When school fees outpace savings: How Pearl Bank is supporting parents and schools through education financing How Pearl Bank’s Toyomba na Bursar and school liquidity solutions are helping keep learners in class by bridging term-start fee gaps.

By Andy Wilfred Kulanyi

School term costs are a reality many Ugandan parents quietly confront at the beginning of each school calendar.

You may have planned. You may have saved. You may even have set money aside months in advance. But then the unexpected happens: prices of essentials go up, a medical bill appears, or your business slows down. And suddenly, what once looked manageable feels heavy.

For many families, school fees are not a question of willingness, but timing. Income does not always arrive in a neat, predictable pattern that aligns with the beginning of a school term. Yet schools require payment upfront to operate.

When fees cannot be cleared in time, the consequences are immediate. Students may be sent home. Repeated interruptions can gradually raise the risk of dropping out. What begins as a short-term financial gap can quietly become a long-term educational setback.

Behind every such moment is not indifference, but effort. Parents are doing what they can to protect their children’s future.

There is a broader truth behind this tension. The cost of denying young people access to education is far greater than the price of funding it. 

A country that fails to invest in its youth is not only limiting individual potential, it is slowing its own progress.

Uganda’s young people are energetic, ambitious, and resilient. They compete globally in technology, business, and the creative industries. 

They innovate, create, and lead. But passion alone is not enough. Ambition needs access. Talent needs opportunity.

When learners miss class because of temporary financial gaps, the consequences ripple beyond the household. 

Lost classroom time becomes lost confidence. Interrupted learning slows momentum. And at a national level, small disruptions accumulate into wider development challenges.

This is why practical financial solutions matter.

Financial institutions have a clear role to play in expanding access to quality education while ensuring borrowing remains responsible and schools maintain long-term stability. 

This begins with bridging the school fees gap by providing affordable liquidity to families who might otherwise default, helping prevent the 15 to 30 percent of learners who risk being sent home due to nonpayment each term.

Responsible borrowing must remain central. Financial institutions can use data capabilities and behavior-based pre-scoring to ensure loans are granted to those with a verifiable ability to repay, preventing over-indebtedness while still expanding access.

Schools themselves also need cheap and reliable credit lines to remain operational during term-start periods when fee inflows are inconsistent.

Structured school fees financing is emerging as one way to reduce disruption. Instead of forcing families to mobilise a large lump sum at once, school fees loans allow payments to be spread across manageable installments aligned with income patterns.

When designed responsibly, these facilities smooth predictable expenses rather than create unnecessary debt.

Pearl Bank’s Toyomba na Bursar campaign reflects this approach. The bank offers a specialized school fees loan of up to UGX 10 million, processed and disbursed within 24 hours. 

The speed is deliberate, recognising the urgency that accompanies reopening dates.

The facility is designed for regular income earners, whether salaried or running businesses, who maintain a Pearl Bank account. 

Requirements include a completed application, a valid work or National ID, and at least three months of salary remittances or six months of business statements. 

Parents can apply by visiting any Pearl Bank branch, requesting a loan via the Pearl Bank App, or calling the toll-free helpline at 0800 217 200.

Unlike standard personal loans, this product is optimised specifically for back-to-school urgency, with a shorter turnaround time and integration with digital disbursement channels that enable quick access to funds.

Convenience also plays a critical role. Pearl Bank has digitized the school fees paying process to eliminate long queues and provide 24/7 access. 

Parents can pay through the Wendi App and USSD by dialing *229#, through the Pearl Bank App and USSD at *263#, via a wide network of Pearl Agents across the country, or through secure online banking portals.

Integration with collection systems such as School Pay, Sure Pay, and Pegasus ensures that every fee paid is instantly reflected in the school’s account, improving transparency and cash flow management.

The education financing conversation, however, does not end with parents.

Schools themselves operate under significant pressure at the start of term. Teachers and support staff must be paid. Food and supplies must be stocked. Utilities and maintenance costs must be covered, often before fee collections stabilize.

Without adequate liquidity, even well-managed institutions can face operational strain.

To support institutional stability, Pearl Bank provides interim working capital financing of up to UGX 500 million unsecured, helping schools to cover short term operational expenses such as staff salaries, stocking of food, payment of utilities bills and other administrative costs.

Pearl Bank’s asset financing options enable schools to acquire school equipment and property such as a new van or bus. 

The bank also offers specialised development finance through its Business Development Loans to support educational infrastructure such as land acquisition for expansion, construction of a new classroom block, laboratories, and dormitories.

Green financing solutions further help schools adopt use of clean energy solutions such as solar installations and gas cooking fostering environmental protection and awareness hence saving for schools and institutions from long-term high cost energy bills and lessening carbon emissions. 

There is also a longer-term responsibility that financial institutions must embrace.

Identifying cheap funders: Financial institutions need to look out for partners who can avail cheap credit to financial institutions with a longer tenor especially to support infrastructural development in the education sector.

Advisory Services/Financial literacy: Financial institutions should firm up provision business advisory to both government and private school proprietors to help them manage expansion sustainably and optimize their financial resources.

The impact of these interventions is practical and immediate. When parents are not forced into high-cost informal borrowing, stress reduces and learners remain in class. When schools have predictable access to liquidity, administrators focus on academic delivery rather than short-term financial survival.

Education should require effort and sacrifice. It should not feel like a recurring crisis.

The author is  a Relationship Manager, Education Services at Pearl Bank Uganda.