UPC calls for free university education

PIC:  Osinde Orach, UPC party spokes person during the weekly press briefing at their headquarters in Kampala  on October 31 2018. (Photo by Ivan Kabuye.) 

EDUCATION

KAMPALA - The Uganda People's Congress (UPC) has urged Government to make university education free for all Ugandans, emulating the recent decision of Liberia to make university/tertiary education free.

President George Weah recently declared the University of Liberia and all public universities in Liberia tuition-free.

During campaigns that brought him into leadership, former professional football Weah promised that he would make university education free in the west African nation and make it an example to African countries.

Addressing journalists during the weekly party press conference at Uganda House on Wednesday, the party spokesperson, Michael Osinde, said they welcomed Liberia's move.

"As UPC, we welcome the recent initiative in Liberia, where government has taken on full sponsorship of university/tertiary education at all public universities compared to Uganda, where government caters for only 4,000 university students annually."

The 4,000 students, according to UPC, are far relatively fewer than the admitted number of students at higher learning institutions ever year.

"Uganda needs to take keen interest in studying how such countries are managing to achieve that grand objective and borrow a leaf from them if the country is to achieve education for all," Osinde added.

The party insisted that the demands of globalisation should go hand-in-hand with an educated and skillful manpower.

"We therefore urge government to heavily invest in vocational training institutions, purposely to enhance skills development," added the UPC spokesperson.

Wishing Primary Seven candidates success ahead of Primary Leaving Examinations (PLE) 2018 scheduled for Monday and Tuesday next week, the party expressed concern that the school fees burden is becoming very difficult to bear on the part of parents and guardians.

Many students are likely to miss out on exams without completing school fees and according to Osinde, all these are challenges that need to be addressed to guarantee education for all Ugandans.

"UPC calls on the parents to strategically engage their children in domestic work and skillful activities, which can bring income to the family in order to address the above captioned challenge as well as mitigating the negative consequences during the forthcoming vacation," he added.   

The party reminded the candidates that PLE is a major milestone in their lives since it's their first national exams.

"Some have prematurely opted to leave school without attaining a PLE certificate due to teenage pregnancy, high increment in school fees among others, yet writing PLE is a fundamental step towards success," the party mouth piece noted.

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