Government secondary school headteachers have justified the little money they charge from the parents saying it’s not school fees as the latter put it.
The headteachers said that the money they charge is simply for feeding the learners while at school which the parents through the Parents and Teachers Association (PTA) together with the School Board of Governors first agree upon.
“Unfortunately, some of the parents refuse to pay the agreed amount of money and when we send their children back home to remind them, they report us to different government offices saying we sent their children away from schools. They also term the lunch fee as school fees which is not the fact,” said one of the headteachers.
The headteachers made the remarks on Friday during the closure of the three-day Annual General Meeting (AGM) for the Association of Secondary Schools Headteacher’s Association (ASSHU) for the Central Region held at Our Lady of Africa Senior Secondary School Mukono. The function was presided over by the State Minister for Higher Education, John Chrysostom Muyingo who warned teachers to stop charging illegal fees from government schools.
Hajji Hamza Ssebunya, the headteacher of Lweru Senior Secondary School in Buikwe district said that as school heads, they have a mandate of feeding the students while at school but some parents do not want to pay the agreed lunch fees.
Other headteachers told the Minister that due to the insufficient number of teachers on government payroll, part of the little fees charged from parents is used to feed the learners and also cater for the rest of the teachers that are equally needed in their schools but not facilitated by government.
Bbaale David, the headteacher of Baalibaseka Secondary School told the Minister that they have shortage of teachers in their schools yet when they go the district, they are told that they lack enough wage to facilitate the recruitment and accommodation of new teachers.
Bbaale therefore asked Muyingo to make sure that the Ministry responds to their pleas when they reach out to them.
In his response, Minister Muyingo emphasized President Museveni’s call to the headteachers in government schools to always avoid charging illegal fees from parents.
“President has over the time re-echoed this on a number of occasions and he refers to the culprits as saboteurs of government programs. Government wants all children to access free education and be able to study and complete the education cycle,” he said adding,
“But when you start sending them away from schools for school fees yet the government provides each and everything that runs its schools, you are contributing to the number of school dropouts.”
Muyingo also urged parents to endeavour to provide food for their children while at school because headteachers told him that they send the students to go back home and remind their parents to pay money for feeding.
Rose Zizinga Kaboggoza, a member of the Education Service Commission, asked the headteachers to always advocate for teamwork and networking instead of the uncoordinated competition.
The AGM ran on a theme; “Embracing technological innovation in Uganda’s education system for national social-economic transformation and environment protection.”
The Kyaggwe County head, Ssekiboobo Vincent Matovu also called upon the headteachers to always embrace teamwork saying they will achieve more things when they work as a team than when they are individuals.
ASSHU Central region comprises of 17 districts that include Mukono, Buikwe, Kayunga, Luweero, Masaka, Kampala, Buvuma, Gomba, Butambala, Kalungu, Wakiso and many others. The headteachers resolved to host the next years’ AGM in Luweero district.
The post Headteachers Justify Sending Students Away from Gov’t Schools to Pick Fees appeared first on Kyaggwe TV.