In the common law of contract, the basic ingredients that make up a contract is the invitation to treat, the subsequent offer, the acceptance of the offer and the furnishing of the consideration (payment of the contractual sum) by the offeree.
Once these four basic things are in place and fulfilled then a legal contract is deemed to have been established and it automatically becomes binding on every party to the contract. It does not matter if the contract was made on parole (contract made orally) or a documented contract (contract written and signed on paper) and it also becomes fully enforceable.
When a contract is binding and enforceable, a party to the contract cannot unilaterally vary the terms of the contract while the contract is still subsisting without putting the other party in the contract on notice, once this happens, it is tantamount to a breach of the contract.
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The law of contract holds every party to the contract to their words to ensure that none of the parties renege on their promises subsequently for any reason (unless the reasons are forces beyond their control).
Although, a contractual term or contractual terms can be varied at any point in the contract (ie changed or amended in any way whatsoever) but it must not be done unilaterally, if it must be varied, it must be done with the consensus of all the parties in the contract if not the unilateral variation of any term in the contract by any of the party will amount to breach of contract.
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Powa international children school, Abuja was in the news yesterday to have sent some school children out of the class denying the little kids of their studies on the ground that they kids have not paid their complete school fees.
According to the parents of the children when interviewed, the regular term school fees were paid with genuine presumption that the amount paid by them is the right school fees sum, to their utmost surprise, the management of the school informed them at the middle of the term that the school fees have been increased by the management without first calling a Parents Teachers Association (PTA) meeting or giving any prior information to the parents of the kids of the subsequent increment of the school fees.
This act of the school management amount to variation of contractual terms, a contract both the parents of the kids and the school management are parties to, and in the (common) law of contract as we established earlier, a party to the contract cannot on its own, without the knowledge of the other party in the contract vary or change the terms of the contract, if this happens, it amount to breach of contract which is fully enforceable for damages.
This piece doubles as an unbiased legal opinion on this matter and also a clarion call to relevant governmental bodies and Non Governmental Organizations (NGOs) interested in education to look into the matter and decipher the reason why the management of Powa international children school, Abuja should engage in an act of this nature and to also to look into other numerous petitions that are similar to this.