Your mail: High Cost of Education Remain a Serious Concern for Ugandans

By Andrew Bakoraho.

Responding to spiral adverse effects of a Two-year Covid-19 induced
lockdowns and latest economic disruptions stemming from Western
economic sanctions imposed on Russian economy, Service Industry and
Manufacturers are experiencing rising operational costs which in turn they
are smartly shifting to final consumers in form of hiked fees, prices,
interests or taxes.
Some private players in certain sectors like schools in Education field have
though exploited the prevalent situation to exaggerate scholastic
requirements.
Although the situation is being blamed on prolonged economic- crippling
pandemic and global conflicts earlier cited, it should be noted that domestic
prices for social services were damn expensive more especially in profit-
driven private sector even before the said unavoidable global disruptive
developments thus, classifying them as “services for the rich".
Liberalizing education sector has also seen Ugandans access different
types of education as rich take their children to qualitatively good schools
while poor resort to UPE where academic performance reflected in number
of failures and drop outs are steadily increasing.
According to UNEB results of 2020, UPE schools registered 86% (64,847
students) of total failures, compared to only 10,391 students (14%) in non
UPE schools.
UNICEF which is supporting quality education delivery in more than 30
Ugandan poorly performing districts had its 2019 Annual report indicating
that only one in four children who start primary under UPE school makes it
to secondary while more than 60 percentage of teachers absent in the
classroom teaching in over half of all Uganda public schools.
In Uganda, although private sector services are expensive and largely
regarded as for the rich, experiences during covid-19 when several dead
bodies were held by private hospitals for payment failure nullified this
narrative or belief.
Actually, such experiences signaled that it’s not necessarily affordability
that pushes consumers to private sectors but rather quality services as

public sector services remain poor due to low funding, corruption and poor
supervision all of which made state institutions deliver below expected
levels, hence forcing sizeable number of citizens, not necessarily rich, to
resort to private schools and hospitals.
Foreign treatments sought by the well to do Ugandans point to the said
inefficiency as well.
Despite these challenges, results of Uganda National Household Survey of
2020 showed enrollment rate increased to 10.7m from 3.1m where as
literacy rate jumped to 76% in schools under UPE since policy introduction
in 1997.
Indeed such improvements together with adverse effects of lockdowns on
incomes have seen public schools receive more pupils from private
schools.
It remains Ugandans wish that government aided schools continue to
expand and improve on quality of education since fees and other
requirements demanded by private schools are becoming unbearable.
Besides rising prices of genuine scholastic requirements like foods, fuel,
power, capital, and salaries which proprietors relied on to hike fees, their
other greedy actions of turning schools into pseudo manufacturers
(providers) of school uniforms, stationary, compulsory meals, extra
coaching lessons and exams, transport, loan servicing fees, and
exaggerated extra curriculum requirements, all of which must be purchased
from the school at inflated prices ( black market) higher than market prices,
require urgent intervention of government.
Taking away liberty of parents to buy scholastic goods at market is
worsening the already bad situation, worse still each parent suffer
individually as school management of private schools never have a
general meeting such challenges would be shared.
Additionally, exploiting liberalized space and less stringent education
policy on key facilities required starting a school, shrewd but insensitive
citizens are turning residential homes into mini- nurseries and schools. As
substandard as they appear, without key facilities like enough space,
firefighting equipment, health neighboring environment, and competent
teachers, have however attracted pupils/ students from fast urbanizing

communities because of the transport cost involved in taking students to
known public schools.
With additional of almost 1.4 million children to our population annually due
to high birthrates (3.2%), and congestion in unplanned fast urbanizing
communities, government aided schools do not only need to increase
space but new schools in new communities should be built.
Finally, government as a policy designer and regulator, it remains largely
responsible to device practical interventions to check various erosive
currency – value inflationary pressures driving prices of goods and services
crazy – not only in social sectors but in the entire economy.
Such price stabilizers include increasing investment in food processing and
storage facilities so that perishable foods are safeguarded for scarcity
periods when prices shoot high. This practically limits exporting them at
give-way prices during harvesting season.
With effective storage, farmers who want quick cash should through their
formal groups, use warehouse receipt system introduced few years ago.
Construction of new public schools in new communities and recruitment of
competent staff, increased supervision of head teachers and board of
governors of public institutions, stringent education policy free of corruption,
connivance, and incompetence would help save students from risky
entrepreneurs of private schools exposing students to danger of deaths.
Besides tax reliefs, Central Bank through its monitory tool of selective credit
control, should lend commercial Banks at low interest rates and direct them
to equally prioritize Education, and Agriculture or Health with cheap loans.
Government should require proprietors of private schools during
registration not to force parents to buy scholastic merchandise from the
school. Buying should be optional.
Andrew Bakoraho.
bakoraho@yahoo.co.uk
Writer and Policy Analyst.