By Wafula Malik
As part of our ongoing serialization of Education Minister Janet K Museveni’s performance and outputs for the Embassy House-based docket, today we reflect on what MoES teams have delivered under her supervision specifically for the last 12 months. This story is based on what we gathered during the just-concluded 15th Education & Sports Sector Annual Review meeting that was held at Hotel Africana. It was attended by various stakeholders including government technocrats, head teachers, CSOs, faith-based foundation bodies, local governments and development partner representatives. The following report captures what we gathered during the meeting:
CONTEXTUALIZING;
This performance (focusing on the 12 months of the FY2017/18) is assessed basing on obligations and sector targets arising out of the Vision 2040/National Development Plan II, President YK Museveni’s 2016-2021 campaign manifesto, education sector Strategic Development Plan and undertakings captured Janet’s own ministerial policy statement as communicated to Parliament. She was to deliver her targets using Shs2,501bn (roughly Shs2.5trn) allocated to her sector under the FY2017/18. This represents 11.37% of the entire national budget-slightly less than previous year (2016/17)’s 11.98%. Off the Shs2.5trn package, the primary sub sector (catering for over 7.2m pupils) has 50% followed by Secondary (16%), tertiary (19%), BTVET (11%) & others 4%.
2,520 PRIVATE SCHOOLS;
Working with the district local government structures, the Janet-led ministry licensed and subsequently registered many private primary schools bringing the total number to 2,520 (up from 2016/17’s 458 schools). Licensing and registering more private schools is good for the country because it means increased access to education services. It also means more jobs and other opportunities being created for Ugandans doing business with those newly established institutions. Government investment by way of capitation grants also increased to Shs7,255,727,236 in FY 2017/18 up from the previous FY’s mere Shs7bn. Capitation grants imply financial support sent to schools per student in all government-aided schools. It caters for things like purchase of basic supplies like chalk, head teacher’s transport to attend meetings at the district headquarters etc. These are obligations that remain pending over and above staff remuneration and construction (dev’t) expenses which are all met by the central government. Whereas capitation grants may vary basing on enrollment numbers, there is also fixed grants which are fixed and are calculated per month. And all government education institutions get a constant figure. So with increased spending of capitation grants, schools are enabled to operate more smoothly. Still under FY2017/18, emergency infrastructure construction was undertaken and completed at 13 primary schools namely; Gayaza C/U, Makamaba Memorial, Mityebiri SDA, Bugoola, St. Peter’s Mubende, Bundibugyo P/S, Rwengobe P/S, Nabalanga P/S, Ngalonkalu P/S, Buwele P/S, Rumogi P/S, Napyanga P/S and Kapyani P/S.
UTSEP’ 54 SCHOOLS;
Under the GPE/World Bank-funded Uganda Teacher & School Effectiveness Project (UTSEP), which was recently ranked best implemented GoU project under the WB country portfolio, the Janet teams completed infrastructure construction works at 54 beneficiary primary schools. These are spread in 6 districts namely Ibanda (11 schools), Isingiro (20), Kapchorwa (1), Bukwo (9), Arua (4) and Aleptong district (9 schools). At each of these 54 schools, infrastructure has been expanded and new additional structures put in place. Specifically, new classroom & administration blocks as well as 5-stance latrines and water storage facilities (basically tanks) have been put in place where none existed. The affirmative action-like intervention aimed at bailing out those primary schools which lacked any permanently constructed structures to write home about. Yet that isn’t all about UTSEP on which WB-funded education projects elsewhere in Africa are already benchmarking. November this year, Minister Janet Museveni and her teams will be commissioning and handing over similar newly built infrastructure at another 84 primary schools across the country. But what qualitatively is GPE & MoES seeking to achieve through UTSEP overall? UTSEP aims at qualitatively impacting on our primary education system through teacher retraining, textbooks provision, strengthening literacy & numeracy competences. Focus is also on improving the school learning environment through constructing infrastructure (class rooms, toilet facilities & teachers’ houses). Priority also goes to inculcating corporate governance ideals by training head teachers values like accountability and transparency. UTSEP money has also been invested in Early Childhood Development, lower class reading, community child care programs and harnessing inspection through ICT-enabled integrated approaches.
SECONDARY SUB SECTOR;
The secondary sub sector (whose public schools’ enrollment stands at over 1,028,000 up from the previous year’s 872,000) has also been impacted upon in the same period. Capitation grants for over 1,028,740 students (both in USE and UPOLET: which is Universal Post O’level Education & Training) were paid compared to the previous year when only 872,549 students were paid for. Grant-aiding was also expanded whereby the number of post-primary institutions benefiting under that category grew or increased by 400%, according to information disclosed at the review meeting. More privately-owned secondary schools were licensed in 2017/18 (329 with 6 of them international schools) than the previous year when just 127 were licensed. This reflects growth of 159%. Mid 2016, President Museveni directed that there must be a public secondary school at every sub county. The Ministry leadership acted promptly and in the FY2017/18 alone, Shs8.5bn was allocated for the construction of 12 such (seed) schools. Civil works commenced and whereas the 10 remain work in progress, two of them are already completed: Abok Sub County’s Abok SS in Oyam district and Kijura Town Council’s Noble Mayombo SS in Kabarole district. The secondary sub sector has also been supported with 5,250 (S1/2) science textbooks (covering chemistry, physics and biology). The books have gone into the 20 government grant-aided schools the GoU had just taken over from previous foundation bodies. Deliberate efforts have also gone into extra-curricular activities like MDD through which national values & priorities contained in Vision 2040 have been popularized. In the period under review, at least 3,189 students actively participated in MDD competitions and used poetry, traditional dances and drama to exhibit innovation and originality. Over 6,730 science teachers (both govt & private schools) were specially trained and equipped with mathematical and digital science performance skills. All these and many other efforts resulted into improved service delivery and better outputs including the UCE pass rate improving to 44% compared to the previous year’s 39%.
