Togo: Increased school fees in private schools

Since February of this year, secular private schools have announced an upward revision of tuition fees for the start of the 2023-2024 academic year.This decision will enable the promoters of these schools to meet their expenses, given the increase in the Togolese minimum wage to 52,500 FCFA. An increase in the minimum wage means an increase in teachers’ salaries.

And the normal remuneration of every private teacher cannot be achieved if school fees, which have remained static for 26 years in Togo, have not changed a little. As a result, a bad time is in store for many parents who, unable to find the money to send their offspring to private schools, will fall back on what they have never wanted before: public schools.

The result: a migration synonymous with overcrowding in an already overcrowded public school system, which is struggling to find the best formula to cope with the never-ending equation of a plethoric number of learners, whose numbers continue to soar every year.

It should not be forgotten that private schools have always played their part as alternative schools, given the cruel lack of public schools in the country’s 5 regions. Seeing them now faced with the challenge of increasing tuition fees will not help matters.

The construction of 30,000 classrooms, aimed at increasing school capacity throughout the country, will obviously not provide a solution. So what can be done? It would be wise for the State to consider subsidizing the promoters of private establishments who have obtained approval before opening a school.

Diana NUTSULE