As schools nationwide resumed yesterday, Zamfara State Ministry of Health announced it has recorded 44 deaths following an outbreak of diphtheria in parts of the state.

The Director of Public Health in the ministry, Dr. Yusuf Haske, who gave the update yesterday, said the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology has suspended school resumption following the outbreak and deaths recorded.

He said the health ministry had so far recorded 367 clinically suspected cases of diphtheria, with more than 320 patients successfully treated and discharged.

He said laboratory tests conducted on samples collected from suspected patients confirmed the presence of the diphtheria-causing organism.

Haske said the samples were sent to the National Reference Laboratory in Abuja, where the diagnosis was further confirmed.

Parents and guardians yesterday lamented increase in school fees as pupils resumed in schools in Lagos.

Press visited some schools in Lagos State, yesterday, and witnessed massive turnout of pupils on the first day of resumption.

A mother of two, Mrs. Adenike Adesomoju, said she had to struggle to pay her children’s school fees that were increased by 20 percent

Another parent, Mrs. Precious Effiong, said her child’s school fees that was N105,000 per term is now N149,000.

A pupil of Clickland School, Iyana Ipaja, Lagos, Ismail Azeez, in an interview, told The Nation they wrote resumption test on the first day of resumption.

However, the National Association of Proprietors of Private Schools (NAPPS) has called for a fair and sustainable balance between the financial burden of rising school fees on parents and the increasing cost of running private schools across the country.

Its National President, Chief ’Yomi Otubela, said the association understands the concerns of parents who are struggling with higher school fees amid inflation and the rising cost of living.

Otubela, however, explained that private schools were also operating under severe economic pressure, with the cost of salaries, rent, electricity, fuel, transportation, instructional materials, technology, security and maintenance rising significantly.

The Chairman, Board of Trustees, National Parent Teacher Association of Nigeria (NAPTAN), Chief Adeolu Ogunbanjo, said: “The 40 per cent school fee increase by some schools for reasons of “Operational Cost” is too high. Rather, a rational aggregated 10 percent increase seems reasonable considering the current economic situation.” Workers of King’s College, Lagos (KCL), alongside parents, yesterday in Lagos said the school would not resume unless the Federal Government reversed its plans to concession it.

According to them, the school will not open for the first term of the 2026/2027 academic session unless the government reverses its proposed concession of the school to King’s College Old Boys Association (KCOBA).

The workers and parents, who spoke during a protest yesterday, carried placards with inscriptions such as “Alausa’s policies are killing public education. He must go”.

Other inscriptions are: “The concession of King’s College must be reversed”; “Unity Colleges are public-owned, no resumption can take place, we say no to privatisation”.

They maintained their position that the school must remain under public ownership and management.

Chairman, Association of Senior Civil Servant of Nigeria (ASCSN), King’s College Unit, Mr. Samuel Enang, said the action was a solidarity fight involving workers across the unity-school system.

Ondo State Police Command and Ondo State Security Network Agency (Amotekun Corps) yesterday stepped-up security operations across the state, as schools reopened for the new academic session.

The two security agencies said they had deployed personnel in schools and other strategic locations to prevent criminal activities and ensure a safe environment for pupils and teachers.

The police said it had already deployed its tactical personnel to provide adequate security as schools resumed for academic session across the state.

The command’s spokesperson, Jimoh Abayomi, a Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP), revealed this in a statement issued to reporters in Akure.

Similarly, the Amotekun Corps said it had concluded security arrangements to protect pupils and other members of the school community across Ondo State.

The state commander of the corps, Adetunji Adeleye, said the deployment would particularly cover boundary communities, isolated locations and other areas considered vulnerable to criminal activities.