By Adesina Wahab

The decision by a private university, Caleb University, Imota, Lagos, to charge full fees for its e-learning platform, has drawn the anger of some parents and guardians of students in the school.

Due to the Coronavirus pandemic that she led to the shut down of schools in the country, the management of the school took the decision to take its academic activities online.

However, the bone of contention is the decision to charge fees such as accommodation, hospital, library fees among others when the students are not physically present on campus to enjoy those facilities.

As a result of the development, over 100 parents have written several complaint letters to the school management to draw their attention to the situation.

A parent, Olaoluwa Ogundemi, whose ward is an Accounting student, said the school mandated parents to make full payment for the session, despite that the school moved from physical learning to e-learning as a result of the pandemic.

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“This issue started in March, some of us live abroad and we have been trying to get a hold of the school after they said they would start online lectures. Not only did they charge full school fees, but they also charged services which were not provided such as accommodation, internet, library, hospital, and others,” he said.

In a letter sent to Caleb University by some concerned parents, issues pertaining to the welfare of students and rights of the parents were highlighted.

In the letter signed by 121 parents, concerns were raised about some issues. Among them were: Demand for payment of full tuition fees during the COVID-19 pandemic, payment for hostel accommodation and other services that were not being provided as a result of COVID-19.

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Commencement of learning through an “ineffective and abysmal online learning portal without due consideration of the internet network connectivity, bandwidth capacity, and more importantly the cost of data for already financially subdued parents.

Migration of students to the online platform without conversations with parents and guardians.

The university making decisions at a “Parent Forum” which comprises less than 7% (250 out of over 4000 parent’s population) of the university.

Charging parents and guardians N20,000 per session for a parent forum which 90 percent of the parents are not part of.

Mr Ogundemi said when he contacted the Vice-Chancellor, Prof. Nosa Owens-Ibie, on the issues and how parents could be added to the Parents’ Forum on Whatsapp, the school claimed the group was full as WhatsApp could only take about 250 participants

Femi Ojikutu, a guardian of a student at the university said the school failed to carry parents along on decisions made about the students and “imposed decisions made by a fraction of parents on the larger parents.”

Emmanuel Aderemi, a parent of a 200 level student at the university, alleged that the school denied students access to the online learning platform except they pay N200,000 upfront.

“We even pleaded with the management to allow students have access to learning pending the time parents will make payment. They can even withhold exam results of students who failed to pay afterwards, but they should allow all students have access to learning and not miss out,” he added.

When contacted, the spokesperson of Caleb University, Elvis Otobo, issued a statement which contained the response of the university.

“Caleb University which emerged one of the selected institutions to commence e-learning without interrupting its academic calendar has successfully conducted academic, training and other regular activities on the University’s online platform, with student enrolment on the e-learning platform moving from 8% on April 20 to almost 100% by the beginning of July 2020.

“The institution early in the semester granted all students at undergraduate and postgraduate levels and lecturers, free access to various e-library resources, to enhance research, learning, and teaching experience and capacity.

“Numerous other social, political, and spiritual activities are also going on virtually. The Student Representatives Council (SRC) elections are ongoing, with students currently campaigning to solicit votes for various positions. Activities will culminate in manifesto presentation and the inauguration of the new executive, virtually,” the statement read in parts.

The statement also added that the school in a bid to keep up with godly character started an ‘optional online prayer meeting’ which holds once a month.

The statement, however, did not dwell on most of the issues raised by the parents

Meanwhile, the solicitor to the university, Mr Femi Falana, SAN, said universities in Nigeria “accept tuition and other fees at the commencement of the session and even when the school is closed down, no refund is made.”

He explained that there was a recognised parent body in the university through which all complaints could be lodged to the school and “the school cannot recognise any other parents’ body.”

“If you don’t like people on that (parent) platform, you throw them out democratically. They said they briefed a lawyer and the lawyer wrote to the school, we wrote to the lawyer that as a lawyer you can’t act for parents whose identities are not disclosed.

“Not when I’m involved can anyone victimise students. If these parents are genuine parents and they want to defend their children, it is something they should take up,” he said.

On the limit to the number of people who can be on the parents’ forum, Falana said every school has rules and regulations guiding it.

“Again the way it is done, if they want an all-comer forum, every parent must be there, no problem, but if the body is run in a representative capacity, you are now asking for a change that we want every parent to be on the forum, I can’t see the school opposing that.

“But for now, there is a channel of communication, if you don’t like the forum, then, tell the school that the forum is not representing us. If you love your children, you should be ready to stand by them,” he said.

Vanguard