Mak Dev't and Technology Fee are Absurd

Just when you think the dust is about to settle at Makerere University, the administration comes up with the not so surprising, but sad news that all new private students should pay a mandatory Shs. 50,000 (US$30) for technology fees and Shs. 123,500 (US$74) for development fees.

The university argues that the development fees will provide funds to finance the expansion of the library while the technology fees will be used to increase the university’s Internet bandwidth. Whereas these developments are imperative or vital, one has to wonder if it is fair that the students should be the ones to shoulder the entire burden of footing these huge expenses.

The Makerere student community has always witnessed the implementation of draconian policies in their final stages, with the first reports being picked from the press. Such policies include the almost implemented tuition increment by Shs 400,000 per course per academic year. Now, it is the technology and development fees.

There surely needs a parliamentary review on the "extra fees” required by Makerere administration.

Lots of students and their parents toil as hard as possible to realise their dreams. Most parents sacrifice all their earnings and even sell their possessions to see their children to university. Only to find that some people are stretching their wallets so far to unjustifiable amounts.

Public universities, including Makerere are given money by government for development so the development fee being levied on the students is uncalled for. For instance, the government, for the 2008/2009 financial year, appropriated Shs. 37bn (US$ 22,262,334) for development. Further still, the university generates over Shs. 52bn (US$ 31,287,605) annually from tuition fees, functional fees, overhead charges, revenue from commercial services, among others. Where does all this money go? Isn’t someone being fooled here?

It would be foolhardy to believe that Makerere cannot find other ways to raise such funds rather than stretching too far the already stretched out pockets of parents and students.

In the education sector, it is only the rich people who benefit from the government sponsorships, leaving the poor and needy families with the burden of paying fees. Therefore, Makerere levying such exorbitant fees is pushing the much-needed higher education far from the majority of poor Ugandans who can’t afford.

I think at such moments, there is need for the government to intervene to meet its moral obligation to provide every student a world-class education, because it will take nothing less to compete in the global economy. I believe that every student needs a decent shot at university education, rather than being restricted to a few rich people who can afford.

Much as the Students’ Guild is supposed to advocate for the needs of students, the current structure of the students’ leadership that was formed in the 1950s is far from doing that.

A look at this shows that many students are not consulted on issues that affect them. For instance, this structure, which was formed when every student was resident-provides for the Guild Representative Council (GRC) that sits with the Guild President. The majority of these members stay in Halls of Residence. This implies that today, 85.7% of students, who are non-resident, are not consulted in the making policies that govern them and therefore do not participate in their own administration.