School Fees

Introduction
School fees are mandatory fees imposed by either the government or an entity in charge of providing educational opportunities. These fees can be instituted for basic educational needs or a variety of other purposes such as boarding, food, supplies or transportation. Due to a general lack of funding and poor resources, school fees are levied upon children in mainly developing countries as a way to recoup funds towards educating the nation’s children. As a result, these fees create a wide disparity of who can and cannot afford a basic education, compounded by the fact that the local, province and nation rarely subsidize educational programs, infrastructure and necessities.

School Fees in East Africa
East Africa is no exception in the prevalence of school fees. The realities of limited resources and funding has led to school fees that often prohibit children from crucial access to schooling. Several East African countries have begun to tackle the problem of school fees by providing universal primary education (UPE) to many children, which has brought about a substantial increase in the number of children entering and completing primary education. Uganda has implemented universal primary education to children, dramatically increasing attendance rates throughout the country.

However no East African country has fully implemented a policy of universal secondary education (USE) within their country. [Uganda has proposed implementation of USE by the end of 2007, yet strong internal and external critics argue that universal primary education has been chronically under-funded and that the entire funding of primary education should be fixed before undertaking universal secondary education.]  As a result fees are still prohibitive for students, as evidence by the more than 60% decrease in enrollment between primary and secondary school in Uganda.

WHAT IS SECONDARY EDUCATION?
As defined by UNESCO, secondary education is defined as the “amorphous zone that lies between basic education and higher education. Secondary education is a step for pupils between the ages of 11 or 12 and 18. At this level, pupils are expected to broaden their knowledge and experiences from the basic level and prepare for work or higher education.”

Generally speaking, secondary school in East Africa is the equivalent of middle and high school within the U.S. educational system. For example, in Uganda secondary school comes after passing primary school exams and consists of levels S1 to S4.  For more information on the Ugandan education system, please visit the “Case Study: Uganda” section of the website.

OUR SUPPORT OF SECONDARY EDUCATION
Due to current global initiatives throughout East Africa to ensure children have a right to universal primary education, the topic of secondary education has been ignored by local and international agencies. As a direct result, hundreds of thousands of children have no opportunity to continue their education at a secondary school level, which is a vital link between students and future jobs or university. Not only is secondary education of great value to the student, but time and again, secondary education has been shown to be one of the most important steps that will aid in the development of a community, economy, and nation.

As the successes of universal primary school education (UPE) continue, more children than ever will stop all formal schooling after completing primary school due to the burden of school fees. Since school fees can make up as much as a quarter of a poor family’s annual income, families are often forced to decide which children to send to school and how long they may attend. These choices have resulted in orphans and girls disproportionately excluded from additional schooling due to the burden of school fees. While oppressive to most East African families, public school fees range between $250 to $750 USD per student each year.

While there have been initiatives to improve education in East Africa on many fronts, secondary education has not seen the direct impact of these efforts.  Without the ability to access education after primary school, young people are unable to realize their full economic and social potential. A fundamental belief of the Dobbyn Foundation is that access to secondary education is essential for the betterment of all society. Therefore, our mission is to provide financial assistance to children that would otherwise unable to afford a secondary education, thereby starting to change the system of charging school fees at the secondary level.