I dont have an apt title for this rant but I know what am saying.
A friend was gisting me the amount a secondary school, one of those international wannabes charge for a session for a JS1 kid. Pls guess? Anyone? N1.4 million (one million, four hundred thousand Naira) for a JS 1 child! An SS1 student just joining the school has to pay N1.6 million. Yep, u heard me. for a session!!!!
Ok, so am not a rich kid, never have been so the idea is CRAZY to me. So, does anyone agree with me that this is some kind of madness????!!!
We can say, well, thats for rich kids now. i will tell u. my friend, a fellow lawyer like me (pls be informed, practising lawyers in abuja generally earn peanuts) enrolled his 1 yr old kid for kindgergaten. pls note, all they do is teach them a few songs and make them sleep. they paid about a 100k for that child and no, thats not been outrageous, thats one of the fair prices u can get.
The secondary school thing is particularly annoying bcos its not like angels or professors teach these kids, normal people do. except u count one of those few oyinbos that circumstance bring them here to come and teach as extraordinary. i do not also think the ACs in their class rooms and cyber cafes are extraordinary factors too that warrant the charge of such exhorbitant prices.
For some parents, its not so much about their wish to get the best education for their kids, its about their own status and pride so they can say: "my kid attends such and such school, its very expensive".
i was reading the first edition of Flair, formerly TrueLove and there was this article about parents using the school their kids attend to show that they've got "Class". Those housewives dress to the teeth just to go and drop their kids and go back home o. But i digress....
Just before u go off thinking, "Omotee, u r saying this bcos u dont have that kind of money now or u r just beefing the rich". Not exactly. Of cos i pray and hope to be rich too. But its not necessarily for N1.4m school fees and thats not me not caring about my kids education.
However, am just worried about other people who will never be that rich and will never be able to afford that kind of fees.
The idea of public school is gradually dissappearing, everyone think its for the very poor people so everyone either has their own school or attends the Rich school or flies abroad. Truth is, we all wish to study above but we all shall not be able to do that. We all cannot be able to afford to pay N1.4 mill per session for our kids.
Federal Govt Colleges used to be the best schools then, but now? Nobody wants to send their kids there so the standards have dropped, they are practically abandoned. Its all about private schools now. But the truth is, not everyone can attend a private school.
I ask again, is it such a terrible idea to resuscitate public schools?
I saw a documentary on Rivers state and saw that the Governor is building a big public school, has all the good plans and ideas for the school. If the idea for the school becomes a reality, with all i heard, nobody will be under tremendous pressure to send their kids to public schools bcos all the ACs and nice structures and good teachers in the private schools are also in the public schools.
If this trend goes on without a solution, its gonna be sad.
All schools will gradually become private. Public schools will remain in the village.
It will be said cos the rich kids and poor kids will all grow up and be in the same society.
Rich kid attends great school, becomes a good child, gets good job, gets rich and buy great expensive things just to make life comfortable.
Poor kid attends bad school or no school, never finds a job at all, has no money to even eat.
Here's where they all meet:
Poor kid becomes armed robber or militant and robs or kidnaps rich kid. in an unlucky situation, poor kid kills rich kid.
The world is a complete circle; we all still meet somehow.
So, is it just me or this is an actual issue?
19 comments:
for some parents, they dont have a choice...if you stay on the lekki axis....except you want to take your children to school on the mainland.....which maybe inconvenient for you and the child...except you have a driver on stand-by..it might just be tricky...on the school on this axis and the day cares are outrageously expensive
Humph! my sis, am on the same school of thoughts with you o! Alas! i had learned to keep my views to myself because they would say na becox u no get that kind of money ooooooo & one is not exposed or enlighten...but 1.4mil ke?...i go buy land for Ajah...for that amount o! WAEC..& JAMB...na ALL go still write at the end of the day abi?...WHY CORRUPTION GO DIE FOR 9JA MY SISTA?...A private school told each parents to bring 350k /child for summer trip to DUBAI....so person na get 4kids for the school nko?...E TIRE ME SHAAAAAAAAAA!
Wow, that last part is pretty powerful...and so true, to a degree, unfortunately!
We can't afford to send our kids to private school but fortunately we live in a very good school district.
Hmmm, unfortunately while attending a 'rich' school might give one greater exposure it does not equal great (or even good) morals.
No matter how 'rich' a school is, both the 'rich' parent and the 'poor' parent "... all still meet...." in the kind of training they child their children.
Eventually, this is what will most most for if one has not good morals, one might seemingly get to the 'peak' but, one (almost) certainly cannot maintain being at the top.
doll - i understand a lagos situation. however, not everyone in lekki can afford to pay that kind of fees. so, even lekki deserves a nice school where everyone can fit in
nittygritty: hmm, my sista, exactly my thots o! at this rate, how will corruption die for 9ja?! its sad men
helene - we do solicit ur prayers on this issue, something must give. how are the kids?
rethots: exactly! with all the private schools, neco and jamb still records large failures, so really, whats the big idea?!
