No plans to increase tuition, Kwara govt tells students
The Kwara state government has assured students in tertiary institutions that there is no plan to increase tuition.
For the past few weeks, students of the Kwara State University, Malete, had been protesting against alleged planned tuition hike by the school management.
PLANNED TUITION HIKE
It was gathered that the development was disclosed to students’ leaders in a closed-door meeting with the management where it was advanced that the proposed fee would be used to cater for the peculiar needs of various courses in the school.
The planned review which was termed ‘Programme Needs Fee’ ranges from N25,000 to N50,000 based on the course studied by students with new intakes paying 75 per cent of the fee while 25 per cent would be slammed on returning students.
This is coming at a time the students are all hopeful their tuition fee would be reduced because of the economy hardship caused by the coronavirus pandemic. The current tuition fee charged by the institution ranges from N109,500 to N210,000 for indigenes and non-indigenes respectively.
NO HIKE IN TUITION – KWARA GOVT
However, according to a statement released by the Kwara chairman of the National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS), Salami Wasiu, the commissioner for tertiary education, science and technology, Hajia Sa’adatu Kawu Modibbo, while responding to questions during a stakeholders’ meeting organized by her ministry, on Monday, assured that there won’t be hike in school fees.
KWASU MANAGEMENT REACTION
The director of university relations, Abdulrasaq Sanni, had stated that the school has not increased the students’ school fee as circulated on social media, noting that the claimants quoted the university management wrongly.
He furthered that the university is burdened because it has not been properly funded by the state government.
“What you refer to as exorbitant might be relative. The fact remains that Kwara State University is a public school and for the school to run effectively, it needs a substantial amount of money for its running. On our own, we’re trying so much to up our IGR. And by it being a public school, we expect a high level of responsibility on the part of the government in ensuring that it is operated by a public school,” he told THE INFORMANT247 correspondent earlier this month.
STUDENT RESIST HIKE
The Student Union President of the university, Kozeem Olaitan Hanafy, had stated that the statement by the university management, denying the advance to review the students’ school fees is an attempt to whitewash the image of the university. Hanafy who stressed that the proposed fee is dead on arrival noted that introducing a new fee amid the economic shock of the pandemic is ill-advised as most parents would not be able to afford it.
“The university issued the memo not because it is not the fact. But then probably they are trying to save the image of the university which is what I understand. On Friday, we met with the committee of Deans set up by the school management to tell us about their plans to introduce a particular fee that would be tagged programme need fee. I made it clear to them that we don’t want them to introduce any fee. This is not the right time to introduce an additional fee because most parents don’t even know where to source for our school fees due to the economic situation of the country. We explained to the vice-chancellor who made a recommendation that new intakes would pay 75 per cent of the proposed fee while returning students would pay 25 per cent,” Hanafy told THE INFORMANT247 reporter two weeks ago.
