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A’Level school fees double
By Conan Businge
THE cost of sending a child to school in Uganda has almost doubled in the last 10 years, according to a survey. Research by Sunday Vision shows that average annual fees for boarding students in Advanced Level (A’ Level) stands at about sh320,000 on average; up from sh150,000 a decade ago.
The cost of education has overtime been shooting up in the country. According to government figures, in the mid-1980s, the education sector was was dominated by public schools. Primary and secondary students then paid school fees ranging from sh9,000 ($5) to sh18,000 ($10) per year; and most schools asked pupils and their parents to contribute labour, food, or materials to the school.
The A’Level secondary schools, teacher training institutions and other post-secondary institutions did not charge fees during the 1980s, but their students were required to bring items such as food and beddings, for their own use. But today, one has to pay to ably study in any A’Level school in the country; save for a handful of minor special cases of students. Even free secondary education will, in the meantime, stop at O’Level.
Private schools are the most expensive, charging almost double of what is being charged by government-aided schools.
But the survey revealed that expensive private schools and other government-aided schools are also the best in performance. Such schools have the highest number of candidates being admitted on government and private universities.
Looking at last year’s list of merit admissions to all public universities, Uganda Martyrs’ Namugongo sent the highest number of students to medical courses at public universities. The school had 28 students admitted for Medicine and Surgery, eight for Pharmacy and five for Nursing.
King’s College Budo led in Mechanical Engineering and Telecom Engineering admissions, with 13 and eight admitted for the courses respectively.
Other top and expensive schools include Seeta High School, St. Mary’s College Kisubi, Turkish Light Academy, King’s College Budo and Valley College Bushenyi.
The survey randomly sampled out schools from all over the country, irrespective of their performance. The survey only looked at tuition fees, excluding other additional costs.
The increase in fees, according to educationists and school owners, is partly attributed to the rise in scholastic materials and other related costs in running schools. The increased costs include staff wages and salaries, pension contributions, as well as higher utility bills, and the increasing inflation in the country over years.
The education system suffered the effects of economic decline and political instability during the 1970s and 1980s. The system continued to function, however, with an administrative structure based on regional offices, a national school inspectorate and nationwide school examinations.
School maintenance standards suffered, teachers fled the country, morale and productivity deteriorated along with real incomes, and many facilities were damaged by warfare and vandalism.
In 1994, a government committee found that secondary school fees were escalating due to the growing cost of education, and that most parents were too poor to afford them.
The committee recommended a new fee structure that would impose a ceiling on school charges, with the Government contributing between one-third and one-half of student costs.
Any school wanting to charge more than the recommended maximum would first have to get the backing of the parents and the permission of the ministry. But that did not come to pass; since a liberalised education system would not accomodate the policy.
Published on: Saturday, 6th February, 2010
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