WEST NILE SCHOOL HEADS CRITICISE BAN ON PARENT CONTRIBUTIONS

UPSTU executives joined by Head teachers, tutors and classroom teachers at the Union regional offices during the World Teachers day in Arua city on October 5. Photo//Dramadri Federick

By Dramadri Federick

Arua City

Some school administrators in the West Nile sub-region have criticized the decision by the Ministries of Education and Sports and Local Government to stop parents from making financial contributions towards the day-to-day running of government-aided schools.

The administrators argue that the directive is negatively affecting the quality of education, citing inadequate government funding, delayed release of capitation grants, staffing gaps and poor infrastructure in schools.

This follows several circulars issued to local governments directing schools not to charge parents illegal fees, apart from contributions authorized by the Ministry of Education and Sports.

The government maintains that Universal Primary Education, UPE, and Universal Secondary Education, USE, should remain free to prevent learners from dropping out of school.

However, some school heads in West Nile say the ban on Parent-Teacher Association, PTA, and contributions is making it increasingly difficult for schools to meet basic operational needs.

Stephen Alio, the Head Teacher of Omiro Primary School in Logiri Sub-county, Arua District, says the school previously collected 5,500 shillings per learner each term through PTA contributions.

With 909 learners, he says the directive has denied the school nearly five million shillings that would have been collected this term, affecting staff welfare, teaching materials and other school activities.

“We have not received UPE funds and yet we are close to a month into the term, teachers cannot eat lunch at the school because we have been completely stopped from collecting any funds from parents, not even examinations money that if anyone ventures himself or herself to collect money from the Parents will be jailed. We are now fearing”. Alio stated

Rashid Anguzu, the Head Teacher of Arua Secondary School, says government needs to provide adequate funding if it expects schools to operate without financial contributions from parents.

“Out of the 90 staff that this school employs, 53 of them are been paid by the funds directly drawn from the Parents which schools have been stopped from collecting that means as it stands, the best is to demobilize the staff and yet these are staff in critical departments which government doesn’t have any contributions for them”. Anguzu revealed

Meanwhile, Angutoko Jacinto, the West Nile Regional Chairperson of the Uganda Professional Science Teachers Union, UPSTU, has appealed to the Ministry of Local Government to reconsider what he describes as aggressive demands for accountability from school heads.

He says excessive pressure on head teachers, without addressing the financial challenges facing schools, is demoralizing school administrators.

“Stop harassing teachers and head teachers as you do your oversight roles, there’re set procedures of investigating corruption and these legal procedures” Angutoko says.

The school administrators are now calling on the government to increase capitation grants and address staffing and infrastructure gaps in government-aided schools.

They argue that while they support the government’s policy of keeping UPE and USE free, adequate and timely funding is needed to ensure that schools can provide quality education without relying on contributions from parents.

However, education authorities maintain that schools should comply with government guidelines and avoid imposing unauthorised charges on parents.

Written by newsroom-radiopacis