Mp Kabasharira defies M7, asks parents to pay extra fees in govt schools
MP Kabasharira and DEO giving out the gifts to one of the pupil who passed in first grade
Amos Tayebwa
Ntungamo
The area Member of Parliament for Rushenyi County, Naome Kabasharira has contradicted government position when it comes to funding of UPE schools and this may not go well with powers that be including PM Robinah Nabbanja who has been leading the crusade against government aided schools charging extra fees from students.
Nabbanja says that H.E the President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni had directed that no illegal charges should be entertained in all government-aided schools in the country.
“There are some challenges that threaten to reverse the gains we have made. One of these challenges is the high school dropout rate. We have established that illegal school charges are some of the drivers of school dropouts. To solve this, we have banned all these charges. They are illegal,” warned Nabbanja last year.
However, for Kabasharira, this is not the case. She has since appealed to parents whose children go to UPE Schools to think outside the box and start contributing some token to their schools literally for the good academic performance of their children.
Her justification is that the government is somehow burdened and it may not afford to fully fund all the schools with facilities and other requirements, therefore this should be the responsibility of the parents and management of those Government aided schools to ensure there is some little money paid by a parent for the academic improvement and infrastructure development.
Kabasharira adds that although there is a government policy that prohibits UPE schools from paying schools, parents must understand that the future of their children lies in their hands so they must contribute much to their education.
Kabasharira made this call at Mayors Gardens in Rubare Town, Rushenyi County while she was awarding about 56 pupils who passed in 1st grade in the recent PLE results.
These were mainly picked from the only Government aided schools in Rushenyi County .The legislator awarded them with different items like mattresses, blankets, mathematical sets, and the pens that will support them.
MP Kabasharira made it clear that she specifically considered pupils that finished from public schools / Government aided schools for some reason that those schools operate in difficult situations compared to private ones.
However, Kabasharira urged the management of those Government aided schools to always identify and tackle the challenges that affect those schools most.
“I know the policy of the government that Parents you are not supposed to pay school fees in the UPE schools, but there is also some article in the education Act that allows parents to contribute something to support their schools, when parents and management gather and agree to do something in their school, they are allowed. I therefore encourage parents to contribute some tokens because some of their schools don’t even have classrooms for learners, you find some pupils studying from tents, others studying under the trees. It is high time that we think of constructing more classrooms so that when the government is still burdened there let the parents also contribute to ensure that our schools have enough facilities to enable pupils to study comfortably,” said Kabasharira, MP Rushenyi County.
Fred Bahati, the Ntungamo District Education Officer stated that parents must understand that paying some money in Government aided schools is not illegal. He said that no one should convince parents that they are not supposed to pay some token, paying some money in these schools drives the school towards development and sorting out some emergencies or any challenge within the school.
“According to the police in the Education Act, article 14 and 15 is about the prohibition of charging for education in UPE or UPET, on section 9 that no person or agency shall levy or order another person to levy any charge for purpose of education in any primary post primary institution implementing UPE or UPET program. However, the police guide states that the provisions of section one shall not be construed to deter the management of any school or institution implementing UPE or UPET program from collecting or receiving voluntary contributions or payments from parents and well-wishers to contain a state of emergency or any urgent matter concerning the school. Therefore, it’s not illegal for you as parents to pay some money to the school as long as there is a cause and for the benefit of children. Don’t hide in UPE policy that you should not pay any money to support our schools, this results in the collapse of our schools and yet you are the owners of those schools,” Bahati stated.
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