Widespread extortion of parents, bullying of students and incessant stealing of students’ items have sparked protests by parents at the Federal Government College (FGC), Ikot Ekpene local government area of Akwa Ibom State.
Calling on the Federal Ministry of Education (FME), to come to their aid, the parents lamented what they described as arbitrary increment of levies and other charges by more than 100 per cent by the executives of Parent Teacher Association (PTA) led by Dr. John Ekere Etim, and supported by the principal Mr. Ezeugo.
LEADERSHIP gathered the parents became more infuriated during the last PTA meeting on Saturday September 30, 2024, where the PTA EXCO defied parents and turned down their demand not to increase the PTA fee for over 5,000 students in the unify school.
The parents who kicked against the new increments frowned at the fact that sundry monies extorted from them over the years never reflected in students’ welfare in the areas of feeding, security, and general well-being, with many suffering from malnutrition due to poor feeding and theft of pocket money, provisions, and mattresses meant for their comfort.
Due to incessant complaints by parents, it was learnt that the PTA chairman, Dr. Etim, had shut the parents’ WhatsApp platform for over two months and later reopened it last week to announce the PTA meeting held last Saturday.
The PTA levy was unilaterally increased from an initial N5,000 to N15,000, but outcries by the concerned parents forced a reduction to N10,000, which the parents objected to because of the hard times.
According to one of the parents, Victor Effiong, “What the PTA chairman and his Executives told as reasons for raising the fee for the offsetting salary of Ad-hoc and other auxiliary workers employed by PTA as the federal government had not employed teachers in the College in the last 30 years.
“But we know that most of these monies extorted from parents every other term ends up in their pockets. When they campaigned and we voted for them, they told us the welfare of our children remains paramount in their agenda, but now, lining their pockets is their major interest,” he lamented.
One of the parents who pleaded anonymity said the PTA chairman could not convince parents in their explanation to justify such a levy because the monies don’t reflect the condition of the children.
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