Students challenge govt on tax waivers, free sanitary pads

Masaka, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | Students have appealed to the government to consider dropping tax levies on private education institutions and to accelerate the process of providing free sanitary pads to schools.

While making submissions before the Education Police Review Commission, during its regional consultation meeting at Masaka Senior Secondary School, the students challenged the government to remove all bottlenecks that impede learning.

Ayubu Ssekajugo, a senior six student at Masaka Secondary School argues that the various taxes that the government levies on schools, raise the cost of education expensive, especially in areas where there are no government schools that implement universal primary and secondary education policy.

He says many of his colleagues in rural private schools cannot effectively compete in academic performance because they do not have access to required scholastic materials, owing to the high costs, which many schools cannot afford.

Currently, some of the taxes levied on private schools and other educational institutions include; income tax, property tax, trading licenses, and Income tax that directly impact their operation expenses.

Ssekajugo prefers that the government provide subsidies on utility services and tax waivers to private schools, as a deliberate effort to cut the cost of education, saying that this will reduce the dropout rates as well as improve performance and quality.

Aboyo Margret and Joan Namugerwa, students of senior three and four respectively, bemoaned the government’s continued failure to provide free sanitary pads to schools, saying that it is a great frustration to the education of the female students.

They demand that the government make it a policy directive to provide sanitary pads to all schools, as a way of providing equal opportunities for girls to stay in school and complete their education cycles.

Free sanitary pads were part of President Yoweri Museveni’s manifesto pledge for the 2016-2021 term, as one of the interventions to address school dropout and promote dignity, however, the promise is yet to be implemented.

The students propose that that tied as a matter of policy if the country aspires to promote the well-being of adolescent girls in primary and secondary school.

Steven Kakeeto, the Masaka City Education Officer also pleaded with the government to make available all the equipment required in the implementation of the new education curriculum.

The Education Policy Review Commission, chaired by the Retired Colonel Amanya Mushega is currently collecting stakeholders’ proposals for improving the country’s education policy.

Mushega indicated that they are going to compile all the proposals which will accordingly be presented to the responsible authorities of government for possible consideration.

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