Is education now for wealthy parents only?

SIR—As a parent I am disturbed by the practice of many of the private schools asking for things like exercise books, reams of paper, pens, ink, money for furniture, cement, hoes, brooms, toilet paper, name it. On top of this, parents have to pay inflated school fees which, more often than not, must be paid in full before the child is allowed in school. As if that is not enough, uniforms must be bought from the school, when there are cheaper ones on the market elsewhere. A child must have two school uniforms, sports wear, casual wear, a sweater, and Sunday uniform, a tie and socks. Each of these is about sh10,000 or more. By the time the parent is through with the school list, he or she is in a pathetic financial situation.What annoys me most is that despite the huge amount of money collected, teachers are paid peanuts for their monthly salary. No wonder most of the essentials we take to school find their way back to Kikuubo to enable these teachers make ends meet. So, do not be surprised next term to buy the same ream that you took to school this term. I have tried to trick these teachers by labelling all the books for my children so that by the end of the term I get a balance of about one dozen for each, unlike those days when I was stupid enough not to label them. I know the President introduced UPE to benefit the poor, but of course I need not mention its demerits here. Children from poor families also have a right to quality education. In view of these facts, I request Ministry of Education to intervene and put a ceiling to school fees and requirements for private schools. It is possible that a big percentage of this money benefits the directors of the schools who end up making abnormal profits by exploiting parents. No wonder that within no time you see them putting up very big houses or leaving their rented ones. The practice is dangerous as it is creating a mean class society. Dr Kiddu Makubuya, the minister of Education should show more interest in the issue.Sophia NadirKampala