Education budget to be slashed

Education Minister Janet Museveni yesterday told lawmakers that the election-year budget will shrink because some donor-funded project will be exiting.

Ms Museveni and her team were appearing before the House Education committee to provide the half-year performance report and present the budget requirements for Financial Year 2020/2021.

“The Education allocation is projected to be Shs3.286 trillion, reducing by Shs111.17 billion from Shs3.397 trillion. The reduction is on account of the donor-funded projects that are expected to exit the public investment plan upon conclusion,” Ms Museveni said.

The donors have been supporting the implementation of skilling Uganda, Albertine regional sustainable development, Uganda Teacher and school effectiveness and higher education, science and technology projects.

The education minister, who also doubles as the First Lady, was, however, concerned that the share of the national budget to her sector has continued to reduce which will affect the provision of quality education in the country.

“The sector’s share of the national budget is reducing from 10.4 per cent to 9 per cent in 2020/2021 against an increased population of learners each year. This ceiling in allocated resources constitutes a strain in the provision of quality education,” Ms Museveni said.
In her report, of Shs3.397 trillion approved for 2019/2020 budget, they have so far received Shs918 billion for the past half financial year.

These figures are contained in the Budget Framework Paper (BFP), a blueprint containing indicative figures for the various sectors of the economy.
However, the committee chairperson, Mr Jacob Opolot, said the ministry has been able to spend 17 per cent of the released funds.

“The release is less than a fifth of your budget. But even what was released, you have spent 52 per cent. Money is being returned every financial year. What is happening to the consumption of the releases?” Mr Opolot asked.

Ms Museveni warned that if their current budget is not increased, they will not be able to carry out some activities to transform the sector.
She cited implementation of the new lower secondary curriculum, operationalisation of the teacher policy and technical and vocational education training as some of the unfunded priorities in the budget.

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