Over the last three weeks, some parents have been up in arms over the new fees being charged by school heads, for students seeking admission to senior one and senior five.
The parents argue that the fees are unfairly high. Many of the concerned parents are looking at schools that are government-aided; where teachers are deployed and paid by the state, while the infrastructure, textbooks and laboratory equipment are donated by the government. These are schools that are usually in the upper echelon of academic ranking.
However, as we have argued in the past, they are also the most in-demand schools by financially-able parents and state bureaucrats, who are looking to ensure the welfare of their children.
Thus even when academic performance is as expected, the demand for admission can be unbearable – thus some of these head teachers have devised means to keeping some parents out, including hiking tuition fees.
Recently, the permanent secretary, Alex Kakooza, declared that he would not allow schools to sanction to increment in tuition fees without sufficient cause. As the parents grumble about the problem, the permanent secretary, who made his declaration without provocation, is silent.
His ministry is not saying anything about whether the increments are sanctioned by Kakooza’s office or not; so, parents are none the wiser. Implicit in all this, the school heads may assume that the increment will reduce the long queues of parents pleading for admission, while meeting some much-needed financial needs.
Unfortunately, the problem has worsened, with schools that had little to do with “the admission pressure” also hiking their fees to ‘keep pace’. And until the state intervenes to resolve the matter, it may escalate to a point where parents cannot afford the tuition, or are forced into criminality to pay for their children’s education.
school@observer.ug