BTVET SUB SECTOR;
This sub sector (with 22,000 students) aims at strengthening the practical skilling aspects of the education system in business, vocational and technical training. In the period under review, Janet’s Ministry paid capitation grants for 5,372 students in the technical institutes which take O’level leavers, 39,179 in Technical Schools (which take P7 leavers), 2,907 in Community Polytechnics (they too take P7 leavers except that the schools are community founded), 3,089 in Health Training Institutions, 1,600 in UCCs and Uganda Technical Colleges (UTCs) which take A’level leavers who for some reason miss University. All this consolidates delivery of training services at the BTVET level. The ministry licensed 81 private BTVET institutions and registered 64. There was a decline compared to the previous FY where the figure was 114 and 88 respectively. Under the Arab/OPEC Fund projects, the BTVET sub sector further benefited via the 4 technical institutes that were reconstructed on top of having their training workshops re-equipped with modern facilities. These are Kayunga district’s Ahmed Seguya Memorial Technical Institute, Tororo TI, Agago’s Kalongo TI and Kibatsi TI in Ntungamo. Works at the first 3 are fully completed and handed over yet 10% remains undone at Kibatsi. Each of these TIs has been boosted with a dormitory block, Principal’s House, Netball/Volleyball pitch, Main administration block, a borehole, toilet facilities, a Twin workshop block, murram access routes, textbooks, computers and workshop equipment. Similar works are being done (with completion levels of 35%-90%) at five (5) other TIs namely Bamunanika (in Luwero), Kiruhura, Bukooli (in Bugiri), UTC Bushenyi and Uganda College of Commerce Aduku in Apac district. At Aduku two large blocks (each 3-storied) are 90% completed under this BTVET intervention. There was also improvement in the Uganda National Medical Examination Board (UNMEB) exams than in the previous year resulting into more candidates (basically lower level health workers) qualifying to get their certificates and diplomas. The number of UNMEB candidates also increased from past year’s 67,333 to FY2017/18’s 73,420. UBTEB, which examines vocational and technical skills, was supported to digitalize its examination management processes as its online Examinations Information Management System (EIMS) was enhanced. Industrial training programs were supported and funded with Shs1.6bn for paying living out allowances for 3,751 NTC students (on teaching practice) & 120 students in Health Tutors’ Colleges as well as 200 Abilonino NTC students. To strengthen the ECD program, 1,336 caregivers were licensed to operate in 13 districts under 13 ECD teacher training institutions. As part of preparations to boost infrastructure, technical designs have since been drawn to prepare for construction works at the NTCs of Kaliro, Muni, Kabale and Mubende.
SPORTS SUB SECTOR;
Sports too wasn’t ignored. Using her privileged position of First Lady, Janet also lobbied for some additional (almost emergency) funding to facilitate Uganda’s 70 athletes’ participation in the 21st Commonwealth Games in Gold Coast Australia. The result was that Uganda performed exceptionally well & bagged 3 gold medals, 1 silver and the other 2 bronze. Still related to sports, the Ministry carried on with civil works on the much awaited National High Altitude Training Center in Teryet Kapchorwa district meant to facilitate athletes’ training for future international competitions.
UNIVERSITY SUB SECTOR;
In period under review, the sub sector registered growth in enrollment whereby a total of 48,164 (freshers/first years) students were admitted in the 6 public Universities in just one intake. 52% of them were males. The student loan scheme (supporting those with no money for campus) continued to grow and the number of beneficiaries rose to 1,448 compared to the previous FY’s 1,325. This reflects growth of 9%. Under the other scholarship scheme for students who get selected to go pursue University education abroad under student exchange programs, the ministry provided adequate top up allowances for 275 students (45 in China, 42 in India, 10 in Turkey, 30 in Egypt, 7 in Cuba & 165 in Algeria). All this support is aimed at making Ugandan children’s access to tertiary education more affordable. Under the HEST program that is funded by AfDB, the Ministry completed construction of gigantic structures at 8 public Universities in the same FY2017/18. Works had started earlier, dragged on for an eternity and it’s the current MoES leadership that expedited the process to complete. Higher Education Science & Technology (HEST) is aimed at improving and strengthening research and teaching of science and technology disciplines at the 8 benefiting public Universities. HEST is the project which has delivered all the latest new infrastructure at Makerere main campus (for those who have been there lately) and the Kabanyolo agricultural research center near Gayaza. The same HEST intervention is the reason Kyambogo now looks a real University campus. The same project has delivered the towering new building at UMI along Jinja Road (for those who have lately passed there). The same goes for Mubs, Busitema, Must, Gulu & Muni Universities. We shall subsequently carry a separate article profiling & quantifying the transformation HEST has had at the 8 public Universities. There is also another intervention (aimed at increasing community participation) that was delivered to completion at 5 public universities. These are Mubs for which an Innovation Lab was constructed; KYU for which a Bakery was constructed; Gulu for which a cassava processing plant was established and Busitema for which a technologies & business innovations workshop was established. At MUST the “Forest Gorilla Trekking & lodging camp & ethno botanic garden” was established under this intervention. Makerere was able to leverage on its Food Technology Incubators to support community groups involved in fruits and vegetable processing. Application of and reliance on ICT-enabled approaches was deepened at Busitema, Mubs, Kabale & Makerere Universities where an open digital repository (to improve publications), online students registration, e-library system & digitalization of 39 course units was respectively accomplished/established to improve service delivery.
