Uchechukwu Nnaike
The Principal King’s College, Lagos, Mr. Andrew Agada has refuted claims of enforcing compulsory boarding for all students of the school.
This was just as Chairman of the Parent Teacher Association (PTA), Mr. Sunday Ameh denied imposing a new PTA Levy on the parents.
They said this while briefing journalists yesterday, in reaction to the protest by some unidentified persons, who claimed to be parents of the school.
The protesters accused the school management of directing that all students should become boaders and accused the PTA executives of inreasing the Levy to N8,000 from N5,000 and imposing the new amount on parents.
But the principal said that at the emergency PTA meeting held on July 30, he had stressed the need for all students from junior secondary one (JS1) to senior secondary one (SS1) to become boarders to curtail truancy and indiscipline and improve students’ academic performance.
For instance he said some of the day students could still be found loitering outside around 9:30 am, when lessons start at 8:00 am, thereby missing two lessons.
Also, he said on two occasions students were knocked down by tricycle and motorbike on their way home and the school was contacted to rush them to the hospital before their parents arrived.
According to him, the school can accommodate the aforementioned students, but day students in the others classes will continue coming from home.
He noted that the federal government had directed all Unity Colleges to implement full boarding, but those that cannot accommodate all students could continue with day, and work towards full boarding for all students.
On his part, the PTA chairman said at the same meeting, having considered the harsh economic situation in the country, especially the high cost of diesel other services and increasing wage bill that are preventing the PTA from meeting its obligations.
He said parents agreed to intervene and they made some suggestions which were put to vote. Eventually, N3,000 was agreed on. He added that a parent moved the motion for N3,000 to be paid per term, pending when the situation improves, and the motion was seconded by others. He said money was to support the purchase of diesel and for waste management.
He reiterated that the PTA levy remains N5,000 as in other unity schools.
Highlighting the PTA’s interventions, Ameh said before now, it cost 250,000 to evacuate the waste per month, but recently the Lagos Waste Management Authority (LAWMA) announced an increment. So it now costs the PTA 70,000 per week, amounting to N560,000 per month for waste management.
He said the PTA currently pays the salaries of 53 teaching staff and 22 non-teaching staff at the cost of N4 million monthly, and spends N320,000 monthly to pay cleaning contractor, among other intervention projects in the schools. In spite of these the school does not charge developmental levy.
Also at the meeting, he said the PTA executives informed the parents that the PTA Buildings on both campus of the college needed urgent renovation. After deliberations, parents decided that the PTA should seek the services of an architect to conduct stuctural evaluation of the two buildings and present the cost at the next meeting.
He added that the task has been completed and the report would be presented at the next PTA meeting.
He noted that the outcome of the meeting was sent to all parents via email and the parents’ platform and regretted that the agitators did not contact him before embarking on the protest.
According to him, preliminary findings revealed that the protesters were neither parents nor guardians of the school.
Corroborating the PTA chairman, the principal stated that the school spends about N2 million monthly on electricity bill and with the epileptic power supply especially at the annex, the school spends about N800,000 weekly on diesel for both campuses.
He said the government is doing its best, but had on several occasions admitted that revenue was dwindling, and that schools should not impose levies on parents, but free-will donations and other interventions should be accepted.
The principal reiterated that the PTA is the only channel through which parents could present their complaints to the management and the federal government.
