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- Published Jul 27, 2023
The situation in schools in Uganda a year after full reopening from the COVID-19 lockdowns
A year after the full reopening of the economy, schools nationwide are still grappling with the aftermath of COVID-19 and its containment measures. As such, they are faced with the need to adapt and recover after an extended closure. Notably, trends of persistent increases in school fees have emerged, given the financial strain of the pandemic on schools. Specifically, the extended closure of the economy created significant financial burdens for education institutions, forcing most of them to increase school fees to sustain operations, cover additional expenses and make up for lost revenue (Kahunde et al., 2022). Worse still, inflation and rising costs of resources further contributed to the upward trend in school fees (ibid).
The increase in school fees started in the reopening of third term of the 2022 (September 2022), which affected the cost of education. Since then, schools have persistently increased their school fees. For instance, at the beginning of the first term in February 2023, schools increased their charges after the observed increment in the third term of 2022. It is worth noting that while the need to ensure the financial viability of schools is understandable, the consistent and substantial increase in fees has raised concerns, both at the individual and government levels. Affordability of education has become a pressing issue potentially compromising accessibility and widening educational inequalities. Thus, it is imperative for schools and educational authorities to strike a balance between financial sustainability and equitable access to education, to ensure that quality education remains accessible to all segments of society.
Another development from COVID-19 is the change in curriculums to compensate for the learning loss from school closures (Kasirye et al., 2023). Upon full reopening of education institutions, the abridged curriculum was to be implemented in all classes except the beginning classes, i.e., primary one, senior one, and senior five. The implementation of the new curriculum presents both opportunities and challenges. On one hand, it offered the opportunity for teachers to cover the missed learning material during the lockdown.
On the other hand, the rapid rollout of the new curriculum has resulted in uneven implementation of the same due to issues such as insufficient teacher training and limited access to necessary resources to facilitate its use. Thus, the aim of the rapid survey is two-fold: a) to explore the implications of the persistent school fees increment on student enrolment; b) to examine the curriculum changes that were effected upon the full reopening of educational institutions from the pandemic-related lockdown in January 2022.
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