The Ondo State Government has banned cash payments in public schools as part of measures to curb alleged extortion and unauthorised levies imposed on pupils and students by school authorities.

The Commissioner for Education, Science and Technology, Prof. Igbekele Ajibefun, announced the policy during a meeting with executives of the Association of Bursars of Secondary Schools in Akure. Ajibefun said the government had introduced a digital payment gateway through which all financial transactions in public schools would be processed and documented.

"To this end, we have put heads together to come up with a payment gateway and from now on, every payment will have to pass through the gateway, and we have placed a ban on cash payments," he said. According to the commissioner, the policy is intended to improve transparency and prevent school authorities from exploiting parents and students through unauthorised fees and levies.

He said the digital payment system would take effect from the new academic session and warned principals and other school officials against collecting money directly from parents or students. "From the next session, we will not give room for anyone to deny any collection of illegal fees," Ajibefun added.

The commissioner said the decision followed complaints from parents during the last academic session about alleged illegal and unauthorised collections in some public schools.

He said he subsequently visited schools to verify the complaints and found that unauthorised collections were taking place, allegedly involving school authorities. The findings, he said, prompted the ministry to work with stakeholders and a technical team to develop a system that would make school financial transactions traceable.

Ajibefun said the initiative had been approved by Governor Lucky Aiyedatiwa and that funds paid through the platform would be remitted to the appropriate school accounts. "So, the initiative would address existing abnormalities in the management of school finances," he said.

The Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology, Dr Akindele Ige, urged school bursars to work with other stakeholders to ensure that they understood and properly implemented the new payment system.

The Chairman of the Association of Bursars of Secondary Schools, Fisayo Fapounda, described the initiative as a positive step towards improving transparency in school financial management. He urged the company handling the payment gateway to engage with bursars to ensure they were adequately trained and to prevent misinformation about the system.