The Federal Government has said private school owners are entitled to charge fees for the third term as schools start resuming for exit classes. 

The Minister of State for Education, Mr Chukwuemeka Nwajiuba, said this at the media briefing of the Presidential Task Force (PTF) on COVID-19 in Abuja on Monday.

 Nwajiuba was reacting to a question on if it was proper for private schools to charge a third term fee since the period the exit students would spend in school was short. He said that private school owners were running a business venture and not a charity organisation.

 The Minister said: “For public institutions, we can’t tell you that we charge school fees, as most of our schools are free. Public schools are free and vary from state to state.“But when you go into a contractual relationship with a school owner, a school owner is a passionate person but is also a business person.

He or she is not running a charity organisation, they may be charitable in its approach, but it’s not charity.“So, it’s important that you appreciate that a private school is entitled to charge fees for the work they do. The person that runs a school may be passionate about education but will still charge fees.”