Mbarara University students strike over allowances
Students camp at the office of the Vice Chancellor. Felix Ainebyoona
MBARARA- Students at Mbarara University of Science and Technology (MUST) have protested what they termed as meager living out allowance and the hefty retake fees charged by the institution.
Government students under the Mbarara University Government Sponsored Students Association (MUGOSSA) accuse the university administration of giving them only Shs468, 000 per semester yet their counterparts in other public universities get bigger amounts of cash.
They also argue that the Shs200, 000 fee per retake is unfair. On Tuesday, the students closed lecture rooms and declared the day ‘Freedom Tuesday’.
They then marched around the campus and Mbarara town while carrying placards with inscriptions that denounced various policies of the university.
“The living out allowance is very little and cannot cater for a university student. The retake fee policy of charging Shs200, 000 for every paper a student fails is unacceptable, Mr Charles Obore, the Guild President said.
He said students want their allowances be increased from Shs468, 000 to Shs840,000. The students also demand a reduction of retake fees from Shs200,000 per paper to at least Shs50,000.
Mr Francis Amato Okoyo, the President MUGOSSA said government sponsored students at the university have complained about the meager allowances for a long time but no action has been taken.
The Vice Chancellor Prof. Celestino Obua said the students’ concern regarding allowance is genuine and the university is trying to address the matter.
“The university is aware of the problem and we asked the Dean of Students to find out what amount other universities pay their students,” Prof. Obua said.
He said they set up a committee find out how to increase students’ living out allowances.
On the retake policy, Prof Obua said no serious student should complain since everybody goes to school to pass not to enjoy life in night clubs which causes most failures.
‘There is no serious student who can complain about the retake policy but only those who spend their time in clubs,” Prof. Obua said.
MUST has over 3,500 students and about 400 are government sponsored.
Priority to live in the two halls of the university is given to students of medicine.
Living out allowance for students which is funded by the government is determined by the administration of a given university depending on cost of living in the area.
