The Minister of State for Education and Sports (Primary Education) Dr. Joyce Moriku Kaducu has warned that any school that has hiked fees is going to face it rough.
The Minister passed her warning through her Twitter handle on Friday where she advised all schools that have hiked school fees to withdraw the circulars from parents before the government takes action on them.
“All private schools and most especially the government non-USE schools that have hiked school fees should withdraw the circulars they sent to parents and send the right circulars indicating the right amount of fees other than that, we are coming for you,” reads the tweet.
Kaducu’s warning follows the public outcry due to some schools that have hiked fees abnormally without considering the current economic statuses of some parents that have been negatively affected by Covid-19 implications.
Some of the schools which have been highlighted in hiking school fees are; St Mary’s College Kisubi in Wakiso district, a government-aided school where senior one students who were previously paying Shs1.5m are now required to pay sh2.8m while Senior 5 students will have to pay Shs3m yet previously were paying Shs2.8m.
According to their fees structure for the academic year 2022, students will pay more fees in form of Parents, Teachers Association (PTA) contributions (Shs1.47m), than the actual tuition fees (Shs55,000). They will also pay Shs15,000 for PTA general meetings, an academic guidance fee of Shs82,000, computer fees of Shs23,000, and Internet fees of Shs16,000. Swimming pool and sports and games at sh22,000 and sh43,000, respectively. Another charge is payment for aqua toilet, water system and sanitary at sh38,000, sh72,500 and sh20,000, respectively.
At Kibuli, students will be required to pay sh2.4m, including school uniforms for Senior One. Ntare and Maryhill High School, both in Mbarara district are charging sh1.4m and sh1.5m in fees for new entrants, respectively. These charges cover admission fees, as well as other charges, such as school uniforms.
At Makerere College School, Senior One students will pay Shs2m while at St Joseph’s SS Naggalama, new entrants will pay sh2.3m.
In defence of their school fees hiking, headteachers of some government-aided schools allude that their schools provide everything for themselves since they don’t receive capitation like the Universal Secondary Education schools. “In fact, we operate like private schools,” a headteacher commented in one of the local newspapers,adding that the only formal support they receive from Government is the payment of teachers’ salaries.
Other school heads defend their move by asserting that there is no way the government can stop schools from increasing fees when the prices of goods and services remain high.
Schools were closed from full operation in March 2020 following the outbreak of covid-19, and they are expected to resume fully on Monday after solid two years.
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