Fees and exams: Children must not suffer for parents’ failing
During this national examination period, the media has been awash with reports about students that have been denied opportunity to sit their national examinations due to non-clearance of school fees balances.
There have also been reports of children detained by schools following completion of the examinations in order to compel their parents to clear school dues.
This is one of the manifestations of the failures in Uganda’s education system. It is also a clear indicator that the national policy makers need to go back to the drawing board before it is too late.
Uganda liberalised the education sector in the 1990s, but the growth of the private sector in education has outmatched the capacity of the State to regulate it. And we are now at the point where commercial interest is prioritised over the right to education and the best interests of the child.
In one of the media stories, it was reported that district officials intervened before the start of the examinations, but they could not convince or compel the school administrators to allow the children sit for the examination.
While Uganda National Examination sBoard (Uneb) noted that what the school did was wrong in denying the students to sit the examinations, they said they could not intervene in the matter.
The Ministry of Education and Sports, came up later to direct schools to allow children who have not completed school fees to sit exams, but many have already missed some papers and this will definitely have an impact on their overall performance.
As a country, we have been grappling with high school dropout rates. And several reports have showed that this partly results from the high cost of education. Education is the cornerstone for the development of any nation.
In many of the developed countries, children do not have to worry about the cost of basic education. Indeed, Article 30 of the Uganda Constitution guarantees the right to education for every child. Uganda is also party to several international human rights instruments that guarantee the right to education.
We should always remember that education is a human right and children do not choose their parents. The best interests of the child must always prevail regardless of whether their parents are unable or unwilling to pay their school fees.
It is simply the right thing to do and it is one of the basic services that the state can do for its citizens as part of the social contract.
Ms Namusobya is the executive director,
Initiative for Social and Economic Rights (ISER).
