{UAH} Illegal fees haunt UPE schools 22 years later

Tony Owana,/ Ahmed Katerregga

Where does this fit in your NRA Ten Point Programme? Is it any wonder that no less than your nappy changer and funder the World Bank is recommending the abolition of UPE and USE because it claims they serve no purpose and are a complete waste of time, as children come out them worse than they enterred.

Bobby

Illegal fees haunt UPE schools 22 years later

TUESDAY JUNE 11 2019

    

Facility. Girls of St Edward Gobero Primary School walk out of a classroom. Lack of infrastructure is one of the challenges UPE Schools still face. PHOTO BY PATIENCE AHIMBISIBWE 

In Summary

UPE progress . Despite government meeting expenses for scholastic materials, operational costs and teacher salaries, administrators in schools say the money government provides is too little to meet all the urgent school expenses, our team team.

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By Monitor Team

When Mzee Simon Peter Ssendikaddiwa enrolled his 13-year-old grandson at St Mary's Kiryowa Primary School in Njeru Municipality, Buikwe District in 2013, he thought he had been relieved of the burden of paying school fees.
The school is under government's free education scheme commonly known as Universal Primary Education (UPE), which was introduced in 1997 to enable pupils from impecunious families enrol in tuition–free schools.
To his surprise though, Mzee Ssendikaddiwa was asked to pay Shs50,000 to cater for both his grandson's meals and teachers' salaries.
"For the Shs50,000 I pay per term, my grandson is only given porridge during break time. I was told to pay another Shs40,000 if I want him to get meals during lunch time, which I cannot afford," he says
Although government meets expenses for scholastic materials, operational costs and teachers salaries, in some schools such as St Mary's Kiryowa Primary School, the administrators say the money they receive from government is too little to meet all the urgent school expences, which prompts them to ask for extra fees from parents. 
According to a 2017 Sauti wa Wananchi survey by Twaweza, a non-overnmental organisation, majority of parents said the biggest challenge they face in educating their children is the excessive financial contributions required both in primary and secondary schools.

Daily Monitor survey
A snap survey by Daily Monitor team across the country reveals that many UPE schools charge different fees for different purposes.
Ms Margaret Nalukwago, the head teacher of St Mary's Kiryowa Primary School, says of 665 pupils in her school, only 50 can afford lunch.
She says the school receives Shs900, 000 from government per term which cannot cater for extra costs that are unavoidable.
"We have only seven teachers on government payroll and given our enrolment, they cannot do much. So, we were forced to ask parents to contribute Shs25,000 each to facilitate six other teachers we recruited on private arrangement," she says.
At Bujjo Primary School in Mpigi Town Council, parents were compelled to contribute Shs5,000 each to facilitate the construction of a pit-latrine at the school. The school needs at least Shs7m to erect a new pit-latrine, but so far, only Shs290, 000 has been realised.
Currently, both pupils and teachers are sharing one pit-latrine.
However, parents in Nkozi Sub-county, Mpigi District and their counterparts in Budde and Kalamba in Butambala District are questioning why they are paying fees for pit-latrines, construction of classrooms and meals when there are some non-governmental organisations supporting the schools.
Ms Rosemary Byabasaija, the Mpigi Resident District Commissioner, said if UPE schools agree with parents on any extra fees, there is no way local leaders can stop them.
"If school heads agree with parents over these fees for a cause, it's okay. But those fees shouldn't be diverted to teachers' pockets. Let the money do the work it is solicited for. Secondly, these fees should not be hiked because we don't want to see our children being affected. At times, hiked fees chase away children from school. Parents should agree basing on their incomes and leaders should help them in making decisions," she says.
Ms Byabasaija has since ordered head teachers in schools where World Vision and other Non-governmental Organisations are providing financial support to provide accountabilities.

Devotion. Acholi District Muslim Khadi Sheikh Musa Khelil leads the Idd-El-Fitri prayers at Gulu Public Primary School on Sunday. PHOTO BY JULIUS OCUNGi

For two decades now, there has been lack of a clear feeding programme in UPE schools which has negatively impacted on the scheme, causing massive drop-outs and absenteeism as many pupils cannot stand the biting hunger at school.
On many occasions, efforts by head teachers to have parents pay some little money to cater for their children's lunch have been frustrated by President Museveni, who viewed it as an extra burden to his voters.
The President threatened to arrest head teachers who pester parents to pay lunch fees.
This, according to head teachers, who wanted their names not to be disclosed has continued to make parents reject paying for lunch rendering learners spend days without lunch at school.

Ministry responds
Ms Janet Museveni, the Minister of Education, insists government cannot shoulder this responsibility or subsidise lunch, saying the ministry has a lot of responsibilities including, building classrooms, training more teachers, buying instructional materials, which she says consume a lot of money.
Mr Grace Twinomujuni, the head teacher of Nyaburiza Primary School in Ntungamo District, says they reached an understanding with parents where each pays Shs12,000 per term to provide meals for the pupils.
"We have a project based on the school feeding programme where parents are asked to pay some money to have at least some milk mixed with maize porridge for the pupils. We are supported by the Netherlands government," he says.

At Rutoto Primary School in Bunyaruguru, Rubirizi District, which runs a boarding section, pupils pay fees ranging between Shs300,000 and Shs340,000.
Those who are not in the boarding section contribute money ranging between Shs27,000 and Shs90,000 which also covers meals. By the time the school came up with this arrangement, Mr Adonia Mutongore, the school head teacher, says government was only giving them Shs1.6m every term to cover all school needs including feeding pupils.
'For us to stop asking parents to pay this money, we need things such as teachers' houses, pit-latrines, the whole infrastructure for the school should be in place, but most of these things are left to parents," Mr Mutongore says.
At Hill Road Public Primary School in Masaka Municipality, the head teacher, Mr Benedict Nkaata, says members of the Parents Teachers Association (PTA) passed a resolution compelling all parents to contribute Shs10,000 for porridge for breakfast and another Shs30,000 for lunch for those who can afford.
He says the school also charge an additional Shs45,000 from each pupil to cater for the general operations of the school.
Masaka Municipality principal education officer, Stephen Kakeeto, says UPE guidelines allow schools to charge Shs 12,000 to pay for utility bills.
He says parents are also supposed to contribute for their children's lunch by either paying hard cash or taking food to the school.
"In case of emergencies such as death of a teacher and the school needs to replace him or when the school pit-latrine collapses and the school management cannot raise funds, parents can pay an agreed amount of money, but collections have to stop immediately after solving such problems," he adds.
Mr John Baptist Ahimbisibwe, the head teacher Rugazi Central Primary School in Rubirizi Town Council, says his school charges some little money to supplement the meagre funds they get from government. Day scholars from Primary One to Primary Six pay Shs25,000 per term, while those in Primary Seven pay Shs52,000. Those in boarding section pay between Shs187,000 and Shs270,000.
The school has an enrolment of 683 pupils with 12 teachers on pay roll. Another seven teachers and five support staff are paid by parents.

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