Mps have queried additional fees levied on students on governments sponsored programmes in vocational training institutions.
This follows a concern raised by Bufumbira East member of parliament Eddie Kwizera during the sitting of Parliament today.
Kwizera said that the students studying under government sponsorship in vocational schools were being subjected to exorbitant additional tuition fees, that they could hardly afford.
He identified Kabale Nursing Institute among others for charging tuition fees of over 1 million shillings to its students.
He cited students in other vocational training institutes having to pay over 500,000 shillings in functional fees.
He told parliament that government claims to be funding these students through scholarships yet they are paying as much functional fees as the students on private sponsorship.
He requested the Ministry of Education to address the matter.
Agago District Woman Representative Franca Akello identified the School of Hygiene in Mbale which is also charging high fees to a range of 600, 000 shillings and wondered what the government was referring to as government sponsorship
She said that Minister for Education should explain to what they mean by paying for the students who are actually paying for themselves.
The member of parliament for Lubaga North Moses Kasibante said that that it was ironical to say that government was paying for students who were in actual sense paying for most of their needs at these institutions.

In his response the Minister of State for Higher Education, John Chrysostom Muyingo, said that the Ministry was responsible for recruitment and payment of salaries of lecturers and the purchase of scholastic materials but the Ministry is faced with financial constraints as a result of limited resource allocation and this inhibits the ability to cover all the institutional requirements of the vocational schools.
Muyingo added that as a result, students on government sponsorship have to face some of the expenses.
The Deputy Speaker. Jacob Oulanyah asked the Minister to explain government’s contribution towards the students’ fees requirements whether the government contributing directly to what the students are paying.
He advised the Minister to liaise with the Parliamentary Committee on Education and Sports and present a comprehensive report to the House detailing government’s sponsorship and resource allocation.