reviewed by the last administration. If you check the date on the circular, it was before President Bola Tinubu assumed office, and we released it in May to sensitise parents.
“So the slight increase is not in tuition fees. As a matter of facts, with evidence, tuition fee is still free because which child will you put in school that you will not buy books for and also buy uniform?
“The increase is insignificant as projected in the media. True be told, we don’t charge school fees. Which school will you put your child and feed him or her for three months with N30,000?
“The entire fees were reviewed across the board, not only for JS1 students.
“Uniform was added because of adulterated uniforms procured by parents for uniformity’s sake the school changed the idea so that all parents will buy same color of uniform,” the office of the Director, Senior Secondary Education Department of the Federal Ministry of Education clarified.
The breakdown of the hike is as follows:
