Why teacher colleges mourn cost sharing

By Josua Kato The infrastructure development at the National Teachers College (NTC) Mubende, in the last three years can only be described as dramatic. Four new dormitories have been built and old ones refurbished. The main hall has since been completed in addition to new lecture rooms. The students' menu has also changed to include meat and rice. The dining hall and kitchen are sparkling after renovations. The compound is now smiling with rows of walkways splashed with colourful flower gardens. The huge bushes that characterised the college a few years ago are now part of the college's long history, because they were replaced by beautiful potato and maize plantations running as far as the eye can see. Truly, the college looks like it has attained its real status as one of the leading national teachers colleges in the country. "This is a sign that cost sharing money is being utilised very well. Most of the developments you see here are as a result of cost sharing. Otherwise there is no way we would be where we are now," a lecturer at the college said. But since cost sharing was scrapped, the situation has been going down the drain. Cost sharing was instituted as a government policy in 1989 in all national teachers colleges and technical colleges. At first, colleges levelled their own amounts of money, but two years ago, the government set up a ceiling of sh329, 000 for NTCs and technical colleges. However, cost sharing was publicly scrapped this year by President Yoweri Museveni during the presidential election campaigns. Museveni referred to cost sharing as "oppressive and inhumane." Following the president's announcement the minister of education scrapped cost sharing with immediate effect. "The announcement caught us unawares, we had already budgeted for the whole year, certainly, it affected our operations," Mr. Rwakaikara Adyeri, dean of students, NTC Mubende said. While NTCs mourned the cost sharing, their students received the news with glee. As far as they were concerned, cost sharing was unfair. Some students showed their displeasure by going on strike. Notable were strikes at the Uganda Polytechnic Kyambogo (UPK), NTC Mubende, NTC Kakoba and NTC Unyama. Soon after the presidential elections, those who had not yet paid refused to pay any money, while those who had already paid began demanding for a refund. "It was bad for government to abolish cost sharing in colleges without putting in place measures to counter the gap. We are facing a lot of problems," Rwakaikara said. "I am sure the president wanted this system to begin next year, but somehow, this explanation was not effectively put across because of the prevailing political situation in the country," one lecturer observed. He noted that the cost sharing scheme was set up after serious consultations with all stake holders in the education sector. "I don't think it was possible to just do away with it immediately," another lecturer said. According to Mr. Kiddhu Makubuya, the minister of education, cost sharing was scrapped because it was receiving a lot of resistance from students. "When people are resisting a particular policy, a good policy maker should be able to respond positively and scrap that policy," he said. He assured colleges that government was already putting in place measures to increase the amount of money given to the colleges. "We are in the process of increasing the amount of money disbursed to all colleges in the country," Makubuya said. He dismissed fears of a break down in the education standard in the colleges, saying that the ministry of education has handled so many things and it cannot fail on this one. What is on the ground, however, is a different story and the sooner the government grants arrive, the better. According to UPK students, the situation has deteriorated since the scrapping of cost sharing. "It is now common for water to be cut off, the menu has gone back to the days before the introduction of cost sharing, lecturers are less motivated because they don't expect some back up payments from the administration," a student told the Education vision. At NTC Mubende, students are now fed on food from the school farm, but this is likely to run out soon. "We would have no problem with the scrapping of cost sharing, if government grants came on time, but we have never got any back up money since it was scrapped, yet none of our students is willing to pay," a lecturer at Nkozi NTC said. While trying to calm down his students during the strike at NTC Kakoba, Mr. Emmanuel Karoro, the director, noted that scrapping the cost sharing policy was supposed to begin in 2002. "We had already budgeted for the full year, we don't know how we shall push through if government does not give us money quickly since students no longer want to pay," he said. Students at UPK, said that their problem was not cost sharing but with the other charges in addition to the sh329,000. "We were enraged by the additional sh70,000 registration fees. This is tantamount to double payment," one student said. Another student said that they are willing to pay at least sh100,000 as a replacement of the sh329,000. "We are also losing. It is not the lecturers who will lose," some students said. "It was bad to scrap cost sharing completely. Government should have reduced the fee like was done with graduated tax," William Matovu, of NTC Mubende noted. It was from the cost sharing money that lecturers transport allowances were paid, in addition to other back up allowances. The college compound and farm are no longer effectively catered for because there is no money to pay the labourers. The colleges are likely to lose the gains of the past years, if measures are not put in place for colleges to earn some money other than solely depend on government grants. Ends NO WAY! Uganda Poytechnic Kyambogo students during a sit-down strike against cost sharing on January 31, 2001