Africa-Press – Uganda. This week, this newspaper run a story that highlighted the plight of children stuck at home because of lack of school fees.
As schools embark on the final month of Term One of the 2023 academic year, many school administrators from across the country have admitted to registering low enrolment.
In Rukungiri District, for example, Mr Wycliffe Mackey Twinomujuni, the head teacher of Kashenyi Secondary School, says the number of students in his school reduced from more than 1,000 last year to less than 850 this First Term.
In Abim in Karamoja sub-region, Mr James Shilaku, the Resident District Commissioner (RDC), says more than 30 percent of learners were out of school because of their parents failed to raise the required fees.
But some officials blame parents for deliberately refusing to send their children to school since there is free education in some government-aided schools.
However, the dilemma in which our education system finds itself was an accident waiting to happen. Prior to the reopening of schools at the beginning of this year, government directed all schools not to hike fees ahead of Term One which started on February 6.
But the directive from Education minister Janet Museveni went largely ignore as schools claimed that the economic pressures caused them to raise fees. Inflation rose for the better part of 2022, driven by higher food and fuel prices, which have since decelerated. But inflation is projected to remain above Bank of Uganda’s 5 percent target throughout 2023, according to a report by Fitch Ratings.
Given that inflation is not going down anytime soon, and there is no immediate solution for parents to increase their income, we suggest that stakeholders join hands to send children back to the classrooms.
The President has always insisted that those charging fees in UPE and USE schools should be arrested, but the vice continues going on quietly. The President’s directive needs to be enforced since many children have been locked out of school.
Since the world is still recovering from the Covid-induced economic slowdown, we ask schools to allow some parents to pay in kind. Parents should be allowed to pay using goods schools use on a daily such as posho, beans and firewood, among others.
Finally, authorities should move around their villages to make sure parents are not keeping children away for schools for purposes of helping them with domestic work.
Our children have already lost a lot after schools were closed in 2020. Since there is chance to study now, we should all ensure that they are in classrooms.
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