The Ministry of Education and Sports has blamed the exorbitant fees charged by schools on the change in menu where the current students have shunned eating posho and beans, which has forced schools to change their menus in order to meet the needs of their students.
The revelation was made by Ketty Lamaro, Permanent Secretary Ministry of Education while appearing before Parliament’s Education Committee that was scrutunising a motion on the exorbitant fees charged by schools, that MPs say has greatly contributed to the high rates of school dropouts in eth education sector.
Lamaro told the Committee that the Ministry has held meetings with a number of secondary schools head teachers, on the issues of schools fees increments and came to the realisation that the reasons schools give for increasing fees are realistic.
“In our discussions, many of our teachers we have held meetings with raise issues that the menus have changes, when you and I were in school, we were comfortable with posho and beans, but the learners now, you will not present posho and beans and they will be comfortable with it,” said Lamaro.
She also attributed the increment to the large acreage of land that schools need to maintain, and the shift in policy among schools to put more emphasis on teaching sciences.
“Educating a science student is quite expensive to schools, they also raise issues of sanitation, some schools have moved away from flashing toilets there is an additional expense of water and really they are understandably realistic,” said Lamaro.
However, her argument attracted protest from MPs like John Twesigye, Chairperson Education Committee who tasked the Ministry of Education to furnish the Committee with a list of schools where students have refused to eat posho, prompting a diet change.
“I think you will have to tell us what schools are comfortable with beans, those ones which aren’t comfortable with posho and beans. Where I come from in my constituency, young boys and girls they are eating posho and beans, they are studying and I think they aren’t different human beings and in Kampala I know schools eating posho and beans,” said Twesigye.
Busia Municipality’s Geofrey Macho called out Lamaro for handling the issue of exorbitant fees with a biased mind remarking, “I don’t know whether we are proceeding well where the Permanent Secretary is giving a submission already with a biased mind because she said she was fine with eating posho and beans and with this generation, it isn’t a generation of beans and posho. All those insinuations are already an indication that the PS is submitting on a biased mind.”
Lamaro however further defended her stand arguing that some of the schools provide special meals like chicken, meat and rice after moving away from the traditional meals like posho and beans.
However the Committee yet again rubbished this argument, saying schools are hiding behind special meals to charge exorbitant fees, and tasked the Ministry to bring evidence indicating that indeed those special are provided as alleged.
John Muyingo, Minister of State for Higher Education told the Committee that in April 2021, the Ministry of Education constituted a Committee of Technical Officers to inquire into the exorbitant fees especially among Government Grant-aided schools and reasons given included inadequate capitation grants from Government, repayments of loans whose interests had accumulated during the Covid-19 lockdown and the need to meet operational costs such as security, maintenance of vast compounds.
During the meeting, Parliament was informed that although schools are required to seek authority from the Ministry of Education before increasing fees, only Gayaza High School and Kings College Budo sought this authorisation, but it was rejected by Government.
