The Ministry of Education hit the headlines last week when it banned extravagant school prom parties. The new directives prohibit the students from renting luxury cars, helicopters, or embarking on foreign travels, particularly for primary school students. All such foreign travels must now have the approval of the authorities.

Notably, the announcement did generate debate.

Yes, we can all agree, high school is not supposed to be an red carpet affair. Yet as the government clamps down on one-off prom parties, many parents are quietly grappling with something much broader: the skyrocketing expense of education.

Remember That Viral Prom
It is almost two years since Elite High school in Entebbe made headlines with a prom that resembled more of a celebrity night. Students arrived in Lamborghinis, stretch Hummers, and one even traveled by helicopter. The photos went viral and there was an instant trend with other schools following in the wake.

That incident caused a lot of debate regarding showiness in schools. But here is the actual question: Is it really the biggest problem that Ugandan parents care most about?

The Real Crisis Is in the Fees
Let’s be realistic. Parents are not worried about the prom. It is something that occurs once in the entire school lifetime of a child. What’s troubling them every term is school fees.

Today, admitting a child to a good school is a battle. Even in government-assisted schools, parents are shelling out between UGX 450,000 and UGX 3 million per term. And private schools? More. And that excludes meals, uniforms, textbooks, exams, and all the add-ons schools charge.

And it does not stop there. Even in Universal Primary and Secondary Education (UPE and USE) school, where education is “free” by definition; parents are still spending hundreds of thousands of shillings per term just to keep their children in school.

It is not surprising then that even though nearly 68% of children are completing primary school, only 22% are graduating from secondary school. The statistics are not just figures, they’re a signal that families are being priced out of their children’s futures.

When school was just school
We grew up in less complicated times. Our parents had very little, and yet somehow it all worked. They put us in good schools, going without themselves in order to make ends meet. We didn’t go to school excursions or prom because our parents had spent everything on fees. We attended school, learned as much as we could, and went home. We didn’t need a glamorous farewell to make it happen and especially not a chopper.

But now education is in the process of falling out of reach for the typical household. And rather than repairing what is not working; inequitable fees, under-resourced schools, and a need for accountability; We’re concentrating on regulating a party.

What are we really supposed to be discussing?
This is not about encouraging excess. No one is eager for 15-year-olds to believe that they are celebrities. But let’s not get sidetracked. The problems with our education system extend well past a night of selfies and dancing.

The government must establish definite boundaries for school charges and end the indiscriminate increases. Fund schools more so that parents are not charged every expense. Be open about what parents are really paying for.

Most parents are not looking for much. They simply want to be able to send their kids to school without incurring a burden of debt. They desire to provide their children with an opportunity nothing more, and nothing less.

Let us cease discussing the noise and address the actual challenge: providing all Ugandan children with education that is accessible and affordable.