According to the management at Makerere University, plans are underway to restart the 15 percent tuition increment next academic year after it was discontinued following the Covid-19 pandemic.
The management at Makerere University has revealed that plans are underway to revive the 15 per cent tuition increment next academic year after it was halted following the Covid-19 pandemic.
According to Barnabas Nawangwe the University’s Vice Chancellor, the increment will resume in the 2023/2024 academic year in September.
Initially, the policy was supposed to be implemented every academic year from 2019 for the next five years and was supposed to end in 2023 but Nawangwe says due to the pandemic, it was halted to allow parents and students to cope with economic hardships.
“We had implemented the tuition policy for three years but Covid struck, council took a decision and said since parents are facing hardships, lets us suspend the increment for two years. That was done two years back. Maybe from the next financial year, we should resume that.”
Nawangwe however, revealed the Council will have to first take another review before revisiting the decision but said now that operating costs in running University work have hit up, the increment might create meaning.
“Remember that the cost of everything has gone up even though parents are constrained. It does not mean the paper is costing less. The cost of paper has doubled and we are actually [cutting costs] in many places to continue performing.
If it becomes necessary that we must re-instate that increment irrespective of the conditions of individual parents, that will be the decision,” Prof Nawangwe said.
The policy was approved and implemented on July 4, 2018, after a thorough report presented by the special committee of the Guild representatives appointed by the Guild leadership at the time.
During the same time, students at the Institution went for two weeks challenging this decision saying it was signed without their consent but their (strikes) barely paid off.
On 29th October 2019, the University Council held an emergency meeting and decided to halt any further increment on functional fees, but kept the 15% increase on tuition fees for the next three years.
This was also not well received by students at the time who continued to demand the University revise the whole policy in general and not just the functional fees.
According to the students, this policy is very unfair not only to those in government but also to those on private sponsorship who have to toil hard to get their tuition.
The policy means that after five years, each student will be required to pay 75 per cent more something they claim is very inconsiderate.
