Recently, the education ministry’s permanent secretary, Alex Kakooza, directed that the sector would not allow schools to increase tuition fees whenever they feel the need to do so.
However, Kakooza’s directive is not new. It has been made several times before, and is often dismissed as mere talk by state bureaucrats.
In the meantime, parents continue to bear the brunt of annual tuition fee increments, often without explanation from school heads, some of whom look at learning institutions as financial investments, from which they should earn a profit.
The ministry has declared that schools should be considered learning institutions, operating for the common good, with profits as an incidental benefit to investors.
Ministry officials are capable of tasking schools to maintain reasonable tuition fees in keeping with the general standard of living. Under the Education Act of 2008, they can issue notices, warnings or mete out punitive measures, with a withdrawal of the license being the extreme.
However, some of the officials supposed to take care of these issues have been reported to be investors in the same schools, which raises a conflict of interest in the matter.
Consequently, parents can only grumble and look for the extra funds, or shift their children to less-expensive schools, which occasionally translates into poor academic performance.
Thus, it was a surprise to many parents and school heads last week, when the permanent secretary cleared his voice and vowed to ensure that no school would hike tuition fees without notifying his office this year.
The parents are quietly hoping that he means what he says, but while the schools are concerned, they hope it may be more of the same. It is up to Kakooza to convince the public that he should be taken seriously this time round.
school@observer.ug