East African Business Week

Kampala, Uganda - The rising cost of living in the country continues to bite many sectors of the economy including education.
 It is increasingly becoming challenging to run  private schools in the country as food priceshave risen  significantly.
School going children in primary and secondary broke off for holidays before the official Ministry of Education and Sports closing date of December 2.  Some schools closed between two to three weeks to the official date after head teachers and school directors cited rising prices and load shedding as the major reason.
“The rising food prices have changed school plans and resulted in financial losses” said Alex Wagaba, Director of Happimost Primary School in Kanyanya, a Kampala surburb.
Wagaba noted that they had embarked on reducing the amount of food served to students and abandoned certain foods on maize meal and beans but it was not a lasting solution.
“We cut short external classroom activities like swimming and drama in theaters but the school was still hanging on a financial thread,” added Wagaba.
“At the time we drew the budget, food prices such as for rice were at Ushs 2,500 per kilogram but have now doubled,” he said.
Many schools had increased fees for the second and third terms in anticipation of higher food prices but could not cope  even with more funds.
“The further rise in the cost of living made it hard for us to cultivate and implement our plans because all the money went towards feeding the children,” said Ms Winnie Mbatudde, the head teacher of Highland College School in Bweyogerere,  8 kilometres east of Kampala.
Mbatudde said the school management has resorted to a slight increase in school fees while they revisited other school plans.
Timothy Tabaalamule, a pupil of Lady Bird Day and Boarding Primary School in Matugga (12 miles north of Kampala) said the school had closed off early morning lessons on days of power shortages.
“We had to got to bed early because power cuts and expensive fuel was very trying especially during exams,” Tabaalamule said.
“The head teacher instruct teachers to use the day time in order to cover up for the powerless nights.”
The school closed a week before the official closing date after which pupils collected the report forms.
Alliance High School's head teacher Wilson Sseguya said running schools had become a complicated task with minimal resources.
 “It is becoming expensive to run a school as one has to dig deep into his pockets to sustain the institution,” Sseguya said.
He observed that the school management team had to eat into the school’s  profits as operating costs had were higher than the income.
It is hoped that the Central Bank’s recent interventions should significantly bring down prices and running costs should follow in tandem.