Schools ordered to seek parents, govt approval on fees increment

No school is allowed to hike tuition fees or introduce other dues when schools reopen after the lockdown, the Ministry of education has warned.

Mr Sam Kuloba the commissioner for government-aided schools, warned that no school is allowed to increase tuition without involving parents, the boards of governing and the permanent secretary at Ministry of Education.

“Let me take this opportunity to tell the whole country that parents are complaining that schools are unilaterally increasing school fees. Call parents, sit down, discuss and the resolution goes to the board of governors. It is sent to the permanent secretary for approval,” he said.

Warning
He explained that the ministry is aware that some schools are taking advantage of this situation and recently when they were reopened, they charged unfair dues and yet parents were struggling financially.

“Schools must be careful with the way they handle the issue of school fees. We will not allow any school to unfairly charge the parents. School managers and owners are expected to be reasonable. We are determined to make sure this issue is followed as per our guidance, as the Education ministry,” Mr Kuloba added.

He was last Friday commissioning three new buildings constructed at Kitebi Secondary School, and also swearing in new board members.

Kitebi SS, which is government-owned, hopes that the new buildings will accommodate 1,500 more students on top of the current 2,000.
Mr Kuloba hailed the school’s new head teacher, Muhammed Kamulegeya, for the new developments at the school, which include setting up hostels for 1,000 students, constructing a school perimeter fence, paving the entire school and setting up bathroom facilities.

The school also constructed 27 water toilet facilities, a new administrative board room, a sickbay, store, staff toilets, and a new kitchen.
Mr Asuman Ntale was sworn in as the new school board chairperson.

Background
The ministry of Education in a statement two weeks ago warned schools against charging Senior One and Two learners additional fees, in case they had already completed the interrupted term’s fees.

“P.6, S.3 and S.5, who were expected to report on June 7, for special term, will report and pay fees proportionate to the shorter term. No school was supposed to charge more than 60 per cent of the previous/standard term’s fees for this special term of seven weeks. P.1, P.2 and P.3 were supposed to pay the fees for a normal term when they report for the academic year 2020,” the ministry said.