Back To School: Parents, School Owners, Businesses Recount Experiences
Schools nationwide have resumed a new academic year, and along with this comes the attendant joys and challenges associated with the start of new sessions. From day care centers to secondary schools, learners flood into new and higher classes of learning, while another hundreds of thousands commence the journey of their educational careers for the first time.
The 2025/2026 academic session is forecasted to be a particularly challenging one as Nigerians confront record-level hyperinflation driving up cost of tuition in private schools among other necessary educational resources. Reactions have included change of school to more-affordable ones, some moving from private to public schools, failure to buy recommended school textbooks, and private school owners scampering for survival.
The Daily Times team; Chukwuemeke Iwelunmo, Okioma Aherhoke, Tom Okpe, Msugh Ityomuta, Ukpono Ukpong, Kingsley Chukwuma, Samuel Luka , Bassey John, and Gabriel Idibia, spoke with major stakeholders including parents, private school owners, public school administrators, and business owners ancillary to the education sector. These respondents in Lagos, FCT, Bauchi, Uyo, Kaduna, Jos and Birnin-Kebbi share their school resumption experiences, their adjustment strategies and what is being done to cushion the shock withdrawal of students from high end schools.
Making cuts, withdrawals and lowering standards – Parents speak
Several parents said their household finances have been stretched by broader economic realities while grappling with financial burdens of paying school fees, buying school uniforms for their new starters, those moving from one educational level to another, as well as those changing schools. Buying textbooks, stationeries and paying for supplies, and the learners’ transport fares are some of the added burden.
Families have had to adjust their style of living, feeding, social gathering and cut down on nice-to-haves. They revealed that the country’s economic situation cannot support frivolous living any longer.
Mr. Sunday Nnohan, a phone dealer, said the economic situation has “affected school fees very negatively, including increased prices of students’ books. A bag of rice before was N45, 000 but now N80,000.Things are so hard. Children’s school fees have really affected the family’s house budget as we have to cut down our meal size”.
Another parent, Mr Onyewuchi Oparaugo said, “to be sincere and honest, the current situation in the country has really affected my family. Payment of school fees is no longer a joke these days.” “I had to withdraw my two children from their former school because the fees went up by nearly 40 percent,” says Mr Emmanuel Ifehjina, a journalist based in Abuja.
“We have moved them to a more affordable school. It was a tough decision, but survival comes first,” he concluded.
With the situation at hand, more parents are overlooking environmental conditions and safety provisions presented by school facilities. Issues like leaking roofs, broken desks, and poor sanitation, which can hinder learning,have become tolerable.
Buying of Textbooks – The sacrifices
Getting textbooks for the children has been another daunting challenge as many schools compel parents to buy their children/wards’ textbooks from the school. This has left parents at the mercy of school owners that have mostly made pacts with the book publishers. Moreso, books previously used by older children can hardly be used by their younger ones due to the exploitative tendency of school proprietors.
In a bid to stem the exploitation, a few state governments, notably Abia, have come hard on the practice of incessant changing of textbooks by schools and also forbid them from assigning home-work to be written in the pages of textbooks. This move will increase the reuse of textbooks by successful students or younger ones, thereby giving parents respite.
Mr. Kevin said, “you talk about books, you can’t afford it any more and you have to go through the school to get books. Private schools have branded everything from books to uniforms and at very high costs as you cannot get them in the open market.”
He noted that after paying for all these, feeding becomes near-impossible. ” I used to spend N100,000 monthly on feeding a few years ago, but today, (cooking) a meal in my house, when I want to manage, will cost me N10, 000. You can imagine, morning, afternoon and night, I’m spending N30, 000 for one day. Multiply this by thirty days of a month. Honestly, school fees have affected my feeding budget.” Mr. Kevin’s family now skips meals and he hardly drives his car as a result of the adjustment.
This was corroborated by Mr Lukman, who said the economy has affected both school fees and housekeeping budgets for his family. He has had to pay school fees on installments and is now considering transferring their children to public schools. “The school fees also affected budget we have to pay for other bills such as rent payment, electricity bill, fuelling, food and other amenities”
A father of five, Apostle Chigozie Okonkwo was unable to send all five children to school at the start of this new academic session. This was as a result of limited resources to pay fees and buy books. His family has decided to keep two or three children in school while the others are enrolled in lessons. “With the trends of things in the country, my five children cannot afford to go to school at the same time,”he said.
Both Elijah Bulus and Oluwafemi John shared accounts of their struggles to meet up with the school demands amidst financial difficulty.
Mr Elijah Bulus is a low-income earner with two learners in school. He resides in Bauchi. “The school fees nowadays is higher than expected. I have to suspend other things to start paying the fees. This is affecting my progress in some aspects of life”, he said. Bulus urged the government to create job opportunities and economically empower parents to meet their children’s educational needs.
Oluwafemi John, an electrical engineer and farmer residing in Wuntin Dada, Bauchi, said he has had to readjust his budget due to economic hardship to enable him commence payment of fees and other items such as exercise books and school sandals.
Mixed experiences for school owners and proprietors
Private school proprietors also face their share of challenges associated with school resumption as many insist that the upward adjustment of fees is unavoidable, citing the high cost of running schools, payment of teachers’ salaries, and rising expenses on electricity, instructional materials, and maintenance. Some proprietors say they are under pressure to balance affordability with quality service delivery.
