Choosing a school for your child

It is that time of the year, when many people are thinking about which schools their children, especially those moving from one level to another, should go to. So what are you looking at? The fees, your former school, if it features in the newspapers when results are out? Perhaps, one of the things you should think about is what Uganda National Examination Board (Uneb) Chairperson Fagil Mandy said during an interview with one of the local magazines on Uganda’s Education system: “What sort of citizen does Uganda want? That should be the beginning point so throughout the various levels we know what kind of product we want to end up with. The whole chain of learning should be tuned to the end-product.” Here therefore are some of the basics you should consider as you make that search.

DISTANCE FROM HOME
The Executive Secretary says in regards to distance, it is advisable that children in pre-primary and primary are enrolled in schools whose distance is manageable.
Matovu explains, “At most, one kilometre for primary and two to four kilometres for secondary students in day school because you would not want a child to leave home at 5am. This kills their interest and it undermines the issues of safety and security of the child.”
He adds, “But if you are going to put them in boarding school, the distance can even be more than 10 kilometres as long as they can be at school in less than six hours.”

SCHOOL FEES
You also need to consider the money you will have spent at the end of the term. While some schools give a clear justification for high school fees, others do not and at the end of the day, the parent begins to wonder if it is value for money.
Therefore, Mandy says, while there are no regulations on how much fees should be paid at every level, parents need to be “sharp”.

“If the school is demanding for things like reams, money for trips, and building fees among others, all the time, it is a sign of a bad school. They should include all these dues in the school fees so that parents pay a lump sum. As a parent, you also need to question how the money you are paying is going to be used after all you are the boss,” the Uneb Chairman advises.
Sam Nsubuga a businessman says it is also important that parents weigh their income before they take a child to a specific school. “There are some very good schools in town but if you cannot raise the fees for such a school without falling into debt, then settle for second bests.”
He adds, “This is because while you are trying to look like a rich parent, you might end up hurting your child in case you fail to maintain their stay in an expensive school.”

EDUCATION SYSTEM OF THE SCHOOL
Mr Isa Matovu an educationist and also the Executive Secretary of Uganda Muslim Teachers Association (UMEA) explains that these days, many things have come up in the education system such that parents are either overwhelmed or they are not paying as much attention to why the child is going to school as they ought to.

He says, “When some parents see adverts on television, the first focus is on the school bus. The next focus is the swimming pool then Dstv. But these are peripheral issues which should be additional values instead of the main reason for choosing a school.”
The educationist states that the main reason of zeroing in on a specific school should go back to the question of the essence of schooling.

“Why do we take children to school? There must be a benchmark or a checklist for that. This checklist should aid the parent in selecting the school,” Matovu says.
He explains that the most important issue when choosing a school is for the parent to be sure that the child is learning effectively.

“You want to be sure that at the end of the day, the child will attain the skills needed to survive in the classroom and out of the classroom through extra-curricular activities.
“But you also want to be sure that the learning environment is safe for the children in terms of facilities, safety and security and the people handling the child,” he states.

In an interview with this newspaper, Mandy adds that before taking your child to a specific school, you need to do your homework. “You need to find out if the school is registered and licensed, if the teachers and head teacher are qualified. You also need to look at their programme. It is important that it includes co-curricular activities and physical education.”
“These two develop and educate the learner. They equip them with potential and other skills which are not done by the other subjects taught in class.

“Physical education on the other hand develops the mind, body and emotions of the learner.” Mandy further explains that it is also important that the school has enough space out of the classrooms, a sign that your child will be able to play because sitting throughout the day makes school boring not just for the young ones but the older ones as well.

“The school is almost the first home to a child since they spend eight months at school. So you need to find out if the school offers services close to what they child will be getting at home especially if you are planning on putting the child in boarding school,” Mandy advises.
Meanwhile, Matovu emphasises that no matter where the school is, “the checklist is the same and should be taken seriously.”

INTERVIEWS FOR JOINING
Another thing to consider is when the child should do the interview for joining a new school. Matovu says normally, they should be done at the beginning of the year (January), when schools have re-opened from the Christmas break. He adds that by this time, parents know the performance of the child since they will have receive the third term reports from their previous school in December.

“I see many schools conducting interviews even in April and May. While they have reasons for doing this such as the competition among schools, the ideal should be after the third term reports are out for children who are schooling such as in nursery, primary and secondary.”

