Kampala — THREE brooms, two reams of A4 paper, three dozen exercise books, a dozen rolls of toilet paper, six bars of soap, two dozen pens, a bag of cement and this list is endless. Where do the school requirements go?

The back to school ritual of unrealistic school requirements is a thorn Ugandan parents have to bear. Commercialisation of education seems to have pushed this practice a notch higher. Many nursery and primary schools are charging fees that supersede the cost of tuition for several degree courses at Makerere or other universities.

And now it has gone even further, as several schools, especially those in Kampala, continue to devise various tricks of "squeezing" money out of unsuspicious parents.

An Education Vision survey around boarding primary schools in Kampala has revealed that besides the exorbitant fees, a number of schools ask for ridiculous items at the beginning of each term. Without these items, a pupil will not be allowed in school.

These include dozens of toilet paper rolls, toilet soap and brushes, reams of photocopying paper, a number of brooms, bags of cement, pamphlets and text books, to mention a few.

At Hormisdallen Primary School in Kamwokya, each boarding student must part with six rolls of toilet paper, two brooms, six kilograms of sugar and six kilograms of rice, plus a ream of photocopying paper every term, for upper classes. Other requirements include eight black books, two quire books and a dozen 96-paged books on top of sh520,000 school fees.

While at Happy Hours primary school in Bwaise, a parent must provide the child with two reams of photocopying paper per term, four text books, 10 toilet tissue rolls, two brooms, a scrubbing brush for washing toilets, a knife and a hoe, besides school fees of sh320,000 (nursery-P6), and sh360,000 (P7).

In comparison, Winston Boarding Primary School in Kawempe, requires five rolls of toilet paper, four pieces of toilet soap and a ream of photocopying papers from each student per term. In addition, it demands for four text books (math, science, SST and English) from each student starting from P4 to P7, besides fees of sh250,000 (P4-P6) and sh300,000 (P7).

According to a circular given to parents in December 2009, Winston sells maroon dresses, socks, ties, shorts, shirts, belts and school sweaters at the school's bursar's office.

Many other primary schools across the city centre are no different. They request several rolls of toilet paper, cakes of washing and bathing soap, and brooms (soft and hard) from each student per term. All school uniforms are sold at the schools at high prices.

Some schools have gone beyond asking for these items, to ordering parents to buy them strictly from the school. They operate shops within the school.

The items are also compulsory and strictly purchased from the school. Such schools cannot allow a student to come with items purchased from elsewhere.

Most of the other requirements are also strictly supposed to be purchased from the school bursar's office. It has been established that the pupils hardly use most of these requirements. Sources in most of these schools say the authorities seize the items from the pupils on arrival, and keep them in the school stores. Then, who uses the items?

Fagil Mandy, an education consultant, wonders why schools demand an inflated number of items every term. "I keep on wondering what they do with the school fees we pay," he complains.

Other parents and pupils Education Vision talked to said teachers and school heads acquire the materials for their personal use at the expense of the pupils. "You can bring five rolls of toilet paper and the teachers keep them in the store, but even before the mid-term, they tell you it is finished," says a pupil in one of the schools in Makindye.

A parent whose child studies at Hormisdallen Primary School in Kamwokya, says:

"The school says it has a store where it keeps these materials for the pupils' use. But sometimes they exaggerate; the requirements are just too many. They can't tell me that a pupil uses an entire ream of photocopying paper, eight black books and two quire books just in one term."

Using simple mathematics, if a school had say 500 pupils and each brings a ream of papers, those would be 1,500 reams a year, with each ream having 500 sheets and sometimes more. How many papers can one pupil use in the whole year to exhaust the stock?

"We use the papers only during the monthly tests (twice every term) and final exams. For class work, we are supposed to write in our exercise books. Each of us can use only 20 sheets of paper a term," narrated Jane (not real name), a P3 pupil of Winston.

James Lukoodaamye-Musoke, another parent in Makindye, finds it difficult to believe that one pupil can use a whole ream of paper in a year.

"Pupils sit for a maximum of four tests and a final exam in a term. This means that each pupil uses, at highest, 100 sheets of paper a year, out of the three reams he takes to the school. Where do the other reams go?" Musoke wonders.

Like a cross-section of other parents, Musoke points out that some head teachers and their staff operate stationery shops where they sell some of the materials pupils take to schools. "If there was a way one could mark these material like toilet rolls, text books and reams of photocopying paper we take to schools, they would be surprised to find them in the same bookshops they bought them before," said Musoke, who supports two children in different primary schools and one in secondary.

He added: "Out of suffering, we look for money to educate our children. But it is annoying that some head teachers and school administrators have become businessmen, and conmen. We are being cheated. The education ministry should help us."

Another parent, Milton, narrated that his school, located in Bugolobi, asks for dozens of pens, pencils and exercise books from nursery and P1 pupils. The pupils are told to deposit all these items at the school at the beginning of each term.

"You don't even see where the child has written or whether a single book has been used up. Those guys are just thugs. That is why most stationery shops are owned by head teachers," he complains.

The issue of school requirements has become so maddening among parents that some stakeholders are now agitating for a crackdown on head teachers who have made a business out of the practice.

Fagil Mandy says the practice is getting out of hand.

"As a parent, I think the ministry should put up standards schools must follow when asking for school requirements," says Mandy. "I know that it is one of the issues that the ministry has been trying to work out but it is taking a long time. I wish these schools use the fees to buy whatever requirements they want," Mandy observes.