By Aminah Nabuule
Makerere University Council has announced the suspension of the 15 percent cumulative tuition increment policy for a period of two years due to the effects of the Covid pandemic on the economy.
“Today the Makerere University Council suspended the 15% annual tuition fees increment for two years. I thank the Council for responding to the COVID-19 situation positively,” the University Vice-Chancellor, Prof. Barnabas Nawangwe announced on Friday.
The university council in July 2018 approved the policy that sanctioned a 15 percent increment on both tuition and functional fees, over the next five years.
The move however didn’t augur well with students who organized protests arguing that it is unfair since it makes education expensive.
The University Council later bowed to pressure and agreed to scrap the 15 percent increment from functional fees for the next three years.
However, despite the suspension of the 15 percent increment on tuition fees, students from the university want it scrapped completely.
According to the Makerere University Guild President Ivan Ssempijja, the suspension of the 15 percent cumulative increment policy should not only end at tuition fees but should also be extended to functional fees.
He insists that students, just like other people in the country have been badly hit by the Covid pandemic and its effects like the lockdown.
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