“For transitional classes like Primary Seven, it should be after the results are out. The same applies to Ordinary level and Advanced level.” Matovu says, “Parents need to pay a lot of attention to the meaning of education. I believe that education is what remains after you have forgotten what you studied at school.”

He adds, “At the end of the day, education is not about Primary Leaving Exams (PLE), Uganda Certificate Examination (UCE) or Uganda Advanced Certificate Examination (UACE). It is about what you bring to the world and how you use the skills you learnt at school. So in terms of distance and school fees, we need to rethink before taking a child to a faraway school in a bid of looking for a “better school.”

Matovu says that teachers and school proprietors must try to redefine the type of schools they are running. “They need to look at the unique value they are creating. It must be education which transforms the child and the society.

Boarding or day school
After considering the values on your checklist, you also need to think of whether to take the child to boarding or day school. Matovu states that ideally, for primary level, the child should be coming from home to school and the distance should be walkable even for kindergarten which should preferably be in the neighbourhood.
“Children should not be in boarding at nursery and primary level because the first school is the home.

He adds, “The parent has a role in providing education to a child in the early years. Ideally you would not want to see a child in boarding school while in kindergarten and primary. For secondary, it depends on the quality of the school and what you want but at this level, the child will have gained most of the home education and they can easily join boarding school.”

The cost of taking your child to Primary One

As the end of year draws near, many parents are already figuring out where they will take their children for school. There are several factors one should consider including distance from home, quality of education, environment and finances. In some schools, interviews are underway while others have completed. Many are looking for the best for their children, but it comes with a cost. At Greenhill Academy Buwaate, parents had up to December 2 to have completed all the tuition for a child joining Primary One. In total, parents will part with Shs1.26m for the child to get an admission letter for next year’s vacancy. The money is for a term. There are three terms in a year.

For example, tuition is going for Shs1m, admission fees (Shs110,000), an annual payment of Shs25,000 for trips, bank charges of Shs2, 000 and Shs123,000 for uniform. This amount of money can pay tuition for two students doing Bachelor of Tourism (Shs700,000) at Makerere University. The Primary One charges can also pay tuition of Shs1.2m for a Bachelor of Science in Civil Engineering student at the country’s oldest institution of higher learning.

Parents wishing to take their children at Kabojja PS are expected to pay Shs200,000 before getting an admission letter in addition to Shs40,000 they paid for interviews.
According to James Okello, a parent of three, the school urged that the money is a commitment fee from the Shs900,000 he will be paying for his son’s tuition ahead of first term opening in February.

“The fees are on a high side. I also have to look at transport, food and scholastic materials. I want the best for my children if they are going to compete for jobs tomorrow. But how many Ugandans can afford this?” Okello asks.
While some parents have settled for the schools they have so far got, others are still finding it difficult. Although Jemimah Kato’s six-year-old daughter passed the Primary One interviews at Hillside Primary School Naalya last month, she wasn’t taken but posted to the affiliate school, Slovetto Primary School in Hoima. She had paid Shs100,000 for the interview.

Searching again
A resident of Ntinda, a Kampala suburb, Kato now says it will not be possible for her child to report to the Hoima-based school because it is far from her home.
She had expected that her child would commute every day to school. She now has to find another school and pay more money for interviews.

“I had chosen the school because it is near home and my child doesn’t have to be stressed in traffic jam. But these people didn’t even tell us that they were going to post our children to their campus in Hoima,” Kato said. But the head teacher Henry Stanley Okia said they had informed the parents that they would send some of the candidates who pass the interviews to Hoima. However, he added that a parent who feels it is far is not forced to take their children there.

“We have not forced any parent to take their children to any branch. When they came to do the interview, we were very clear. We told them that we had opened another branch in Hoima and that some children would be sent there. If you don’t want your child to go there, we don’t come to you and put a rope around your neck that you take there your child. Our charges have not changed in three years. You pay Shs50,000 for interviews,” Okia said in an interview.

He explained that boarding fees are Shs400,000 less for a child who will be studying at the Kampala school. Their Primary One pupil will require Shs650,000 minus uniform and scholastic materials.

It’s equally the same at Kampala Junior. Parents are not comfortable with the charges being levied. For instance, every pupil has to participate in at least four co-curricular activities like swimming, music, girl guide, home management and Spelling Bee.
The challenge is that parents have to pay for each of these activities at a rate not less than Shs20,000.

stumwebaze @ug.nationmedia.com