Government should regulate private schools, varsities fees- UN

By Claire Muhindo

THE United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) has urged States to regulate and monitor private education providers by recognising the potential “wide-ranging impact of the commercialisation of education on the enjoyment of the right to education”.

The UNHRC is the leading global inter-governmental political body dealing with human rights.

In the resolution adopted by consensus of its 47 members, the UNHRC has, for the first time, responded to the growing phenomenon of privatisation and commercialisation of education.

This phenomenon, and in particular the emergence of large-scale for-profit “low-cost” private school chains targeting poor families in developing countries, has received heightened attention from civil society organisations and UN expert bodies alike in recent months.

Camilla Croso, of the Global Campaign for Education, in relation to the ruling, in a statement said, “The rapid, unregulated growth of private providers of education is already creating - and enabling - violations of the right to education, threatening to erase the last 50 years of progress in access to education.”

She added that, “This resolution shows that states have realised that they must act now to regulate such providers - before it is too late.”

In Uganda, Angela Nabwowe, who is the Programs Manager for Initiative for Social and Economic Rights, is concerned about the deplorable state of many Government schools in rural areas.

“The law provides for the set-up of private schools. They should supplement and not replace public schools. Parents are forced to take their children to private schools because the public schools lack the necessary facilities for quality education,” Nabwowe says.

She adds that due to the high demand of private education, these schools tend to charge exorbitant fees, limiting children from poor backgrounds.

“Education is supposed to be a public good, and Government should ensure that public schools have all the necessary services and good teachers so that that even the poor children can access quality education,” she says.

Nowadays, under a liberal education system, so many private schools that are academically strong are becoming increasingly expensive and public schools are equally in the same basket.

This problem is not only rooted in public secondary schools. This is the same story in public primary schools.

Her argument ties in with that Sylvain Aubry, of the Global Initiative for Economic, Social and Cultural Rights.

 Aubry argues that, “Our research has consistently shown that privatisation in education leads to socio-economic segregation and discrimination against the poorest children in schools, in violation of States’ obligations, as was recently recognised in the case of Chile.

The resolution adopted today, crucially highlights the obligation to provide educational opportunities for all without discrimination.”

The resolution demands that States “put in place a regulatory framework” that establishes minimum norms and standards for and “monitor private education providers”.

The UNHRC resolution also calls on States to ensure that “education is consistent with human rights standards and principles”.

Crucially, the resolution confirms that “education is a public good”. According to Tanvir Muntasim, of ActionAid International, “This is the third time within a year, following the May 2014 UNESCO Muscat Agreement and the May 2015 Incheon Declaration, where States have described education as a public good. It is a striking response to the actors that have been trying to reduce education to a private commodity, rather than a universal right.”

The HRC insists in the resolution on the “significant importance of public investment in education, to the maximum of available resources”. This implies that there must be more affordable

For Katie Malouf Bous, of Oxfam International, “Too many governments have neglected their duty to adequately finance education, leading to weakened public schools and increased privatisation as the inevitable result. Serious and substantial investments to provide good quality public education must be the antidote to privatisation.”

Reality on the ground

Uganda has tried to make education a public good, with the Government starting free primary and secondary education, on top of limited slots on Government sponsorship at the higher levels of learning.

Recently, a students’ loan scheme was started to beef up Government scholarships at universities.

However, it is still expensive to educate children in some of the public schools in the country. In most cases, the best academically performing public schools are also as expensive as private schools.

 In a recent Mwalimu survey of 100 secondary schools, there are close to 20 schools which charge about over sh1m per term on school fees. But in this same bracket, there are other schools like King’s College Budo, St. Mary's College Kisubi, Mt. St. Mary's Namagunga and Gayaza High School. All these schools also receive Government support.

For any child to get an experience in some of the A-list schools in this country the parent has to part with close about sh800,000 to sh1.2m on school fees per term.

Do private schools justify high charges?

Kato Daphne, the principal of Kampala Parents School, does not agree with the idea that private schools charge excessive fees, “Because parents and students cannot be the same.”

“The facilities and services we offer ought to be paid for. For instance we have 130 teachers, and 200 non-teaching staff, who cater for our pupils. These services cannot be found in public institutions and those who need them have to pay, since we also pay our staff a good remuneration, in order to keep them around,” she says.

She adds that the Government should improve the state of public institutions, in order to have more children in school.

Prof. Venansius Baryamureeba, the Vice Chancellor Uganda technology and Management University (UTAMU) says that the Government is already monitoring private institutions, through the National Council for Higher Education. But he appreciates that the Government cannot directly limit the amount of money charged in private institutions.

Private schools, which are meeting higher costs of running their schools, than those met by public schools; are surprisingly equally the same amount on school fees like the latter.

Richard Mwesigwa, the director of Nsambya Hillside High School says that with a total population of 600 students, the school charges each student sh1.16m per term. This means he collects about sh696m per term and sh2.08bn annually. He explains that, out of his annual budget, he spends about 40% of it to teachers’ salaries and wages for staff.

He also notes that the school solely depends on school fees to finance the school. But on top of salaries, he has to buy food for teachers and students, continue with construction of the schools’ facilities due to the need for expansion, and also pay for utilities like water and electricity. There are also other domestic expenses.

Mwesigwa says that, “There is a breakthrough point in every business. Every school reaches a point where there is less pressure on making more money, a reason why the school fees may be high in any given school,” he says.

Mwesigwa says most of these traditional schools have reached a breakthrough point and therefore should not be charging as much as private schools.

 “We need to tighten our efforts in order to ensure quality education for all, since the number of private institutions is on the rise,” she says.

However some human rights activists and parents say that private schools are slowly but surely taking over the education system and that there is little regulation on the manner in which they are run.

Government, parents’ view

However, the education minister Maj. (Rtd) Jessica Alupo says that all private education providers are subject to Education Act, which provides guidelines and rules for setting up a private institution.

She appreciates that in a liberalised economy, it is not easy to limit the fees payments. “But we will keep improving the public schools, which are a bit affordable, and in other cases completely free for all Uganda,” she says.

Ann Kobusinge , a parent resident in Kireka, a city suburb, notes that,  “The increasing number of private schools in the country is widening of the gap in access to quality education, and is affecting children who come from low-income earning families.

“Children from poor backgrounds end up in public schools, which do not have laboratories and good teachers,” she argues.

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