The government of Uganda through the Ministry of Education and Sports, came out to regulate, as its mandate should lawfully be, the school fees structure of private schools in this country.
According to the government, come 2023 as schools resume business, a nursery pupil in a private school is expected to pay not more than 690,000 shillings, and a Primary school pupil, who is a day scholar, is expected to pay 650,000 shillings while their counterparts in the boarding section should pay not more than 1.22 million Shillings. Students in secondary and vocational schools should not exceed 960, 000 shillings.
This is a good gesture from the government of Uganda because by regulating the school fees in private schools, parents are saved from the burden of being exploited by some greedy school proprietors, who had always made it a habit to increase school fees at the beginning of every year or even school term, in some cases.
The worst thing is that even when most schools increased the fees, some parents and children kept on complaining that the services that these schools offered didn’t change much. The quality of food remained the same, no new buildings were set up, etc and this didn’t go down well with parents since the school fees structure didn’t match the services at the schools. These are common complaints during
the annual Parent Teacher Association (PTA) meetings.
How parents reacted when the government ordered the price of school fees to be reduced.
The news of putting a ceiling on school fees was welcomed by many people with open arms since the proprietors of schools had been regulated. However, it has a different side to it which I believe will negatively impact the schools and parents who meet these costs.
Look at it this way, if we have a certain school called “Books and Pencils Secondary school” and it has been charging 400,000 shillings per term, and here we are with a government letter saying that no secondary school should charge fees exceeding 960,000 shillings a term. Don’t you think that the management of this school is going to increase its fees by 150,000 UpTo maybe 550,000 shillings?
If you ask them why they will tell you that they are still within the government parameters of not exceeding 960,000 shillings as per the government letter. I mean, isn’t this government letter indirectly tempting headteachers to increase their school fees UpTo a certain fee, and as long as they don’t exceed the said cap, they are good to go?
Two, when the government asks schools not to charge fees past a certain figure, have it put into consideration the increase in prices on the market? Prices have increased and show no signs of going down any time soon. The same government which is supposed to subsidize the prices of some goods has failed on this mandate and has in turn told schools not to increase fees past a certain amount yet it
hasn’t looked into the reasons why they do increase fees. This is self-defeating on the side of the government.
Many headteachers and school owners will take this letter with a pinch of salt because they hardly believe whether or not the officials at the Ministry of Education and Sports are being fair in bringing up this move. Some prominent officials at the Ministry of Education own big private schools which charge fees way higher than what government says should be the maximum, almost twice what government says should be the limit, the services they offer notwithstanding. Do these officials who own big private schools and charge much more money, therefore, have the moral authority of policing fellow stakeholders in this sector? Isn’t this the case with preaching water and drinking wine?
I believe that government should subsidize the prices of goods such as fuel and foodstuffs so that school owners also reduce the fees they charge the parents. Also, if the law of not increasing fees past a certain amount is to work, let it work universally, let it not only target small private schools yet the big ones are charging the way they want.
Lastly, in case a school fails to adhere to this government directive, what will happen to it? Where does the parent report? Isn’t this another failed attempt at regulations from the government to see what happens in the banking sector where the interest rates on loans are so high despite government “intervention?” Stay blessed.
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