By Weswa Ronnie
MBALE
Government is planning to harmonize fair school fees payment at all its primary and secondary schools across the country.
This was revealed by Balaam Barugahara, the Minister of local government on Monday, 21st September, 2026 while speaking to district leaders from the Eastern region at Mbale Resort Hotel.
The revelation was made during the Local Government Regional Budget Consultative Workshop for 2027/28 under the theme “Full Monetisation of Uganda’s Economy through Commercial Agriculture, Industrialization and Broadening Services, Digital Transformation and Market Access.”
The Regional Budget Consultative meeting attracted different district local government officers such as CAOs, LCV Chairpersons, planners, city clerks, district commercial officers, production officers, and RDCs, among others from the Eastern region.
Minister Balaam, who was the chief guest, said that during his current countrywide district crackdown on corruption and monitoring of government projects, he found that most schools are charging school fees claiming it is for paying teachers who are on the PTA payroll.
He said the amount charged is too much, which has forced most children of poor parents out of school due to lack of money to pay, yet education at government-aided schools under Universal Education is supposed to be free.
He admitted that there are few teachers, especially for sciences, saying they are now going to have a cabinet meeting with the President and present the matter. If the President listens to their concerns, they will formulate a uniform school fees structure for all public schools.
The minister said they are planning to set a small fee of 50,000 shillings for village schools and 120,000 shillings for town schools, which will cater for teachers who are not on the government payroll.
He said if the President approves the idea, no public school under Universal Education will be allowed to charge more than what will have been agreed upon.
