Uganda’s education sector struggles with funding gaps, officials warn
Pupils of St Mary’s Kiryowa Primary School in Buikwe District being served porridge during break time on April 11, 2019. PHOTO | DENIS EDEMA
What you need to know:
- Experts warned that the growing student population is outpacing funding increases.
Uganda’s education, sports, and skills development sector remains underfunded, limiting efforts to improve human capital development, a senior education official has warned.
Vincent Ssozi, Assistant Commissioner for Statistics, Monitoring, and Evaluation at the Ministry of Education, highlighted infrastructure shortages, teacher salary gaps, and overcrowded schools as major challenges caused by inadequate funding.
“The sub-programme continues to grapple with inadequate infrastructure such as teachers’ houses and classrooms, leading to congestion in education institutions,” Ssozi said during a sector review meeting in Kampala on Tuesday.
He also noted that there was insufficient funding for teacher wages, making it difficult to meet staffing requirements.
Declining Budget share for education
Uganda allocated Shs4.44 trillion ($1.15 billion) to education, sports, and skills development in the 2023/2024 financial year, accounting for 8.42% of the national budget.
While this represents a Shs 322 billion ($83.5 million) increase from the previous year, its share of the total budget declined from 11.2% to 8.42%, indicating shifting government priorities.
“The comparison reflects an increase in absolute terms, but the sub-programme's percentage share in the national budget decreased by 2.78% due to adjustments in national budget priorities,” Ssozi explained.
During the 2023/2024 financial year, the government allocated:
Shs2.53 trillion ($655 million) for wages (57.04% of the sector’s budget).
A supplementary budget of Shs216.51 billion ($56 million), including funds for wages, non-wage expenditures, and development projects.
However, the Ministry of Education itself only managed to utilize 86.36% of its wage budget, partly due to cash limit transfers meant to address outstanding financial commitments.
Experts at the review meeting warned that the growing student population is outpacing funding increases.
Naume Muhwezi, a senior official, urged the government to explore local revenue generation to support education, stressing that current funding levels are insufficient.
“Almost 15 million children are in school, with 10 million in primary school alone, and the number keeps increasing,” she said.
“While the government is funding the sector, it’s not enough. The minimum should be 15% of the national budget, yet it has declined from 10% to 8%, then 7%, and now 6%.”
Calls for curriculum reforms
Leila Ssali, a Senior Economist at the Ministry of Gender, emphasized the need to align university programs with Uganda’s new competence-based curriculum to ensure graduates acquire relevant skills.
In response, Ssozi revealed that the Ministry of Education and the National Council for Higher Education have begun engaging universities on curriculum reform.
“By the time this cohort, now in Senior Five, reaches university, there must have been a review of the methods of delivery and assessment in universities and tertiary institutions,” he said.
Despite these discussions, the sector’s future remains uncertain as officials continue to push for increased funding.
