Senate Passes Bill to Impose Fines or Imprisonment for Parents Who Fail to Educate Their Children

The Senate has approved a bill that seeks to amend the Compulsory Free Universal Basic Education Act 2004, Section 2, to increase the penalties for parents who do not provide their children with primary and secondary school education.

The bill, sponsored by Senator Orji Kalu, also proposes free meals for every child in the country as part of the government’s obligation to provide free, compulsory and universal basic education for every child of primary and junior secondary school age.

According to the bill, every parent or person who has the care and custody of a child must ensure that the child attends and completes his or her primary school education and junior secondary school education by sending the child to primary and junior secondary schools.

The bill also mandates stakeholders in education in a local government area to ensure that parents or persons comply with this duty.

The bill stipulates that a parent who violates this provision shall be liable, on the first conviction, to be reprimanded; on a second conviction, to a fine of N20,000 or imprisonment for a term of one month or both; and on subsequent conviction, to a fine of N50,000 or imprisonment for a term of two months or both.

The bill also increases the fines for persons who receive or obtain any fee contrary to the provision of free education from N10,000 to N100,000 or imprisonment for a term of three months or both.

The bill aims to ensure that every child in Nigeria has access to quality education and to reduce the number of out-of-school children in the country.

Reacting to the bill, Ayodamola Oluwatoyin, the Programme Coordinator for Basic Education at Reform Education, Nigeria, told Saturday PUNCH that while the bill is commendable, there is a need to investigate the additional charges by the public schools across the country that may discourage parents from enrolling their children.

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