Schools in Arua City to Maintain Fees Ahead of Reopening

Several secondary schools in Arua city have maintained their fees structure ahead of reopening of schools next week.

Early this month, the cabinet approved a recommendation for the reopening of schools to non-candidate learners in a staggered manner. The schools were closed in March 2020 as a measure to control the spread of coronavirus disease.  

According to the Ministry of Education, pre-candidates in P.6, S.3, and S.6 will report back to school on March 1.

Following the announcement, several private and government-funded schools across the country said they would hike their tuition fees to cope with the rising operational costs occasioned by the coronavirus pandemic. They argue that they need to buy extra beds, cater for remedial lessons, sanitisers and face masks.

However, some schools in Arua City have maintained their previous fees structures citing the economic pressure on parents due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Charles Odonga the headteacher of St. Joseph’s college Ombaci says they will not increase school fees this academic year but instead re-adjust their priorities and deal with the most important things at the moment. Ondonga says they are aware parents have been affected by COVID-19 so it will not be wise to increase fees.

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In Mvara Secondary School the headteacher Eliakim Matua says they don’t have plans to change the fees structure. He says that they could not increase fees because some parents are yet to clear first term arrears.

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Maxwell Dramadri the headteacher of Arua public secondary school indicated that their budget has been re-aligned to do away with wasteful expenditures. He explains that they have not increased fees and students will pay 250,000 Shillings per term as it was before the outbreak of COVID-19.

Dramadri also says that they can’t increase the fees without consulting the parents.

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However, at Muni Girls’ Secondary School, the headteacher Grace Draru Manase intimated that there is a great need to increase the school fees because of high costs that have come as a result of COVID-19. Manase says that the increment will help cope with the effects of the lockdown, which left the school with accumulated debts.

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