For years, school fee collection has meant queues, cash handling, paper receipts and lengthy reconciliation processes for schools and parents.
But digital payments are changing how institutions manage this routine financial function, with MoMo School Pay enabling schools to receive, track and reconcile fees electronically while allowing parents to pay remotely.
At Jinja School of Nursing and Midwifery, the system has simplified the work of the finance office by making payment information readily available.
Epitu James, Assistant Bursar at the institution, said the platform has improved the tracking of student payments and reconciliation of accounts.
“Using MoMo School Pay has made fee management much easier for our school, particularly in the reconciliation of books of accounts in the finance office,” Epitu said.
“The system enables us to easily track student payments and reconcile student accounts, since payment information is readily available.”
Electronic records also help the school verify payments, identify outstanding balances and maintain more accurate financial records, reducing some of the errors associated with manual record keeping.
At Lucky Kids Academy, the platform has focused on convenience for parents while reducing pressure on the school during reporting periods.
Waligo Ivan, Head Teacher at Lucky Kids Academy, said parents can pay from home or their workplaces instead of travelling to school with cash.
“Ever since we started using MoMo to receive school dues, life at school has drastically changed,” Waligo said. “It is very convenient to parents because payments are made in the comfort of their homes or offices.”
He said instant payment notifications make reconciliation easier and provide parents with confirmation of their transactions. The reduction in cash transactions has also helped the school cut some expenditure on receipt books and improve financial planning.
For schools still heavily dependent on cash, the experience of the two institutions highlights how digital fee collection can reduce some of the administrative burden associated with traditional payment methods.
The benefits of participating in digital fee collection also extend to the Win School Fees for a Year and More campaign.
Schools that accept school fees through MoMo stand a chance to win a school van, which can strengthen their transport capacity.
Lucky Kids Academy received its van earlier this year. Waligo said it has helped the school transport learners while reducing vehicle-hire costs.
“The van has surely helped us a great deal in transporting learners to and from school,” he said. “It has enabled us to shuttle children in time and cut down on hire costs that we were incurring before we received it.”
At Jinja School of Nursing and Midwifery, the van supports students travelling to clinical placement sites.
Epitu said it has improved student mobility, safety and supervision during clinical training.
“The school van has improved mobility, safety, supervision and the effective implementation of our students’ clinical training programs,” he said.
Parents can pay school fees through the MoMo App or by dialling 16580#. Schools can adopt MoMo School Pay to receive digital payments and improve the efficiency of fee collection.
