Parents must not abdicate their obligation

Editor, RE: “Quality Education; whose quality anyway? (Part II)” (The New Times, October 22). I agree that parents have a major role to play in contributing to the quality of education, but with the introduction of universal education, the Government has sought a populist approach by making parents think that they are not required to pay for anything in the education of their children. Even when school administrators try to make parents pay for lunch for their children and teachers’ allowances, the Government intervenes to say parents/children should not be “coerced” to pay. The major problem however is the lack of facilities (classrooms, laboratories, libraries, computers...) in schools. In public schools and universities, enrollment is way beyond the available capacity. To me, the Government has deliberately prioritised quantity over quality in bid to increase literacy levels. This makes sense from a political and management point of view—it’s hard to lead/manage an illiterate population when you have ambitions as those of Rwanda. But what happens when this literate but incompetent generation takes charge of the country tomorrow? Nathan Kabanguka

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Parents must not abdicate their obligation