When education becomes transactional, society pays the price

We are unconsciously cultivating a hardened citizenry and in doing so, we are co-creating a dangerous future. A society is shaped not only by its laws and leaders, but by the everyday decisions made within its most influential institutions.

Education, more than any other sector, transmits values across generations. When it abandons compassion for convenience and profit, the consequences echo far beyond the classroom.

Today, it is troubling how rarely institutions pause to ask a simple but profound question: Does this decision make life easier or harder for families? Instead, too many policies are designed around exploitation of necessity, with little regard for cumulative social harm. What begins as institutional self-interest gradually matures into collective moral erosion.

In principle, school associations exist to facilitate dialogue, serving as bridges between institutions, government, and parents. In practice, many parents have become subjects of quiet coercion rather than partners in genuine engagement.

School fees now rise with predictable regularity, often at the end of every term, regardless of economic context. Inflation has become a convenient justification, even when underlying costs do not support the scale of increases imposed.

This trend persists despite government interventions such as tax reliefs and incentives meant to ease operational burdens on educational institutions. Instead of translating these reliefs into affordability, many private schools transfer the pressure directly to parents fully aware that education is not optional. The implicit message is clear: accept the policy or withdraw your child. Choice, in such a system, is largely illusory.

More recently, the emergence of so-called paid clubs has deepened this concern. These programmes are often presented as innovation, yet they represent extortion in disguise. The fact that “other schools are doing it” does not make the practice ethically defensible.

Consider the case of paid coding classes. Computer studies are already a core component of modern curricula. Parents are frequently required to provide computers, yet additional fees are charged to access what should be a fundamental learning resource. In an age defined by technology, any credible school should maintain functional computer laboratories accessible to all students. Instead, essential curricular content is repackaged as premium offerings and sold back to families. The situation is similarly even to recreational activities such as extra charges for school events, game including football, dancing and the like.

This raises a necessary question: what exactly is special about these paid clubs?

The uncomfortable answer lies in a deeper societal shift—one in which exploitation has become routine, even when those being charged are visibly overstretched. When such practices are repeated often enough, they evolve from exception to policy and from policy to culture.

Parents, left with limited agency, are frequently advised to “keep hope alive” and trust that provision will come. Hope, however, is not a development strategy. Societies are not built on endurance alone, but on ethical restraint and collective responsibility.

The implications of these practices are profound. School administrators are not merely managers; they are custodians of values. When children are raised in environments where empathy is absent and everything has a price, they learn a dangerous lesson: that relationships are transactional and power justifies excess. A future shaped by such norms will not be humane—and when it arrives, it will be one we consciously permitted.

Much more is expected from a sector entrusted with shaping tomorrow. Fairness dictates that parents should pay less—not more—when schools transition from rented facilities to owned infrastructure. Yet in many cases, costs increase rather than decrease.

This trajectory is neither sustainable nor morally defensible. When education loses its ethical anchor, society eventually loses its compass. And when that happens, the cost will far exceed school fees.

Rasheed Adeniyi Yusuf is the Founder of The Wura Hope Women Initiative and a Future Literacy Laboratory (FLL) Champion

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