Exams have begun, let us return all children to school, feed them
The law gives you the duty, and the school gives you the means. Pack the food. Bring the beans. Attend the meeting. Hold the committee accountable. And when you hear that a child has been sent home over lunch, report it to the district education office. The law is on the child’s side, writes Dr. John Chrysostom Muyingo
John Chrysostom Muyingo. (Courtesy)
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OPINION
By Dr. John Chrysostom Muyingo
On Thursday, 8 October, Senior Four candidates across the country gathered to be briefed by their head teachers. That briefing opened the 2026 national examinations. On Monday this week, 503,214 of them will sit their first Uganda Certificate of Education papers.
Primary Leaving Examination candidates will be briefed on 30 October and will finish on 4 November. Senior Six candidates follow, from 7 November to 5 December. In all, 1,627,885 learners are registered this year, the largest number in our history.
To every candidate: we are proud of you. Work steadily, be honest, and trust what you have learnt.
Examination season is also a time when too many children quietly leave the classroom. Some stay home because the house needs hands. Some stay away because they were told not to come back without money. Some come to school but spend the day hungry and cannot learn. Third term runs until 4 December. Every child in Primary One, Senior Two or any other class has a full term of learning ahead. That learning matters just as much as the papers the candidates are writing.
So my first appeal is simple. Let us take the children back to school. Parents, if your child has been home, return them to class this week. Head teachers, open the gate and welcome them.
My second appeal is to explain clearly what the law says about feeding children at school. This is where I see confusion, and sometimes abuse.
What the Act says
The Education (Pre-Primary, Primary and Post-Primary) Act, 2008 sets the foundation. It states that the education of a child “shall be a joint responsibility of the State, the parent or guardian and other stakeholders.” The Act then divides that responsibility.
Let me be plain with parents. Feeding your child is not a favour to the school or to government. It is a duty the law places on you. A child who has eaten pays attention, remembers and finishes the day. A hungry child does none of these. Packed food, porridge, a share of beans and maize sent to the school store: each of these fulfils the law.
What the law forbids
The same Act protects the child from being punished for the parent’s failure. Section 10(1) reads: “No person or agency shall levy or order another person to levy any charge for purposes of education in any primary or post-primary institution implementing the UPE or UPPET programme.” Section 10(3) adds that a pupil or student “shall not be sent away from a school or an institution or denied access to education for failure to pay any contribution.”
This is not advice. Breaking section 10 is an offence. A person convicted faces a fine of up to fifty currency points, imprisonment of up to one year, or both.
How the regulations follow the Act
Some school leaders tell me, “But the regulations allow us to charge for lunch.” Let me explain how the regulations work, because this is where the misunderstanding lies.
The regulations that govern school management committees and boards of governors sit in the schedules of the Act. They take their authority from the Act. They exist to carry out what the Act says, never to contradict it. Where a regulation gives a school room to act, that room must always be read together with section 10 and the protection of the child.
Read it this way; the regulation on meals is clear. Regulation 15(5) of the Second Schedule allows a school to “levy a charge for midday meals as determined by the Management Committee in consultation with the district council.” Notice the conditions. The head teacher alone cannot decide it. The committee must decide it, and the district council must be consulted.
The very next clause, Regulation 15(6), sets the limit. “The taking of midday meals at school and the payment for such meals shall be voluntary and no pupil who has opted not to pay for or take midday meals at school shall be excluded from school for non-payment for such meals.”
Regulation 15(7) provides that a head teacher or teacher who “willfully or knowingly contravenes” this rule shall be punished. The punishment may be suspension, interdiction, dismissal, refund or prosecution.
For government secondary schools under USE, the regulations for boards of governors allow a board to fix charges only “with the approval of the Minister.” No board may invent a compulsory lunch fee on its own.
My message to school leaders
This is what I would have expected from all school leaders. You should have already called, and if you hadn’t, call your parents together this term. Agree openly, in the management committee or board, on how children will eat. Write the agreement down. Make room for the orphan and the child from the poorest home. Seek help from well-wishers, churches, mosques and the school garden. Never let a child stand outside the gate because the lunch money did not come.
My message to parents
The law gives you the duty, and the school gives you the means. Pack the food. Bring the beans. Attend the meeting. Hold the committee accountable. And when you hear that a child has been sent home over lunch, report it to the district education office. The law is on the child’s side.
To head teachers, candidates, parents and teachers
Head teachers, I ask every one of you not to send away any candidate with a fees balance ( I mean those in non-free education schools) from sitting the national examinations. A child who has studied for years must not lose that chance at the door of the examination room. If a candidate has not cleared fees, report the matter to the Uganda National Examinations Board so that the results are withheld until the balance is settled. But let the child sit the examination.
To everyone involved in conducting these examinations, head teachers, teachers, invigilators and supervisors: do not take part in any unlawful practice. The credibility of our certificates depends on the integrity of every one of you.
To all our candidates, I wish you success. May the Lord guide you and bless you during this time. May He give you the wisdom and peace of mind to do your best as you shape your future.
Finally, I thank our parents and our teachers for the great work you have done over the years to bring these children this far. I appreciate you, and I wish you well.
As our candidates write their papers over the coming weeks, let the rest of the country do its own homework. Let us bring every child back to the classroom. Let us make sure no child is too hungry to learn. Let us respect the law that protects them.
The writer is the Acting Minister of Education and Sports