Sometimes I even wonder when my own kids grow up to a schooling age, what would now happen. As you rightly pointed out,a lawyer's salary are so meager! so I can't even help the poor man in that area..
They should just phase the whole 'private' thing off. Everyone now has a private school and sometimes as you rightly opined, they don't teach them jack! The private schools of then can't even be compared to the ones spring up now..
I tire.. I just might think of home education oh when my children turn comes..
Nice post.
thats what Nigerians are all about in my opinion, ive never been to nigeria but ive heard things like that. Even in the US, Nigerians want their kids to go to the best colleges not rly the best high schools just so they can say my son/daughter goes to _____ college/unversity...of course Nigerians in the US dont have money like some of the ones in Nigeria to be spending an obscene amount on just highschool alone...so its college that matters to them....the whole thing is stupid really
if the 1million is for a section as in a whole year, then personally i dont think its that big a deal.as long as they are teaching my kids very well and they are getting an astounding education then i dont mind paying anything to ensure that they get it.
The private school phenomenon is everywhere. Up until university. The sad thing is that the schools are established and managed by the political and religious leaders who should be looking to improve the public / government schools.
Really sad.
my sister, this post is soooo spot on..truth is, the govt have totally made a mess of public schools even FGS which people relied on and ent their children to.. Now, the private schools are so expensive even for playgroup/daycare..that they go to learn nursry rhymes and sleep..i cant shout..
And the very exorbitant ones really have turned to a status thing wmong mothers but me, i no de look such..even sef, upon all i pay, i make sure i make whatever little time i can to teach my kids every evening
P:S - for Ibadan here, School de pay 1.5mil o..high school.na so so all these politician and wanna-be society women de flock de..meanwhile, na one of them politician go get de school, instead to use d cash upgrade public schools..
chacha: really, i wonder what happens to our kids when they have to go to high school. sad....
onosetale: i wish i could deny and go defensive but truth is, u r so right. we use/have/buy the latest or most expensive of everything basically to prove "levels".
leggy: its a session, yeah. only problem is LOTS of people CANNOT afford such rates and the options that would have been available (cheap, affordable public schools) have been practically destroyed.
she: thank you!!! u just hit it right on the spot. the person who's supposed to improve it either has a school or is using the money to send his kids to private schools!!!! how sad is that?!
histreasure: in fact, u took the words right out of my mouth o, na so! 1.5m in IB?!?! shuo?!!!!!
Govt has made such a mess of Public schools. I went to a federal govt school and i tell people that if those schools were as good as they were in my days, would so send my children there.
I find it ridiculous when people pay such amount of money for school but if one can afford it, then there is no problem.my own issue is when all in the name of my child must attend so and so school, parents go to extreme length to take them there, especially when the school is so far from their home. Don't understand why kids should attend a school in Lekki, when they reside in Ikeja.
Hi dear, I have missed you guys, my blog people. How now?
This issue sha is one close to my heart. What I do not understand is how the presence of private schools should destroy the public education system. They both co-exist here so what probably gives is the same corruption riddling all sectors of our economy. Na wa sha.
Let me see how I can answer this as objectively as possible because I come from one of those families that go to really expensive private schools. I don't know what others' motivations might be, but for my father it's about giving us the best education he can afford. I don't think having private schools affect the decline of public schools, they can perfectly co-exist except Africans lack a maintenance culture. Hence the public schoool is run non-chalantly because it belongs to the government whereas the private schools are run like a proper business.
Lara: i so agree with u. Fed Govt Colleges were great and right and really affordable. why cant we just do that?!
Myne: Abi o, why cant there be options and choices?
Berean Girl: thanx for stopping by.
i dont have a problem with those that can afford expensive schools, why not if u have the money? i just have a problem cos in Nigeria, the existence of one is obviously leading to the extinction of another which isnt right. they should be allowed to co-exist. they dont want co-existence. Not right
LOL. I have no comment.
some private schools?
ridiculously expensive
public schools?
wish the govt could do more for them(dem dey try)
all in all
rich or poor if you dont give your child the proper (home)training
all dat money will be money down the drain.....
I believe that public schools should be very good and should be resuscitated for everyone to get a free and fair chance at good education.
But I do not think sending your child to a good school; 'good' being the primary condition here that is expensive is outrageous if you can afford it. Some people are willing to spend that much on their children's education and compromise some other things just like some people are willing to spend millions on house(s) and compromise other things.
Not all expensive schools are just for class, honestly. If the ones who can afford it are doing it now since the government has almost abandoned us, it is not a problem. I am SURE that if such standard of education came at a cheaper price, more people will embrace the idea.
1.4 million Naira a session is not the worst I've seen...It's almost average.
So generally, the solution to this problem is to create govt. schools that are of INTERNATIONAL STANDARD at an affordable price. In the mean time, people will look for the 'best' for their children.
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