PRE-PRIMARY SUB SECTOR;
This covers the Early Childhood Development (ECD) component which our children undergo before joining P1. To strengthen this aspect, the Janet leadership has facilitated training of 1,000 specialists/caregivers in community childcare. For piloting purposes, a few selected districts have been covered and more will be reached. The ministry structure has also offered support supervision (basically verification of processes) to ensure college tutors are well aligned to train these caregivers at the different ECD centers. Advocacy activities have been financed and undertaken to popularize ECD while creating awareness about GoU legal and policy frameworks regulating implementation of pre-primary school training activities. Stakeholders have been inducted on the importance of mainstreaming ECD/Pre-primary activities in the already existing primary schools. Seven districts have been covered including Lyantonde, Kyankwanzi, Kumi, Kalungu, Kabale and Bugiri. The overall objective is to impact on the quality of training and learning our children eventually get from our school/education system between the inception stage and University. Support supervision (basically verificational) has been offered covering 116 primary schools in 8 districts during the FY2017/18. The ministry also spent Shs9.85bn paying UNEB fees to enable UPE 646,190 candidates register for PLE. Of these, 927 were learners with special needs (the blind, physically handicapped etc). Learning materials were supplied to facilitate learning in all government-aided schools including 318,131 Integrated Science Pupils textbooks and 318,131 SST textbooks for P4 pupils. This brought the Pupil textbook ratio to 5:1-meaning there is one textbook for every 5 pupils symbolizing great improvement. Yet that isn’t all. Significant money was invested in procuring relevant materials to strengthen learning & fluency in reading in at least 8 local languages (Aringa, Ateso, Madi, Kupsapiiny, Lugungu, Lugbrati, Pokot & Leblango). This and other interventions (aimed at improving learner experiences) haven’t been in vain as there are now more P1-P3 pupils that can read 20 words per. At least 8% of the pupils in all public schools at that level can now fluently read 20 words per minute. In period under review, more children passed PLE (91%) compared to FY2016/17’s 87%. Significant efforts have also been undertaken through the Early Grade Reading (EGR) intervention impacting on 98 districts where 11,700 teachers have been inducted to acquire EGR competences.
CORPORATE GOVERNANCE;
In the secondary sub sector, corporate governance was strengthened when the new ministry leadership appointed 411 Boards of Governors for 411 government-aided schools where a leadership vacuum existed after the old Boards’ mandate expired and new ones weren’t appointed. It ought to be clarified that whereas for government-aided primary schools, the head teacher and his subordinates are supervised by the School Management Committee (SMC), for secondary level it’s the BoGs on which both GoU and the foundation body are represented. Corporate governance requires that these apex level organs set policy for the schools and supervise the management (the head teacher & co) which implements policies set for the daily running of the school. To further strengthen corporate governance and compliance to best management practices, the Janet ministry offered support supervision (basically verification) to 80 USE schools, 10 non-USE but government-owned schools, 212 private schools where USE is implemented. There are some post-primary education institutions at which solar power systems were installed years back but they had ceased to properly function because of neglect. The ministry in the FY2017/18 invested in maintenance and restoration of solar systems’ functionality on at least 560 such institutions. Gender concerns (which are often imposed by international obligations) too have been addressed. Among the many gender-related interventions, more than 1,000 senior female teachers were retrained in the period under review and students at over 625 schools received training to deepen their appreciation of gender equality. Significant time and resources were also invested in leadership training including the 5,700 schools leaders that were inducted on how to mitigate against gender-based violence in the school setting. Accountability (which is one of the tenets of corporate governance) hasn’t been overlooked either. In the period under review, 985 head teachers, BoGs and SMCs members were trained on the importance of transparency and accountable leadership of the schools. Consensus at the review meeting was that much more progress would have been made in FY2017/18 if it were not for the challenges (like community indifference, high private school teacher attrition rate, inadequately resourced LGs & inadequate infrastructure keeping student classroom ratio so high) that continue constraining work. For comments, reach us on 0703164755.
