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Tricks school owners use to fleece parents
Children pack their bags as they return to school at the New Taxi Park in Kampala recently. PHOTO/ FILE
What you need to know:
- While some schools are genuinely great performers and attract learners, others are busy fleecing parents
Good grades and great learner welfare are key things parents look for before sending their children to any school. But to some school managers, their main motive for investing in the education sector is doing business. And to live up to this, they have come up with tactics to attract numbers but at the expense of the important qualities parents are looking for.
As a result, we look at tactics that school managers employ to fleece parents.
False performance
One of the tactics is persuasive advertising of false performances. Whenever Uganda National Examinations Board (UNEB) is about to release results for different levels from primary to secondary school, or immediately after they have been released, one cannot miss numerous adverts in the media about schools' excellent performance.
But do you know that some of the schools advertise false results to attract numbers and new students?
A school that never scored a first grade will run advertisements on local radio stations, indicating that out of 100 students it got 80 students in first grade and the rest in second grade.
Mr Andrew Muganzi, a retired teacher, says this practice is common in private schools.
“I will not tell you a particular school but before retirement, I was approached by one investor to help him start a school. I complied but our performance was not always the best because he never invested in quality teachers. The enrollment kept low and we had to find ways to attract and grow the number of students,” explains Mr Muganzi.
He explained that one of the tactics was to use radios to advertise false results.
“The challenge is that there are many radio stations and I think because of competition they also do not verify what one is advertising with them. So we could just forge our own results and advertise and somehow the trick worked,” adds Mr Muganzi as he quickly reasons that one of the reasons he retired is because he could not live with such dishonesty anymore.
Exaggerated services on offer
Mr Asaph Besigye explains how his two children suffered after falling for a school advert that besides offering quality education they provide quality meals.
“The school adverts were too persuasive. These included free computer lessons, qualified teachers, and a great menu which comprised milk and meat. I took my children there but they almost starved to near death because of poor feeding,” explains Mr Besigye.
Meanwhile, Ms Asiati Twongyeirwe, a resident Koranorya in Biharwe, Mbarara City North Division, says she knows of a neighbouring school that advertises nonexistent amenities.
“Schools are always desperately looking for students because of competition and to stay in business, but they are using treacherous tactics. Even then, most parents do not bother to do due diligence on these utilities they claim to have.
“One of the schools in my neighbourhood is always advertising as having running tap water at the school, a standby generator, and solar but in reality, these have never existed there. Students at this school fetch water kilometres away from a public water tap and at times at a stream around,” explains Ms Twongyeirwe.
She adds that some schools have brokers and middlemen who move around homes and other busy areas such as markets with flyers looking for students. However, if you are keen on the flyer information, it is largely false.
The others even use Internet images of schools abroad or generic photos which prospective parents fall for.
The lure of sponsorship
Mr Moses Bainomugisha, a resident of Mbarara City, says schools also excite parents with sponsorship offers such as half bursaries, only to get numbers.
“Imagine a parent pays half the tuition for the first term but once the child is enrolled, terms change for the following term. You are forced to pay normal fees like the rest,” notes Mr Bainomugisha.
There was a time some schools in Central region sent out adverts and announcements through the public gatherings, especially churches and mosques.
“My firstborn had just completed Primary Seven in 2006 but I had no money to keep her in school. During one of the church services an announcement came through of full scholarship offers in a Kampala school,” Ms Naome Kambona recounts.
Ms Kambona followed up on the juicy promises and enrolled her child in a Kawempe school. After two terms, the scholarships were suddenly suspended and every student told to ask their parents or guardians for third-term fees.
“I almost ran crazy because I had fallen for empty promises. Even then, I had put more effort in securing fees for the younger siblings. I went back to scratch and re-enrolled my daughter at a neighbouring school which I found more affordable,” she recounts adding that she made friends with the staff and her daughter completed O-Level through a payment plan and she did not have to worry about transport for the girl.
Authorities say
The District Education Officer Mbarara District Mr Gabriel Ahimbisibwe, describes the practice as dangerous and says such schools risk being deregistered and managers arrested.
“We are going to investigate these reports and any school found to have been engaged in this practice will be deregistered. It is a very bad and dangerous strategy of attracting students,” Mr Ahimbisibwe warns.
Mr Nathan Mugume, the chairperson of Mbarara City Schools Head Teachers Association, says the practice has to be fought.
“We are going to liaise with education officials to find out if the allegations are true. It is a bad practice that distorts education standards besides cheating parents and their children,” says Mr Mugume.
Negligence?
Mr Mugume says the problem is compounded by parents who have neglected their responsibility by only throwing their children at school and leaving them at the mercy of school managers.
“Parents have neglected their responsibilities, they just throw their children at schools without doing any background checks on them. Some children in schools stay hungry and they are underfed. Parents have a responsibility and they should establish partnerships with schools to see their children get the best education and care,” adds Mr Mugume.
