Raising school fees torments many Africans. Some expect the Catholic Church to do more to help

KAMPALA, Uganda (AP) — A crying parent with an unpaid tuition balance walked into the staff room of a Catholic private school and begged the teachers to help enroll her son.

The school’s policy required the woman pay at least 60% of her son’s full tuition bill before he could join the student body. She didn’t have the money and was led away.

“She was pleading, ‘Please help me,’” said Beatrice Akite, a teacher at St. Kizito Secondary School in Uganda’s capital city, who witnessed the outburst.