Janet Museveni speaks out on school fees hike

Mrs. Museveni who made the revelation during the release of the Primary Leaving Examinations (PLE) last Friday said the education ministry would do anything possible to find a solution to the challenge of hiked school fees.

“I want parents and guardians to know that we really care and are trying our best in trying to find a long-lasting solution to the challenge of hiked school fees,” she said while addressing the press during the release of PLE results.

The Government of Uganda drafted a new School Fees Regulation Policy, which, according to the education ministry, sets the minimum and maximum school fees and requirements all schools should follow.

According to the proposed policy, Government has capped fees for pre-primary schools at sh690,000 per term with day primary schools not to exceed sh650,000 in both fees and other charges, and boarding primary schools not to charge more than sh1.2m per term.

For secondary level, day scholars are to pay sh960,000 per term while the boarding section will pay sh1.6 million in fees and other charges.

Under the proposed policy, the education ministry also set the standard mechanisms for how fees will be determined or reviewed by a school.

The new policy has however not yet been implemented by Government.

The minister also lauded parents who have encouraged their special needs children to go to school.

Kataha said this after results released by both Uganda National Examinations Board (UNEB) and the education ministry revealed that more special needs candidates sat for PLE 2022.

“The number of special needs candidates who sat for PLE increased in the PLE 2022. I want to thank parents who have made sure that their special needs children go to school,” she said.

Mrs. Museveni also encouraged parents – most especially those financially challenged – to do everything possible to ensure that their children go to school.

“The Universal Primary Education (UPE) program has helped support the financially challenged candidates go to school. I encouraged parents out there to ensure that their children go to school. No child should fail to go to school because of lack of money,” she said.

The PLE 2022 results that were released on Friday indicated that there had been a slight improvement in the performance of candidates compared to last year.

According to UNEB, a total of 114,617 (representing 12.1%) passed in division in 2022 compared to 81,864 (representing 11%) in the same division in 2020.