In the past week, expectations of many school owners have been shattered as some parents withdrew their children from current schools in favour of cheaper school alternatives. The resultant reduction in intake of students will lead to the inability to pay teachers and laying off of teachers; and a high turn-over of teachers will affect the quality of education rendered to the young children in schools..
Acknowledging the negative impact of students withdrawal, some proprietors quickly adjust to keep staying in business. While school owners urged restoration of falling education standards via qualified teachers, training, retraining and better wages, parents and educators highlighted the need for balance between affordable fees and teacher remuneration amidst economic pressures.
Mrs Blessing Okeke is the proprietor of NEXYN GOLD schools in Mararaba, Nassarawa a private nursery, primary and secondary School. She said: “As realists, we need to understand with parents, knowing that some have two to three children in the school. What do we do? We have to follow all, gently and systematically, to make things balance for us all, so that we too, don’t fall out of business. We are in business, you know.”
She stressed further: “We pacify parents at the close of the school’s semester in July, by sending newsletters, to parents/guardians, a kind of congratulatory letter for a successful end of term. We also make them understand that our school is one of the best and well-equipped schools in the State that provides all inclusive and customised educational programmes that meet high academic and behavioural outcomes, that would amplify their child’s potential.
“Our fees for our JSS3 students, graduating to SSS1 is N60, 200.00, cost of books, N20,000.00 while Literature students pay N11, 500.00 for books. We are all struggling to survive as things are not easy nowadays,” she said.
However, another proprietor praised what she called an impressive turn up of students at resumption. At M & T Royal International School, the proprietress, Mrs Esther Salako described pupil turnout as impressive since Monday, crediting it to understanding between management and parents allowing fee payment in instalments.
“Our fees are community-friendly. We collect bit-by-bit payments,” she said.
Similarly, at Catch Them Young nursery and primary school, Tunguri, the Proprietor, Yusuf Mamaki, remarked this school year’s resumption as encouraging, commending parents for valuing their children’s education.
Proprietors and technology have affected our business – Bookshops
Bookshop operators who stock textbooks have been adversely affected by the policies of private schools selling books directly to parents. A good number have had to shut down.
Mr Onyekaonwu Polycarp of FrankFaith bookshop commented that bookshop owners are passing through very hard and difficult times during this period. Onyekaonwu regretted that individual publishers have formed alliances with schools to publish and supply their books to the schools without passing through them. He noted that these individuals clearly write on their books ‘not to be sold in bookshops.’ According to him, this action has greatly affected sales
He however revealed that big publishers do sell to bookshops which has remained their source of survival.
An anonymous major bookshop owner located at the Ekeki motor park, Yenagoa, in Bayelsa State, said they could no longer continue with the business and had to close the shop. Speaking to our correspondent on phone, he said, “As I’m talking to you, I’m at the verge of changing line of business as the bookshop and stationery venture has nosedived. Parents who are majorly my customers have been affected by the current economic crunch on their purchasing powers, also there is increase in rent and besides, with the internet, most books are on digital and these have cumulatively affected our business.”
He disclosed that he contemplated street hawking between the closing hours, however government officials are bound to terrorise them with multiple taxation and the failure to appease them usually leads to confiscation of their wares.
According to Mr Nkem Ajah who runs a book shop in Nyanya, a suburb of Abuja, “Parents no longer buy full lists of textbooks at once. Some only buy the most essential and promise to come back for the rest later. It shows how tough things are.”
Another bookshop owner in Mararaba market in the FCT, Abuja, Gregory Chikaodi, laments low sales of books since the emergence of the new administration.
“We sell our books today in a ‘slow system.’ Unlike when we were selling in advance of one to two months before school resumed. Students don’t even have the culture of reading today, like the older generation since the availability of modern technology.
“The Android phones today have made things worse for us, as parents opt to buy sophisticated phones for their children, instead of books. Yes, all they need to read is available for them in the phones, but its disadvantages are higher compared to recorded advantages,” he said.
Other businesses
The resumption period usually ushers in booming business for traders in educational accessories: Tailors are busy sewing new uniforms, stationery storeowners stock up with exercise books, pens, and core textbooks, while sellers of school bags and shoes witness high patronage. But even in this sector, traders report that many parents now buy in smaller quantities or opt for cheaper alternatives.
Can public schools bridge the education gap?
Public Schools are largely said to not provide credible alternatives for parents in terms of quality of education and child care. In addition, the newly increased demand on public schools caused by students transferring from private schools due to high tuition, puts a lot more pressure on previously struggling government school structures. Overcrowded classrooms limit effective teaching and affect the overall quality of education offered.
Most government schools are not adequately resourced in terms of education provided, quality of care, instilling moral standards, dearth of teaching and learning aid facilities. This little or no option has forced many struggling parents to keep their children in private schools under whatever condition just to fulfill the righteousness of being seen to give their child ‘better education.’
While experts have urged parents to see education as an investment rather than a burden and encourage creative budgeting, payment plans where schools allow, and prioritising essential school needs over non-essentials, it is still excruciatingly difficult for many parents to keep heads above water.
