Officials of Equal Opportunities Commission Joel Cox Ojuku (L), Safia Nalule Najuuko (C) and Habib Seruwagi after addressing the journalists at Uganda Media Centre.
The Equal Opportunities Commission (EOC) has tasked the Ministry of Education and Sports to enforce no increment of school fees in private and public institutions of learning in 2023.
According to the Commission, they have sampled 65 Government aided and private schools across the country and established the unfair school increment that needs immediate redress to ensure universal access to educational opportunities in the country.
While addressing journalists at Uganda Media Centre on Thursday, Joel Cox Ojuko, the Commission’s Vice Chairperson called for a review of the current education policies to enable the government to expeditiously reign over errant education institutions.
The Commission revealed that only 65 percent of parents were able to offset school dues for their children in the 2022 academic year, an indication that if the increments continue unrestricted in 2023 it will become a habit for schools to the detriment of parents.
The Minister of ICT and National Guidance Dr. Chris Baryomunsi told URN that unfair school fees in the country is already before the Cabinet pending resolution though school administrators argue that Government’s capitation grant is inadequate to fund smooth operations.
The Commission also urged the government put in place a durable solution to address the plights of at least over 30,000 teenage mothers who dropped out of school during the Covid-19 pandemic when schools were closed.
Among the schools sampled by the Commission that have already increased school fees include Kashenyi Secondary School and Makobore High School in Rukungiri. Kasheyi increased fees from 400,000 Shillings in 2022 to 450,000 Shillings while Makobore hiked from 600,000 Shillings to 700,000 Shillings.
In Kampala Bweyogerere Secondary School increased from 650,000 Shillings to 900,000 Shillings while King’s College Budo in Wakiso District hiked from 1.260 million Shillings to 2.5 million Shillings.
The Commission noted that at Nabisunsa Girls Secondary School in Kampala, fees increased from 1.3 million Shillings to 1.7 million Shillings, and Seeta Parents School in Mukono increased from 650,000 Shillings to 850,000 Shillings. Kibuli Secondary School it was increased from 1.374 million to 1.625 million Shillings and St. Gracious School in Lira increased from 779,000 Shillings to 879,000 Shillings.
In November 2022, while meeting teachers at Kololo Independent Grounds in Kampala, President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni warned the school administration against school fees increment yet the Government continues to cater for salaries and development expenditures of the schools.
In January, education activists through their umbrella body, the Coalition for Quality and Accessible Public Education, non-governmental organizations led by city lawyer Michael Aboneka petitioned the High Court challenging the exorbitant school requirements and high fees from school owners.
-URN
