School fess week and parents’ anxiety

As we enter the school resumption week marking the end of the holidays for our children, it is very germane that as parents we reflect on our roles and the added responsibility of educating our children.

It is hoped that this holiday period has strengthened our resolve to pay greater attention to the provision of not only affordable education but on the quality of education for our children.

As parents, we have a God- given responsibility to take good care of our children, and emphasis must be laid on good care which also involved education because education is the bedrock of a child’s development in any society.

Education is one of the basic rights of a child as enshrined in the charter that formed the UNESCO. If we want the talents, dreams and intelligence of our children to take them as far as they have been divinely made, we must prioritize the provision of quality education that polishes the talents inherent in them.

We need to also provide and emphasize the building of good character traits in our children because character formulation and cultivations forms the basic responsibilities of parents to their children.

Education without character is nothing and character without education is also nothing. We as parents must also think of ways of providing the enabling environment for our children to learn. We should make our homes safer as that is also essential for the cultivation of good behavioural pattern.

Yes, the present economic climate in our country presents us with different choices as parents, we however should know that difficulties make priorities a necessity.

We therefore should prioritize our needs as canvassed by economists long time ago: the concept of opportunity cost.

In spite of the obvious difficulties and challenges facing us, there are two options before us when it comes to our children, to either strive to build solid foundations for them through education or being indifferent to the cause of their education which poses the risk of truncating their futures.

Another issues to consider when it comes to children education include affordability, quality of teachers, school environment and accessibility.

It is very common to find parents struggling to meet up with their children’s school fees just because they want to belong to a class or circle.

In this part of the world, school high fees have become a status symbol. This situation has made some parents to be in huge financial embarrassment, thereby making them to lose focus on the bigger picture which is paying close attention to your child’s performance and general wellbeing in school at their formative years.

We shouldn’t be having sleepless nights because it’s time for our children to go back to school when it ought to be our happy moments because they are going to acquire new information that will make them better citizens of their country and probably renowned global personalities.

When we are not at peace with ourselves before, during and after the school fees weeks, then we must as a matter of urgency take self-evaluation to identify why things are not working out the way it should be.

If your child/children are in a school that the current economic situation has made it difficult for you to cope, please look for a more affordable alternative and take your child there. You shouldn’t be in pointless competition with anyone.

Here in the FCT, adequate attention is being given to the educational sector by ensuring the standard and quality of service are comparable to the most expensive schools around.

This explains why for so many years, students of Junior Secondary Jikwoyi Abuja have been winning the Student for the Advancement of Entrepreneurship (SAGE) competition in the United States of America. SAGE is a program that helps teenagers start real businesses that are profitable and have significant social impact.

I was once told a story of a widow who sold the only property bequeathed to her by her late husband to send her child to a school outside the country. After the second year, she could not afford to raise the child school fees, no accommodation as the rent of the house she paid after selling her property expired.

She was faced with only one alternative, which is to bring back her daughter to Nigeria. The question is, could she not have managed her earnings to enrol her child in one of the private schools in Nigeria or better still public schools? Since it is a general belief which I don’t agree with that our tertiary institutions are below standard.

Secondly, she could have partitioned her house and rent out part of it to pay for the few affordable private Universities in Nigeria and by so doing, she will still have her inherited house and her child could have completed her education and maybe get a well-paid job to look after the mother and her siblings.

This singular act has rubbed the family of their inheritance and the children’s education thus making life more unbearable for the family.

When we prioritise our needs according to our income we won’t have to go through some avoidable hardship trying to meet up with our parental obligations of providing good and affordable education for our children. Government at all levels should see education as one of its social responsibilities to its citizens.

The student’s loan and scholarship schemes should be implemented without any form of sentiment, the schemes should be made available to all those who merited it. This can only be achieved when the right people are in place to implement the laudable scheme.