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UTC Lira struggles to operate amid funding cuts
Some of the new vehicles and earth-moving equipment at Uganda Technical College Lira. PHOTO/PATRICK EBONG
What you need to know:
- Out of 320 students enrolled at the college, 150 were admitted under a government-sponsored programme in February 2022. But since then, the government has not released any money to the college to sponsor their education, feeding, and other school activities, according to Mr Akunubere.
The administration of Uganda Technical College (UTC) is facing several challenges in running the government institution due to funding cuts. This public institution in Lira City used to receive between Shs200m and Shs215m each financial quarter, according to the principal, Mr Jacob Akunubere.
“After the Covid-19 pandemic, the government reduced funding to between Shs40m and Shs90m, which has greatly affected our operations,” he said in an interview last Tuesday.
“We have 320 students on government sponsorship who are supposed to be fed, get industrial training allowances and money for real-life projects. So, when it comes in such small quantities, you fail on how to appropriate it,” he added.
He further said sometimes the money is not enough for the whole quarter and yet the school must operate.
“As a college, we have been mainly surviving on local collections from students which you find that even the incomes of parents themselves were affected greatly by Covid-19. So payment of fees is also becoming a big problem with a high number of defaulters,” Mr Akunubere said.
He further disclosed that the institution is still operating in a format that was introduced by the government after the Covid-19 outbreak and eventual lockdown.
Effects of Covid-19
“A normal semester is supposed to be 17 weeks but we are operating under a format introduced during Covid-19 where students study in shifts for about 12–14 weeks before letting in another group,” he said.
Nonetheless, he said the Covid-19 study format will end with the current lot of students sitting for their final exams soon and that UTC Lira will return to normal operation during the August intake.
“We are happy that we are coming out of it. Come August, there shall be normal admission and normal enrollment and the number of our students will increase,” Mr Akunubere said.
He added that since the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic, their staff did not have any rest or leave because they were constantly engaged in teaching the two groups of students who studied shifts. He said the pandemic also affected their suppliers because some of their businesses collapsed since their capital dwindled.
The college has also, for the last two years, been depending on the money paid by private students to cater to those being sponsored by the government after the state failed to meet its obligation.
Out of 320 students enrolled at the college, 150 were admitted under a government-sponsored programme in February 2022. But since then, the government has not released any money to the college to sponsor their education, feeding, and other school activities, according to Mr Akunubere.
