FSTCY boils as alleged Fraud tears PTA apart

By emmanuel MALAGU

Federal Science and Technical College, Yaba, Lagos

If everything goes according to plan, Parents of the famous Federal Government owned Science and Technical Secondary School, Federal Science and Technical College, Lagos, will gather for what they described as a Peaceful Protest in the School. Their grudge bothers on alleged Fraud perpetrated by the Leadership of the School’s PTA.

Boarding Students of the School returned to their Hostels on Sunday in readiness for the Second Term Resumption of the 2024/2025 Academic Session which takes effect from Monday, January 13. The Resumption which was originally fixed for last Monday was shifted following tension emanating from the PTA brouhaha.

The Concerned Parents had in a Petition it described as ‘immense importance’ accused the Leadership of the PTA of introducing an Unauthorised and Fraudulent Fees of N11,500 in contravention of Standard Fees approved and charged by all Federal Government Colleges in the Country. The Official and Authorised Fees approved by the Ministry of Education is N5,000. This was later unilaterally increased to N7,500 by the previous Executives of the PTA during the 2023/2024 Session. The N5,000 according to the Concerned Parents remains the current PTA Fees applicable in other Federal Government Colleges. In the words of the Concerned Parents, all Federal Government Colleges are set up to provide Qualitative Education, comparable to what obtains in other parts of the World irrespective of the background of the Students or the Parents. They are meant to cater for both Children of the Poor and the Rich.

“However, we believe this purpose has now been defeated at the Federal Science and Technical College, Yaba, Lagos, with this new hike from ₦7,500 to ₦11,500 and if not addressed now, will make schooling in the Institution exorbitant for the Common Man,” say the Concerned Parents.

The PTA Leadership that midwifed the controversial new increment to ₦11,500 had claimed that it was meant to cater for the Salary Increase of 107 Teachers employed by the Parent Teachers Association. The Concerned Parents punctured the claim as it recalled an Event that transpired at the PTA Meeting held in the School Premises on the 7th of December, 2024 where the issue of Salary Increment for the 107 Teachers was tabled for discussion.

“There was a large outcry from Parents indicating the Idea wasn’t a welcomed one especially since Parents had always doubted the existence of such a huge number of Teachers against the backdrop of numerous complaints of absenteeism and inadequate Teachers we keep getting from our children,” the Concerned Parents fumed!

The development had necessitated the ceaseless calls by Parents for Full Audit and Disclosure of the details regarding the 107 Teachers, but have consistently been met with resistance from the past and present Leadership of the Association. Those details, the Concerned Parents insist remain shrouded in mystery.

Though the Idea of the purported Engagement of the said 107 Teachers never received the blessings of the Concerned Parents, they (the Teachers) were however expected to liaise with the PTA Leadership on the ‘Proposed Salary Increment’ and come up with suggestions on how to deal with the vexatious situation.

The expected feedback on the development through the Leadership of the PTA never materialised. Rather to the surprise of the Concerned Parents, on the 30th of December, 2024 and with less than a week to the initial date of Resumption for the Second Term billed for January 6, the arbitrary Increment of the PTA Fees from N7,500 to N11,500 was released on the PTA Portal with the knowledge that Boarding Students who were initially scheduled to return to their Hostels on January 5, would need to pay the PTA Fees as part of the Requirements for checking into their Hall of Residence.

The situation left the Concerned Parents in great shock and forced a postponement of Resumption for the Second Term amidst rising opposition by the Majority of the Parents to the alleged Fraudulent Increment of the PTA Levy. Persistent calls by the Parents through their various WhatsApp Platforms to the PTA Leadership to suspend what they described as shambolic and revert to the old PTA Fees met with persistent Deaf Ears.

Following hard stance of the PTA Leadership on the Issue, the Concerned Parents thereafter demanded a total reversal of the PTA Fees from N11,500 to N7,500 within 72 hours from the date of receipt of their Letter of Petition. In the Spirit of Transparency and Accountability, the Concerned Parents also seek a Comprehensive List of Teachers on the Payroll of the PTA with their full Names, Subjects assigned, Classes allocated and Phone Numbers publicly made available and displayed at the PTA’s Office and also sent to all Class Platforms.  

Going forward, the Concerned Parents demanded that Issues regarding Money Matters must be conducted as enshrined in the Constitution of the Association devoid of any unilateral decision by the Chairman of the PTA and his Executive Members.

They also requested the Executives to institute a Monitoring Team amongst the Parents to ensure that Teachers engaged by the PTA are actually living to expectation as performance of the Students in Internal and External Examinations keeps deteriorating over the years.  

At the beginning of every year, the Executives are to also present the Budget of the year for unanimous Agreement and Approval by at least two third of the Parents as enshrined in the PTA Constitution. This according to the Concerned Parents will guide against impulsive and wasteful spending.

The aggrieved Parents also demanded a detailed Financial Disclosure and Transparent Budget outlining Income and Expenditures to be published along Quarterly Auditing of the PTA’s Accounts. In addition, the Concerned Parents asked that Projects to be embarked upon by the Executives must always be passed through the Parents for ratification before implementation in order to avoid Parents being kept in the dark over money spent.

They further warned that failure to meet their demands, would result in a Peaceful Protest by all the aggrieved Parents of the School.

ALL calls and messages made by thenewsroom.ng to the PTA Chairman, Ibrahim Akeem to get his side of the story, are yet to be responded to even as this Report goes to bed.

Curiously in what appears a face-saving measure to avoid possible disaster, the ever evasive PTA Chairman, suddenly crawled out of his shell to issue a Statement on the development. He expressed gratitude to the PTA Members in “making our Students to be the best,” and suspended the PTA Fees Increment of N11,500.

“After much consultation and several Meetings that ended today, we are suspending the Increment as agreed in the AGM and Expanded Exco Meeting for a better time.

“While we will continue to push for Employment of our Teachers and other PTA Staff Members in order to ease the burden for the benefits of our Students.

“Notwithstanding for our understanding Parents who have paid, we will work out a balance as an upfront payment for next Term.

”However, within limited Resources, we will keep doing our best to ensure our Students get a better place to study as much as we can.

”We are not going back on doing whatever is right to help our Students and Teachers in the face of this Economy Hardship.

“For those who have taken the part of War, Rumour and Media Propaganda, please save your money, we are not in for that. Let's come together and make FSTCY like QC and KC where Students excellence thrives.

“We choose the path of Dialogue for the interest of the Institution. Hence we are suspending the Agreement from the AGM and Expanded Exco Meeting after discussions,” he said in the Statement sent to the Parents and made available to us.

How far this will go in placating the aggrieved Parents, remain to be seen as they continue to press for showdown.