Sharp rise in school fees anger parents

Many private schools in Addis Ababa are expected to raise school fees between 5,000 to 12,000 birr per year, according to a Capital survey. The schools blame the devaluation of the birr and increasing costs of school materials and teacher salaries for the increase.
Parents Capital talked to said Flipper school will increase their fees, moreover Gibson by 5,500 and School of Tomorrow by 5,000 birr per year.
Mesret Ayalew has enrolled her two children at School of Tomorrow, she says the school fee increase is unnecessary.
“School fees went up 2,000 birr this year and for the next year it is 5,000 birr for how long will school fees continue to increase, when will there be a consistent price for several years? I have to come up with 60,000 birr for my two kids for the next year and that is not really realistic given what most people make in this country,” she said.
Another man who has a sister trying to put her kids through private school said that the owner of private school cares more about making money for themselves than fairly serving parents.
“When one someone wants to rich it is not right to charge more money for the service they provide simply for that reason. School fees in the city are sharply increasing because the owners don’t consider the country’s economic situation and are eager to amass big profits at the end of the year and parents will not have the courage to condemn them.’’
Currently medium private schools charge from 10,000 birr up to 120,000 birr per year in addition to the cost of books. Meanwhile salaries for teachers are between 3,000 birr to 10,000 birr per month.
Teka W/Micheal, board member of School of Tomorrow told Capital that the increasing fees are directly linked to the rising price of teaching materials.
“We have to motivate our teachers by increasing salaries because they are doing a great job of producing  the next generation  so increasing fees is the only way to benefit teachers. On the other hand if you look at the cost of school house rent, laboratory materials, they are increasing and inflation is around is 20 percent so how can we survive if we work on the past fees,” he said.
Addis Ababa Education Relevance and Quality Bureau has received complaints from parents and said it is investigating the case and it will take action on schools who raise fees without consulting parents.
Currently 1,000 KG, 589 primary and 149 private high schools operate in the capital city.