From Okey Sampson, Umuahia

Parents and guardians of pupils and students of National Institute of Nigerian Languages (NINLAN) Demonstration Secondary School (NDSS) and NINLAN Nursery/Primary School (NNPS), Aba, have decried the exorbitant fees in the schools, accusing the management of extortion.

Addressing newsmen, Chairman of the Parents Teachers Association (PTA) of the schools, Dr Chidi Emenike, said the parents were shocked that the Executive Director of NINLAN, Professor Ogbonna Onuoha, announced increases of over 100 percent in tuition and boarding fees for the 2025/2026 academic session, saying they were unrealistic and unsustainable.

“Under the new charges, fees for the primary section jumped from ₦20,000 to ₦44,500 per term, while secondary school fees rose from ₦35,000 to ₦65,000. Boarding fees were also raised from ₦100,000 to ₦140,000, despite a reduction in food prices nationwide.

“Other levies, including caution fees of ₦20,000 per secondary student and ₦10,000 per primary pupil every year. Over 85 percent of the students of the schools do not stay in the hostels, but they are expected to pay ₦10,000 medical fees every term for secondary students and ₦5000 per term for nursery and primary, despite not having any hospital, just a dispensary that has just first aid equipment.”

Emenike said despite the increase in school fees, an additional ₦5000 was introduced as an examination fee, and another ₦5000 ICT levy to be paid every term, also imposed.

Emenike said with what is happening, a lot of parents will have their children forcefully withdrawn from the schools, arguing that even some top-positioned civil servants will not be able to cope with the exorbitant fees.

A member of the PTA, Chukwuemeka Nwachukwu, said NDSS and the NNPS, as the service points for the federally subvented NINLAN, cannot be run like private schools where decisions are forced on parents without consultation and proper deliberation.

He stressed that the PTA is not against the original tuition fee of ₦65,000, which they pay through Remita, but are against the extortionist intentions of the school management following the introduction of obnoxious levies.

Responding, the Executive Director of NINLAN, Prof Onuoha, said although the institute is a Federal Government-owned institution like other Federal universities, but that the staff schools were established by the Institute as a source of Internally Generated Revenue and for the interest of the Institute staff and nearby communities.

He said the fee increase was necessitated by the need to give the staff schools facelift, adding that the contentious caution fee is a one-off payment made at the beginning of a student’s entry in the school, not paid twice as alleged and is refundable.