By SAH TERENCE ANIMBOM
Some parents who still have the courage to send children to school in the crisis stricken North West region are decrying what they term ‘unnecessary exploitation of struggling parents by some school principals’. They say the amounts charged for PTA levy per child or student, especially in government schools which range from FCFA 25000 per child to FCFA 27000 and even FCFA 35000 in others are too high and exploitative.
The parents are asking what PTA projects are to be carried out with the money when no PTA activity is currently being run in any school in the midst of the ongoing crisis. Parent Teacher Association (PTA Levies) are a system of contributing to school development by parents and teachers, though the money comes only from parents and is managed by a few teachers. Each school decides on an amount in a meeting with the parents of students in the school, depending on the projects they have to carry out and the number of PTA teachers to be employed and paid from PTA raised money.
However, in the past three years, when teachers have become subject to attacks and most government projects in schools have been grounded, talk less of PTA projects which too have gone completely stagnant and even PTA bought school vans parked permanently as well as all PTA teachers abandoning teaching for fear of attacks from gunmen, the big question now is what is done with huge amounts collected for PTA by principals every year within the last three years?
Worth noting is that the Minister of Secondary Education recently stopped all government school principals from collecting school fees from any student and all fees are now paid via mobile money services directly to the Minister. This decision was motivated by alleged gross mismanagement of school fees by some principals in connivance with some divisional and regional delegates.
A source recounted to The SUN that “Some principals are authorised to collect PTA levies on a certain agreement with some delegates of education. It is estimated that a sum of FCFA 45.000.000 (forty five million) has been collected from 1800 students in GBHS Down Town Bamenda and admissions into the school are made at the rate of 30 students a day for FCFA 25.000. GBHS Bayelle is estimated to have collected at least FCFA 50.000.000 from 2000 students already, while GBHS Mendankwe is estimated to have so far had at least FCFA 52.000.000 from about 2100 students”, he pointed out.
Some concerned parents desperate to have their children in school say they have no choice but to pay the money, but feel that they need to know what the money is meant for. They say they were not even called to a PTA meeting where the amounts to be collected are decided and the projects and number of PTA teachers to be employed are decided.
Tikum Nicodemus, a concerned parent and teacher in one of the schools says it is unjust that school heads continue to collect such exorbitant amounts of money from parents in a crisis situation when no PTA projects are running. He says no PTA project has been carried out within the last three years but school heads have never failed to collect PTA money every year.