This article was first published in the New Vision on March 10, 2021
By Conan Businge
Owners of private schools have written to Uganda National Examinations Board (UNEB), requesting it to withhold results of all fees defaulters.
In a letter to UNEB’s executive secretary, the chairperson of the Private Proprietors of education Institutions Association of Uganda, Mike Kironde, says:
“We are requesting UNEB to devise and institute a mechanism for supporting private schools to mitigate the losses.”
Kironde adds: “In the past, UNEB had worked out a system of denying school fees defaulters access to results upon receiving notice from the school administrations. This was a commendable system that would help schools to enforce recovery of arrears, which we strongly advocate.”
He explains: “The proprietors of private schools have generally experienced an exceptionally huge impact on their financial positions as a result of the adverse economic impact of the prolonged COVID-19 lock-down.”
His letter to UNEB follows the start of national examinations for Senior Four last week. At the end of this month, Primary Seven pupils will sit for their national examinations, followed by Senior Six candidates in May.
Kironde adds: “Most parents cannot, as of now, afford paying all school fees in time. Last term being very short and combined with UNEB’s inflexible fees structure, and the tight registration conditions and deadlines, was the worst in recent history!
Notwithstanding the economic situation, UNEB stuck to the policy of ‘zero balance’ as a prerequisite for registration, which we inevitably had to adhere to.”
He adds: “The combined factors of the prevailing situation compelled us to devise ways of clearing the UNEB dues in time, to avoid penalties, while we carried forward huge school fees balances to this term.”
Kironde still adds: “Even then, most schools have not been able to enforce full payment of the arrears, on top of the current fees by the time of commencement of UNEB examinations.
“Kindly also note that when examinations begin, we forfeit recovery of school balances since the concerned candidates cannot be denied sitting for examinations by policy. This has created a dilemma of many fees defaulters for private school owners.”
The school owners propose thus: “As a condition for this support, schools should be required to submit the lists of defaulters well in advance prior to release of results, say, within two weeks after the end of writing examinations for each level.
“Late submissions would accordingly be rejected. If this request is granted and in good time, the association would undertake to inform the parents and students, via appropriate mass communication channels, about the consequences of defaulting in partial enforcement of compliance.”
The same letter is copied to the permanent secretary at the education ministry, the ministry’s director for basic and secondary education, commissioner for private schools and the commissioner for basic education.
Over time, so many schools have been grappling with fees defaulters.
However, this time round, the situation, as Kironde says: “Presents a unique situation of several fees defaulters because of the lockdown, which left many parents and guardians jobless or with limited sources of income; yet they had to send the children back to school.”
Government closed schools way back in March last year, and re-opened them in phases, starting with candidates on October 15 last year and, later, the semi-candidates who have just reported to school at the beginning of this month.
Teachers, Parents Speak Out
Jessica Baguma, a teacher in Entebbe, Wakiso district, says: “Parents usually choose to send their children to private schools for a variety of reasons, including trust in the quality of private or religious education, provided by the school.
“But in case they fail to pay, there should be a process of helping them,” she notes.
Baguma suggests picking up on a default early and maintaining open and frank discussions between the school and the parent, allows for alternative suitable agreements to be put in place.
“You can even have written agreements. These documents do not prejudice the strict legal rights of the school, if they are conducted on a “without prejudice” basis.”
Some of the parents told New Vision that the arrangement between schools and UNEB is plausible since they now have time to look for their unpaid balance on fees, as their children do national examinations.
Sam Mugume, a father of two candidates in different schools in Masaka and Kampala, says: “When I lost my job, life started getting difficult. The COVID-19 times have been hard with companies downsizing on staff.
However, the economy is stabilising and I got another job. I will be able to pay off my children’s dues, before UNEB releases the results.”
Just like him, some parents have to depend on farming and had not yet harvested their crops at the time students started national examinations.
Joseph Opio, a parent in Kibaale district, says: “I will be harvesting my maize soon and under this arrangement, if my school can accept the same payment plan, I will be able to pay before my son finalises his Senior Six examinations.”
More Sit For Exams
Senior Four students started their national examinations last week. A total of 333,889 Senior Four students are expected to sit the exams. There is a 1.2% increase in the number of students, compared to the 330,000 who sat for national examinations in 2019.
Usually, students start sitting the Uganda Certificate of Education examinations in October. However, thanks to the COVID-19 pandemic which disrupted the entire education calendar in the world, this was not possible.
A Case For All Candidates
The number of candidates who will sit for the national examinations this year will be higher than those of 2019.
In 2019, there were 1,138,000 candidates at Primary Seven, Senior Four and Senior Six.
This number has gone up to around 1,182,324 candidates; who have been registered to sit examinations at Primary Seven, Senior Four and Senior Six.
This is an increase of over 44,000 students who have registered this year, compared to the previous academic year.
Even with the disruption of the academic year by the COVID-19 pandemic, the number of candidates has gone up.
Of the registered students, 749,518 will sit for Primary Leaving Examinations.
There are more 333,889 students for the Uganda Certificate of Education and slightly 98,249 students registered for the Uganda Advanced Certificate of Education.
The high number of students who have registered, UNEB executive secretary Dan Odongo says, is a mark of achievement, especially after the schools had closed for six months.
UNEB’s Response
Dan Odongo, the educative secretary of UNEB, says he is aware of the letter and that UNEB is willing to help the schools in ensuring that the parents get to pay their fees.
He appreciates the concern raised over the deadlines set to register, but also adds that there were extensions that were made, to ensure that schools get to register all candidates. He is also confident that a great percentage of whoever wanted to register for national examinations “was indeed captured in the registration process”.
Odongo adds: “We thank the schools which have managed to let students do national examinations, even without finishing the payment of their school fees.”
He pledges to assist the schools, by withholding the results, “until parents have paid what they owe the schools.”
Much as the request is from private schools, Odongo says this will be replicated in government-aided schools which receive fees from students. “If schools make a special request to withhold their results, we will act on it,” he pledged.
However, New Vision could not ascertain the number of school fees defaulters from the entire country especially that schools have not yet submitted their lists of defaulters.
