VOA · Education Tips
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Education Tips shares practical advice for students: study habits, test preparation, applying to schools. The vocabulary is academic but the delivery is slow and structured, making it useful preparation for exam listening sections.
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01The World Bank said last year that 54% of adults in Africa south of the Sahara Desert ranked the issue of paying school costs higher than medical or other costs.
02The aid organization said school fees were the biggest financial worry for 40% of people in Uganda.
03In that country, a top government-supported school reportedly cost $700 for a three-month term.
04That is a lot of money in a country where yearly economic activity per person was $864 in 2023.
05World Bank information shows that African countries in the area also have the highest rates of children out of school in the world.
06Parents in Uganda report unpredictable increases in the cost of attending school, or tuition, as a cause of tension.
07Some critics are calling for laws to protect parents from exploitation.
08The Equal Opportunities Commission is a government agency that reports on the issues of inequality and discrimination.
09It released a report in September that called for punishment against government-supported schools that demand fees that are too high.
10It warned that arbitrarily raising fees can force children to drop out of school.
11The Uganda Bureau of Statistics says that children's attendance in early grades is about 68%.
12But the percentage falls to 22% for secondary school.
13The main reason given is financial difficulty.
14Uganda has a program of secondary education for all students.
15It was introduced in 2007.
16However, schools are not in good condition.
17The schools usually do not require tuition, but parents must pay for uniforms, textbooks, and other costs.
18Private schools are more popular, but also more costly.
19Spokesperson for the Ministry of Education, Dennis Mugimba, said the government is not interested in making rules about prices.
20The government is not interested in making rules about prices.
21The government is not interested in making rules about prices.
22The government is not interested in making rules about prices.
23The government is not interested in making rules about prices.
24The government is not interested in making rules about prices.
25The government is not interested in making rules about prices.
26The government is not interested in making rules about prices.
27The government is not interested in making rules about prices.
28The government is not interested in making rules about prices.
29The government is not interested in the government.
30The Associated Press reports that they are now a majority of the country's schools.
31But some people, with ties to education, say placing importance on the profitability of education as a business is worrying.
32Fagiel Mandy is a former inspector of schools.
33Mandy said there should be standardized rules to make school fees predictable for everyone.
34It is normal for both private and government-supported schools to request money for many projects.
35These can include buying a bus or purchasing laboratory equipment.
36Shalom Mirimbe is a student who spoke to the AP.
37Her mother takes care of four children.
38Her father recently died.
39The school Mirimbe attends near Kampala costs $300,000.
40But her mother sends Mirimbe to school without paying.
41She is depending on the mercy of officials.
42But Jonita Seguia, a teacher at Wompewo Ntake, secondary, said schools are taking measures to bar students from school if their parents do not pay.
43Seguia said of the school's 2,100 students, 400 are from families that struggle to pay fees.
4420-year-old Mirimbe is taking her final exams this year.
45At one point, school officials were going to bar her from school because her mother had failed to pay the fees.
46But when school administrators found out that her father had died recently, they permitted her to return.
47Some of her teachers attended the funeral.
48But other families are not so fortunate.
49Moses Sirikomawa is jobless with seven children.
50He said paying $200 in school fees each term is too much when the family lacks food sometimes.
51But he added, the children still want to go back to school.
52I'm Mario Ritter, Jr.
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