Luweero school heads urge govt to press clerics against illegal fees

A section of school heads from government-aided schools in Luweero District have appealed to the State to harmonize the school management policy in a bid to stop clerics from exorbitant fees charges.

On Thursday, over 50 head teachers appeared before the Equal Opportunities Commission (EOC) in Kampala and denounced extra fees introduced by their schools.

The school heads accused religious leaders, who act on behalf of their respective foundation bodies, of insisting on the extra charges despite government’s free education policy.

“Help us as. The bishops, sheiks are on our necks demanding money. The money is charged per pupil and is demanded by top religious leaders. It is beyond our capacity as government workers,” one of the teachers said.

Another head teacher revealed that while the government has issued the guidelines on nonpayment of extra school charges, the foundation bodies and the school management press for the extra charges to meet the part of school requirements including the lunch fee and development fee.

“Both the government and foundation bodies are our bosses but at the same time we are appointed and paid by the government to serve on behalf of the government. We call upon the government to harmonize the relationship with the school foundation bodies,” Grace Kunihira, a headteacher at Kakabala Church of Uganda (CoU) Primary School told the EOC officials.

Most of the head teachers had been summoned by the EOC over extra charges which they defended saying “they are used for children’ lunch, building latrines and paying teachers on private schemes among other expenses.

 “The UPE policy was meant for poor parents, but children are dropping out of the UPE schools for failure to pay the extra charges,” Savio Kakooza Ntensibe, the Principal Legal Officer at the EOC told the head teachers.

The EOC insists that public schools can only charge extra fees with special permission from government.

“We have also uncovered a vice where some of the head teachers are charging UNEB fees from private candidates, but the money is never remitted to UNEB. The private candidates are later registered under the UPE program. We are investigating the matter,” Shaft Nasser Mukwaya, the EOC Secretary told head teachers in the presence of the Luweero CAO, DEO and the Inspector of Schools officials from Luweero.

The EOC says it has received over 140 complaints from parents and politicians protesting against more than 140 Luweero head teachers who should appear before the Commission for investigation over breaching the UPE policy.

The Commission maintains that school heads found culpable will be charged with marginalization of the poor people and denying them education, contrary to the government policy and provisions under the EOC Act 2007.

Government recently drafted a policy paper which will prohibit UPE and USE schools from charging extra fees.

Speaking at a public rally to mark his 8oth birthday in September, President Museveni revealed that parents will be expected to only meet lunch costs for their children in government aided schools.