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Private or government; is the fees you are paying worth it?
Some schools charge as much as Shs700,000 but offer better education than goverenment-aided institutions.. PHOTO BY JOHN AUGUSTINE EMOJONG
What you need to know:
Investigation: Education has over the years become one of the most expensive services to procure in Uganda today. As parents pay exorbitant fees so their children can have good education, Education’s PATIENCE AHIMBISIBWE finds out which institutions, private or government provide quality education.
It is this time of the year when people review their plans to see how much has been achieved, failed on and what can be done in the new year. To parents, it is a time when they decide whether their children should join a day-care, start school through pre-primary to primary and other levels of education depending on the age. There are many things to consider here which demand a lot of planning and at this moment with concentration on how to meet an extra cost.
John Ntege, a father of two, has had to tour majority of the primary schools around Kampala to find a school which his son will join next year after he graduated from his pre-primary school.
But this errand has not been easy for him. He has had to move from school to school for a vacancy, not because his son doesn’t have the brains, but because his pockets are not favoured by the demands in these schools.
As he says, no school has asked for less than Shs600, 000 as tuition. Never mind that this has nothing to do with scholastic materials, uniform, daily transportation of the child to and from school plus the meals. If his son is to use any of the school shuttles, the range has been between Shs400,000 to Shs600,000 extra per term. He describes the circumstance as “ridiculous”.
“What schools are demanding is outrageous. I can’t pay more than what I earn. Yet, I need their service. But to think that I am paying for a primary child more than what it costs a university student is more than ridiculous. The government is seated, watching. Think of an average Ugandan failing to provide basics to their family?” Mr Ntege explains.
With only Shs1m per month as take home after 30days of work, this will not even be enough to meet his son’s school expenses in a term. John spends Shs450, 000 on rent monthly, has to pay medical, water and electricity bills.
On why he does not try his luck in one of the government’s Universal Primary Schools (UPE) where it is expected to be free, at least from the burden of paying fees, Mr Ntege cannot stand it. He says; “Have you heard that any of those policy makers take their children to any of the schools implementing free education? Why don’t they champion a cause they promote as good? Because they know what is missing in those schools so they take their children to other schools.”
It is reason you will find that many private schools have come up even with the introduction of UPE 15 years later. The beginning was a blow to the private sector with many investors fearing for the worst. But as it turned out, it is a venture for many business people today. But Mr Patrick Kaboyo, the coordinator of the Coalition of Uganda Private Schools has asked government to put a regulatory framework for private schools to stop them from hiking tuition fees.
He urges that many private school proprietors have missed the link in providing the service and are taking advantage of parents and increasing fees anytime including in the middle of a term because there is no policy to oversee that the public is not exploited.
“Parents are getting circulars from schools every time to either increase fees or asking money for trips. We want government to put a framework to prevent private schools from hiking school fees. It is abnormal for a parent to pay a tune of Shs700, 000 per term for a child in pre-primary,” Mr Kaboyo says.
The debate around how much should a primary, secondary and university student pay has been on for some time. In some cases keeping a pupil in school is more expensive than maintaining a university student.
A parent for example with a child at Kampala Junior parts with Shs620,000 for fees every term and depending on an activity the child participates in per term, there is an extra cost like swimming is charged Shs50,000, French lessons (Shs40,000), ballet (Shs120,000), Art (Shs20, 000) and if the child is to use the school bus for transport another Shs680,000 will be paid.
However, these are co-curricular activities which according to Ministry of Education are part of the curriculum and should not be charged separately from school dues. But the question is how many Ugandans can meet these costs in private schools where for instance Uwezo an organisation that seeks to establish primary children competencies in basic skills by involving both the school and community learning of the child has indicated in its reports that pupils’ literacy and numeracy skills are better than those in government-aided schools?
How do UPE schools survive with Shs6,000 government pays per term per child? Is it that private investors are cheating the public or government is giving a low deal to its citizens?
A mini survey by this paper shows that Kabojja PS charges Shs640,000, Hillside PS (Shs500,000), Greenhill (Shs600,000), and Sir Apolo Kaggwa PS (Shs705,000).
Dr Yusuf Nsubuga, the director basic education in Education ministry in an interview at the 18th sector performance review said for any school to increase fees, it must seek for permission from the ministry.
However, because it is a private investment, he adds that the schools meet most of the expenses like payment of teacher salaries, infrastructure development and instructional materials, it is difficult for them to control their financial management other than the quality of education they are providing to the learners. But parents insist that its government’s mandate to ensure learners get quality education and the means should be favourable for all citizens to access.
