Federal Government has placed a ban on the collection of development levies by Parent-Teacher Associations (PTA) in the 104 Unity colleges.
The Federal Ministry of Education stated this in a statement, adding that the ban would take effect immediately.
The statement was signed by Bem Goong, deputy director of Press in the ministry.
It reads, “No PTA of any Unity college is allowed to initiate any development project in any of the Unity colleges without the express or written authorisation of the Federal Ministry of Education.
“The measures are aimed at arresting the trend where development levies imposed on parents by PTAs are becoming higher than the fees charged by government which established the schools,’’ the ministry said.
The statement added that the Minister, Malam Adamu Adamu, had noted excessive PTA levies in King’s College, Lagos, and Federal Science and Technical College, Yaba, Lagos.
The mnistry said in the two schools, fees charged for JSS1 in the first term was N69, 400, while the PTA collection was N70,000 at Kings and N74,000 at Yaba.
“This brings the total paid by parents in these two schools to N139,400 and N143, 400.
“With the reduction on development levies and ban on charges for new projects as well as pegging of the development levy to N5,000, parents of JSS1 in these two schools will pay N88, 000.
“I acknowledge the complementary roles of parents and the support by the PTA to the colleges but I will not allow the PTAs to constitute themselves into a government within a government at the level of Unity schools and at the expense of parents,’’ the ministry quoted Adamu as saying.
The statement said Adamu expressed concern that PTAs in Unity colleges had formed themselves into national associations and said running additional organisations, such as National Parent and Teachers Association of Federal Government Colleges (NAPTAFEGC), increased the burden on parents.
NAPTAFEGC rejected an alleged 300 per cent increase in the fees of Unity schools.
Meanwhile, Dr Gabriel Nnaji, national president of NAPTAFEGC, told newsmen that the alleged increase from N20,000 to N75, 000, was unacceptable.
He maintained that an average parent with more than a child in Unity schools could not afford the cost.
