With less than 10 days for schools to reopen after nearly two years of closure, Absa Bank Uganda has given a soft landing to parents with a school fees loans.
“The last two years have been a long hard road for all of us and especially for our children. They have had no schools to go to, very little interaction with their school pals and they have missed out on so many things as kid should be doing as they grow and develop.
So to help your kids get back to classroom, we are offering salary loans,” read one of the memoirs sent to a customer in their mail.
Many customers of the bank have told this news site that they have received similar messages either on their phones or emails.
This is not the only institution giving stimulus packages to parents and schools. As the fees remains the biggest hurdle for parents as schools reopen, government through agencies has also made sure that schools get support so as not to charge the already burdened parents with high fees.
For instance, Uganda Revenue Authority (URA) has offered to waive all taxes for schools that have been consistently filing their returns.
That notwithstanding, many schools and parents are battling on how to balance between supporting the schools that have spent nearly 84 weeks under lockdown begin business and also making sure parents can afford to take back their students to school.
In the email seen by this news site, the salary loans which are being given between January 1 and February 28 will have incentives including;
“60 day loan repayment break, zero arrangement fees, ability to apply loan top up via digital application process and competitive interest rates.”
Absa becomes the first bank with such offers since the government announced the reopening of schools.
Schools, according to the ministry of education calendar will reopen on January 10 this year.
