Minister: FG will form a negotiating team to address a rise in school tuition

The Parent-Teacher Association (PTA) and other relevant parties will form a formal negotiation team, according to the Federal Government, to look into the recent increase in fees in schools across the nation.

During a news conference on Friday to announce the celebration of the International Day to Protect Education from Attack in Abuja, the Minister of State for Education, Dr. Yusuf Sununu, announced this.

According to Sununu, the increase in school fees may be a major contributing reason to attacks at schools; as a result, it is important to look into the issue in order to prevent further attacks.

“So many monetary-dependent areas are under attack, but we also need to consider constitutional protections.

“Free education is explicitly stated in the constitution, but it is only provided “when government can afford,’ which is why it also involves voluntary donations from all parties involved.

“When we talk about school safety, we’re talking about a shared obligation. Therefore, we will promote formal negotiations.

“Where we are unable to supply, it is our intention to support PTA and pertinent organisations so that we may come to an agreement on a period that is agreeable to all of us.

In addition, we’ll support several collaborations in fields where they can contribute to peace. Regardless of our opinions, we must acknowledge the importance of PTAs in maintaining services in many of our schools at the local and national levels.

In order to ensure that quality education is affordable and acceptable to every Nigerian without lowering the quality of education, he said, “while we do that with limited resources, at the ministry level, we try to see how we can block leakages and see how more funds can be available to schools.” NAN reported him as saying this.

The minister added that in order to maintain the right to education in emergency situations, the Federal Government adopted the Safe School Declaration in December 2019 and created a safe school policy.

In addition to pledging the ministry’s commitment to creating learning centres in IDP camps, he also promised to give schools at all levels the pertinent data on threat assessments.