Traditional giant schools risk losing govt support

Government-aided schools, including those long-established for their academic and social prestige, will soon lose government funding if they opt not to provide free education.

This is one of a raft of reforms awaiting Cabinet approval after the Education Review Commission collated proposals from a vast array of stakeholders. The Commission was tasked to conduct a rapid assessment of the current education system by interfacing with citizens and undertake an in-depth analysis of the 1992 Education Policy. The net result of the analysis is to make recommendations to inform a new Government White Paper on Education for Cabinet consideration.

Education minister Janet Kataha Museveni formed the Commission in 2021, with sources in her ministry telling this newspaper that the government is not satisfied with the state of affairs in the sector. Key among them is the fact that it invests a lot of money in the government-aided schools, which are run by foundational bodies, yet they continue charging schools fees at astronomical amounts.

“Government is investing a lot of money in these foundational body schools, but when it comes to implementing the policies and regulations set by the government, the schools shun away,” our source divulged, adding, “These are also charging a lot of money for the things which are covered by the government.”

Our sources added that since the government pays salaries for at least 80 percent of teachers in the said traditional schools—as well as gives them study materials and money for infrastructure development—it expects them in return to make school fees affordable for parents.

One source cited King’s College Budo where the government is said to be paying 52 of their 82 teachers. The government also gives the school study materials and infrastructure development funds.

“The school is paying only 10 teachers and feeding the children. Why should they tell parents to pay a lot of money to cater for the salaries of teachers who are paid by the government? Why should they exploit parents?” our source said.

Owing to this, a number of people the Commission consulted opined that schools should either start providing free education like it is in the Universal Secondary Education (USE) schools or become entirely private schools. This, they proceeded to note, will see the government divert the money it has been investing in schools like Budo to its USE schools to improve quality.

This is not the first time Ugandans are complaining about exorbitant fees charged by top traditional schools that benefit from government funding. Proprietors of private schools have on several occasions attacked the government for going for small fish (private schools) charging high school fees and leaving traditional schools it funds. In fact, Mr Hasadu Kirabira—the chairperson of National Private Education Institutions—said the government should start regulating school fees in the government-aided schools before going after private schools.

The Commission also heard about views on how to regulate school fees in private schools. The government has on several occasions locked horns with the proprietors of the private schools who have continuously charged high school fees, citing high cost of living. One of the recommendations revolves around the Education minister being handed powers to regulate the way private schools are run, including the mechanics of setting school fees. It remains to be seen how this will materialise, especially since Uganda’s economy was liberalised.

Another recommendation is around scrapping Primary Leaving Examinations (PLE), which are conducted by the Uganda National Examination Board (Uneb) at the end of primary education cycle. Whereas Uneb protested this proposal of scrapping PLE, many educationists think that PLE is useless since it is not among the documents required when applying for formal jobs.  The public instead proposed a continuous assessment where the government should just consider performance of learners from Primary One to Primary Seven and promote them to Senior One based on their performance from the continuous assessment.

Twaweza Uganda, a civil society group advancing citizens’ agency role and government’s responsiveness, and which has conducted multiple researches on education in East Africa, proposed that primary education in Uganda be reduced from seven to six years. The organisation in a previous investigation found that upper primary pupils could not read or work out assignments for lower classes, leading to target quality not just quantity under Universal Primary Education (UPE) scheme introduced in 1997.

While some people have joined Twaweza in proposing that the years of primary education reduced from seven to six, others wanted them increased from seven to eight years as is the case in Kenya.

Other notable proposals are around banning boarding section for early learners. Dr Gorreti Nakabugo, the Uwezo executive director, said children should only be taken to the boarding section in mid primary when they can ably take care of themselves. Vocationalising the education system, paying teachers equal salaries irrespective of whether they teach arts or sciences, and increasing funding for universities are other proposals that caught the eye.  While meeting the Catholic community last year, the Education Review Commission Chairman, Mr Amanya Mushega, said they had compiled a range of views from various stakeholders including Muslim and Anglican leaders.

The public presentations will be collated and synthesised to generate a Government White Paper as a basis for discussion on what needs to change, and how, with Uganda’s formal education.

The Commission has so far met foundation bodies that own schools across the country (Catholic, Anglican and Muslims), educationists, Uganda Manufacturers Association(UMA), National Planning Authority (NPA), Ministry of Education, National Council for Higher Education (NCHE), among others.

The Commission is slated to conclude the exercise of public hearing and report writing by June. It is, however, yet to meet teachers, parents’ learners and members of Parliament on the education committee. Despite years of public clamour for substantive reforms, including calls to scale back theoretical learning, the government has been able to make incremental tweaks to the curriculum. Critics have said such changes do not go far enough to place the country on a path to practical skill development across different tiers of education. Daily Monitor understands that the Cabinet has the right to reject some of the proposals and recommendations that will be entailed in the report. It can also amend or approve all of them.

Dr Denis Mugimba, the spokesperson of the Commission and Education ministry, said they have not yet closed receiving the views and proposals from the public.

“The Education Policy Review Commission is still collecting input from the public and, until then, we cannot be able to comment about anything,” Dr Mugimba said.

The Proposals likely to form the white paper

1. All government-aided schools (Budo, Gayaza, St Henry’s Kitovu etc.) become universal secondary schools and provide free education or government stops funding them and concentrate on USE schools

2. Scrap PLE examinations.

3. Increase capitation grant for government schools.

4. Make Makerere University a research-led university by stopping admitting undergraduate students and admitting post graduate students only.

5. Government should start sponsoring postgraduate students (PhD).

6. Give study loans to rich students who can pay back as opposed to giving them to the poor who have failed to pay back.

7. Scrap 4,000 government scholarships given to bright students by the government.

8. Make primary and secondary education universal and compulsory.

9. Criminalise parents who refuse to take children to at least primary and secondary education.

10. Vocationalisation of education

11. Make pre-primary education (nursery) universal and compulsory.

12. Make Christian religious education compulsory in church-founded bodies.

13. Increase research funds given to higher institutions of learning.

14. Automatic promotion of teachers who upgrade their studies.

15. Reduce primary schools’ years from seven to six.

16. Increase primary schools’ years from seven to eight.

17. Make curriculum flexible to be changed and adjusted anytime.

18. Government to pay tuition for teachers in both private and government institutions.

19. Pay teachers equal salaries irrespective whether they are teaching arts or sciences.

20. Standardise curriculum for pre-primary education (Nursery).

21. Regulate schools’ fees in private and government-aided schools charging exorbitant fees.

22. Promote primary schools’ pupils to Senior One based on continuous assessment, not PLE.

23. Funding education should be through loans.

24. Change assessment at all levels to continuous assessment.

25. Education should start at Pre-primary not at Primary One.

26. Introduce TVET systems to run alongside normal education system.

27. Ban boarding for early age.

28. Regulate religion in schools.

29. Reduce years in schools.

30. Ban pre-entry examinations.

31. Strip Ministry of Education officials from owning schools.

32. Streamline local languages to be taught in schools.

33. Reduce subjects offered by all learners and set professional standards for teachers.

34. Teaching of French, Arabic and Swahili be incorporated in the curriculum.

35. Reduce the years one spends at schools from 19 years to 12.

36. Retrain and skill all teachers at all levels.

37. Regionalise universities where each is specialised and teaches its own courses to avoid duplication and wastage of resources.

38. Introduce vocational education in primary schools.

39. Kyambogo called for pre-entry examinations for teachers to guarantee their quality.

40. Scrap teacher’s education in universities and form a body that will be teaching teachers.