Government has stopped all private and government-funded schools from increasing tuition fees.
The decision comes at a time when many schools in the country had opted to increase fees as a way to raise money to pay back school loans.
The Minister of Education stopped schools from asking parents to pay top-up fees for learners in Senior Three as many schools in Kampala, Wakiso and other areas were asking parents to pay between 600,000 and 900,000 Shillings on average as a top-up.
Janet Kataha Museveni, the Minister of Education and Sports in a televised address asked all schools to cease increasing fees or ask parents of learners in S.3 to pay top-ups and maintain the fees structures as they were before the first COVID-19 induced Lockdown.
Janet also noted that schools should stop from undertaking big Infrastructure projects and desist from instituting unnecessary requirements such as mandatory covid-19 tests.
According to the minister, all this is increasing the cost of education yet they are not critical.
Geoffrey Birungi, the headteacher of Mbarara Secondary School says the need for top-ups is justified saying that many schools remained spending money in the lockdown and learners to return to school without paying anything is unrealistic.
Birungi says although his school has not yet increased fees, he thinks the way forward on the issue will be decided after a parents’ meeting.
The Minister however, says that the matter of school charges and fees can be handled well by involving all stakeholders to agree on the flexible payments and also come up with appropriate installments that a parent or guardian can pay given the circumstances.
Filbert Baguma, the Secretary-General of UNATU says schools need to be considerate sayinmg although schools have suffered financially with the prolonged closure, parents are equally affected.
