Maduako Igbokwe l Monday, August 03, 2020
ONITSHA, Anambra, Nigeria- Parents of students of Marist Brothers Juniorate Uturu, Abia have lamented over the institution’s forcing them to pay another school fees of N203,500 for just one month, as school resumes tomorrow.
Some of the parents who spoke to our correspondent, lamented that despite the none completion of the last session,the management of Marist Brothers Juniorate was bent on collecting full school fees from them for just one month that the children will stay in school to take their examination.
They described the situation as regrettable and painful, given that there is no way many of them can source for money urgently to return the students to school.
According to them, students are expected to return to school latest on the 4th of August, Tuesday night with draft indicating full payment of the school fees.
One of the parents who did not want his name in print for fear of victimastion said it was wrong for the school to charge full school fees for just one month of revision to enable the students to take their examination.
According to him, before students were forced out of school due to the Covid-19 pandemic, they paid their ward’s fees even with one month to go and he wondered why when the management would still use the provision of one month food to still feed the children and still collect another money when there was provision of one month left before the forced closure.
“How can we still pay for what our children did not use? Paying for full term fees when the students will spend just one month in the school is painful especially under the present economic condition” he said.
He said during the vacation, parents contributed N2 million to assist in the online teaching and that the management of Marist Brothers Juniorate did not consider that as appreciation.
Another parent who did not want her name in print also said, the management of the school did not care about the economic situation of parents in the covid 19 era before asking them to pay full school fees for just one month.
She said that many parents are not meeting up with their family obligations due to the pandemic, saying the school management should have considered the situation in the world today and reduce their pains.
She further lamented that with full school fees which must be paid before students resume,some students may not likely resume to take the final examination, saying it was very regrettable that many children may not continue with school due to faults that were not theirs.
He appealed to the authority to reduce the fees since it just for one month for the exam.
