Introducing fees in UPE, USE schools is wrong
On April 29, the Daily Monitor ran a story “Govt moots plan for charges under UPE”. The story added that studies have been commenced to establish willingness of Ugandans to support the free Universal Primary Education (UPE) programme.
This confirmed an earlier statement issued by Mr Chris Baryomunsi, the minister of Information, Communication and Technology, on decisions taken by the Cabinet on March 14, among others, the Ministry of Education and Sports carrying out a study on introducing fees in UPE and Universal Secondary Education (USE) schools.
Determining the capacity of households to pay school fees in UPE and USE does not necessitate another study.
The Uganda National Household Survey 2019/2020 indicated that there are 8.4 million people living in poverty. As such, NPA has approximated that 64.6 percent of the parents are either struggling or not in position to afford tuition fees for their children. This confirms UBOS’ approximation of 6 of 10 persons that leave school due to high cost of education.
A case in point is Minister Baryomunsi’s Twitter post on February 12: “Today, I met Tukamushaba Afia, 14 yrs (holding a hoe) digging with her mother in Kiziba, Kanungu. She dropped out of school in P.3 because her parents cannot afford Shs30,000 per term. I have made arrangements to get her back to school. UPE should be made free and compulsory.”
The introduction of UPE and USE programmes was informed by research, mainly by government agencies, that school fees were a barrier to access to education. Indeed when UPE was introduced in 1997, there was a sharp rise in enrolment from 2.7 million pupils in 1996 to 3.1 million in 1997. Any plans by the government to re-introduce payment of fees in UPE and USE will be eroding the gains so far made.
It will also be negated from domestic, regional and international human rights commitments and obligations. All the National Resistance Movement (NRM) manifestos have been promising delivery of free quality primary and secondary education to the citizens, and free education has been listed as a major achievement in seeking re – election.Importantly, after being declared winner for the 2021 term, the President listed free primary and secondary education as one of his key priorities.
Additionally, the Children Act, as amended, the African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child and the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child that Uganda is party to, guarantee the children’s right to education.
Currently, the country’s education planning is hinged on the Sustainable Development Goals that emphasize “leaving no one behind” and Uganda has committed itself to this agenda.
With plans to re-introduce fees in UPE and USE schools, is the President and his Cabinet telling us that domestic and international commitments do not matter to them? No amount of explanation can justify the charging of fees in UPE and USE. Since the introduction of UPE, government financing of education has been low compared to households.
The NPA indicates that government expenditure on education as a percentage of the GDP has averaged at 2.8 percent whereas the household expenditure on education has increased from 53 percent to 69 percent over a decade ago, with 20 percent of the poorest households’ expenditure on education growing by 11 percent over the last 15 years.
Under international commitments, the government’s failure to finance free quality basic education on account of lack of resources can only stand after demonstrating that it has undertaken all measures at its disposal to the extent of the available maximum resources.
According to a survey conducted by the Inspectorate of Government, Uganda loses Shs20 trillion to corruption annually. For instance, Shs451b in healthcare and education services, Shs820b in natural resources, Shs131b in taxation, Shs590b in procurement and budgeting, Shs233b in regulation and Shs459b user fees utilities.
Despite Section 9 of the Education Act prohibiting charging of fees in UPE and USE schools, almost all these schools are charging varying fees disguised as non-tuition fees . This explains the weakness in the established structure with the mandate of monitoring, supervising and enforcing of compliance to education laws and policies.
If these schools are currently charging fees illegally, what will happen when there is an official government position permitting them to charge school fees?
The appropriate study that the government should undertake is to establish the unit cost required to educate learners. An established unit cost would act as a benchmark for the government’s financing of UPE and USE and regulation of fees in private schools.
Education is a right guaranteed under Article 30 of the Constitution and thus access to basic education cannot be on the basis of ability to pay school fees.
Mugoya Musa, Program Officer, Right to Education Initiative for Social and Economic Rights
