Weeks into the new academic year, public and government-aided schools are coming to terms with sweeping changes to the tuition fee structure after the Ministry of Education (MINEDUC) decided to harmonise the fees.
Some are finding it difficult to adjust, but most are now believed to be keen on complying with the decision, widely welcomed as a watershed moment for families weighed down by rising commodity prices.
It has since emerged that at least one Kigali-based school has moved to seek the green light from the ministry to revert to its old fee structure, citing support from parents.
The communicated guidelines from the ministry stated that there would be no more school fees for students in pre-primary and primary, with parents only contributing Rwf975 for the school feeding programme.
Parents would pay Rwf19,500 for day-scholar students in public and government-aided secondary schools, and Rwf85,000 for students in boarding schools.
MINEDUC had also indicated that when necessary and upon parents’ approval, a contribution for other school needs shall not exceed Rwf 7,000. And that schools that rent mattresses as bedding requirement, were permitted to charge only new students Rwf9,000 once in three years for replacement purposes.
The move to harmonise school fees across all public and government-aided school schools was made to have an equitable structure and support parents with limited means.
The New Times understands that no school has resisted the change so far or charged students more than the tuition set by the ministry of Education. However, The New Times also gathers that different parents-school meetings have been convened in different schools to discuss the feasibility of the new system.
Apparently, in some schools, food quantity served per student has significantly reduced, with changed school fees given as a reason.
"During the meeting, the school showed us how the new school fees have made it very hard to make ends meet and continue to provide students with the usual standards of living. We (parents) understand where they’re coming from with the rising prices on the market, and we are willing to go back to paying the previous amount so that our children don’t suffer,” said Gerard Musabe, a parent who has a child at College Saint Andre.
The school has gathered parents’ votes and is in the process of requesting a green light from the ministry to restore the previous school fees of Rwf 176, 000. According to the school’s communique during the meeting, upon parents’ approval, the school fees could be increased.
However, all parents don’t share the same stand on the increment. "Sometimes your child would pass national examinations with very good points, but you wouldn’t be able to send them to the allocated school due to lack of means. Now, the harmonised tuition has given us a chance to have our children access good education without necessarily charging more than we can afford,” said a parent who didn’t want their identity revealed.
"Education shouldn’t be zeroed down to whether students are able to eat bread, milk, or meat at school. Otherwise, we would take them to private schools where they are able to eat all of that,” she added.
Some schools point out that despite the government’s contribution to the school feeding programme, the set school fees (Rwf85 000) is still too little. Some have hence opted to charge other school materials (uniform, school cards, insurance, and others) aside from the school fees, which end up raising the amount nonetheless.