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Why EOC has summoned 47 Luweero school heads
Children drink from a tap at Kiwanguzi Primary School in Luweero District in March. UPE schools in the district are under fire over charging fees. PHOTO | DAN WANDERA
What you need to know:
- About 25 UPE schools sampled by the EOC in Luweero District charge between Shs40,000 and Shs90,000 as school fees per term.
About 47 head teachers from public primary and secondary schools in Luweero will later this month appear before a special committee of the Equal Opportunities Commission (EOC) for allegedly levying illegal fees.
The extra fees include money for country tours, study trips and examination fees, which EOC officials say are a burden to the already struggling parents.
About 25 UPE schools sampled by the EOC in Luweero District charge between Shs40,000 and Shs90,000 as school fees per term. The money caters for lunch, among other costs, agreed upon by the respective school management committees.
However, EOC says the extra charges are scaring away parents from enrolling their children in schools where the government has a free education policy.
The affected school heads, according to the EOC, are scheduled to appear before the commission in mid-September.
“When the children drop out of a UPE school because the parent has not raised money for a trip or a particular project at school, the original objective of free education stands to be abused. This is among several of the questions the selected school heads summoned by the EOC will be answering,” Mr Sharft Nasser Mukwaya, the EOC secretary, told the Monitor last week.
“The affected school heads will face the charge of marginalisation of the poor people and denying them education, contrary to the government's free education policy. Denying education to the children that fail to pay the extra charge not sanctioned by government contravenes government policy and the various provisions of the EOC Act 2007,” a statement by EOC reads in part.
A document by EOC shows that several schools under the universal primary and secondary education scheme in Luweero also add extra charges to the Uganda National Examination Board (Uneb) fees.
But a head teacher of one of the schools named by EOC in their investigation defended the extra charges on Uneb fees.
“We have a Uneb album where the Primary Seven candidates have their passport-size photos, among other particulars. We collect money from parents for the photos, including a small fee for the administration of the registration exercise. We travel between the district headquarters and our respective schools. These are costs not catered for by Uneb,” the school head told the Monitor.
“Let the EOC summon the Uneb officials to be part of the investigation because the fee paid for any single candidate is not accompanied by the administration of the entire process,” the head teacher, who preferred anonymity, added.
Mr Isma Ssebamala, a retired head teacher in Luweero District, questioned the role of the school authorities and management bodies in the government-owned schools that have deliberately withdrawn from the Universal Secondary Education programme
“We shall need to brainstorm about the role of the school management bodies in the government-owned schools that oppose the government policies yet the very schools get government grants unlike the private schools,” he said.
Asked about the EOC summons over extra fees, a head teacher at one of the UPE schools in Wobulenzi Town Council revealed that the government guidelines allow the school management committees in collaboration with parents to charge “a small fee for lunch, among other costs deemed necessary.”
“I cannot deny the fact that we charge some extra fees from parents, but the charges are not illegal. We have gone through the right channels to come up with a standard fee. I have also heard about the EOC investigation process,” he said.
Luweero District chairperson Erasto Kibirango said he was not aware of the large number of school heads summoned by the EOC but promised to crosscheck with the education department.
“It is also possible that the affected school heads have been summoned as individuals,” he said.
The government recently drafted a policy paper where all the UPE and USE schools will be day schools. The schools will not be allowed to charge any extra fees since the government will cater for the staff salaries, and infrastructure development, among other administrative, costs.
President Museveni while closing the Buganda Mothers Union meeting at Timnah Primary School in Luweero District on September 1, hinted at the new policy. First Lady and Minister for Education and Sports Janet Museveni had earlier relayed the same message, rallying the mothers to support the children’s safe stay in school with lunch packages.
