Candidates’ promises to revamp education keep voters guessing

In the third instalment of our continuing series, Manifesto Digest, Elizabeth Kamurungi and Patience Ahimbisibwe examine the critical issues afflicting the education sector and scrutinise the policy prescriptions by the 11 candidates to reboot the system.

The winner of the 2021 vote, whose new government will be ushered in next May, will find an education sector in-tray brimming with problems; some new, others as old as the line ministry.

If not the handicap of a curriculum fit for the past, it will be a downward spiral in the quality of teaching and learning due to an increased enrolment unmatched with infrastructure upgrade or manpower.

In the end, as organisations such as Uwezo Uganda have reported, there is a beehive activity of bodies at schools, but much less of knowledge transfer by teachers or skills’ gain by learners, particularly under the universal education programme.

In private schools where quality is better, prohibitive tuition means only the wealthy can literally buy a better future for their children, reproducing their own class, which illuminates the ravage that income inequality creates in the access to a social good such as education.

If the ruling National Resistance Movement (NRM) government wins a re-election, after 34 years in-charge, its 2021-2026 tenure will offer it the best chance to redeem by fixing these myriad problems, but only if it can govern differently and better.

Otherwise, there is a risk the situation could be exacerbated. Uganda’s former spymaster, Gen David Sejusa, yesterday tweeted about what he called “confusion” in the education sector, citing the opaqueness about reopening of schools shut over Covid-19, as “microcosm” of broader state malaise under NRM stewardship.

Gen Sejusa has more than once fallen out of favour with this government, and his suspect return from exile in the UK, upon which he held an unexpected meeting with President Museveni at State House Entebbe, gives basis to treat his outbursts with caution.

Yet, the criticism that he renders dovetails with how other presidential contenders assail the ruling party’s service delivery record, and now more intensely, on the campaign trail.  

There appears a uniformity in the policy proposal by the 11 candidates that teachers deserve better pay, pupils catch a meal at school, girls be offered sanitary pads and instructional material be improved, and the widening gap between private and public education be bridged.

Other cross-cutting pledges include emphasis on vocational education, improving infrastructure and embracing technology in knowledge delivery.

The discourse about leveraging the power of technology and internet to deliver virtual education coincides with government’s failure, despite multiple promises, to continue teaching and learning remotely during the pandemic.

The governance programme proposed by the flag bearers, however, offers limited details on resourcing implementation of the blueprint, handicapping determination of whether the remedial promises are feasible.

Literacy rate
The NRM proudly wears a badge of honour for introducing universal primary and secondary education, which increased enrolment and literacy rates.

According to the National Household survey of 2016/17, the population of Ugandans aged 10 years and above, who can ably read and write in any language, stands at 74 per cent.

But inadequate capitation grants, scholastic materials, teacher absenteeism and poor remuneration plus no meals for students have crippled completion rates and turned a credit in one column of the education sector balance sheet into a deficit in another column.

A 2014 United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (Unesco) study titled, ‘The use and usefulness of school grants; Lessons from Uganda,’ reported that the UPE grants were insufficient.

To attain the desired quality for the UPE, the government requires to raise its expenditure per pupil to Shs60,000, up from the current Shs10,000, the National Planning Authority (NPA) recommends in its comprehensive evaluation of the 2018 UPE Policy.

This computation excluded cost of meals for pupils, a pledge that the NRM is embracing after years of resisting the idea.  

Education minister Janet Museveni previously tasked parents to shoulder the responsibility of feeding their children by packing lunch for them.

“We are going to introduce the school feeding programme,” the NRM notes in its manifesto, without explaining the reason for such a major policy switch.

With the Education ministry’s budget slashed down this year by Shs111 billion, the ruling party will have to scratch hard, and likely encroach on other budgets, to make good its free food-for-pupils promise.  

These new pledges add to unfulfilled ones from previous campaigns such as the provision of sanitary towels to girls that Mr Museveni made during campaigns for 2016 ballot. 

Similarly, other promises by the President that have remained wet in the wings include provision of 10 million radio sets to households and more than 100,000 solar-powered television sets to villages for mass broadcast of educational programmes and compensate for teaching time lost since Covid-19 struck and children were hurried home.

As the NRM basks in its achievements of providing free education, a feat that other candidates pledge to improve, the challenge of warehousing children to perform well in examination rather than attain applicable skills, downgrades quality of learners as   NPA noted in 2018.

In their manifestos, Ms Nancy Kalembe, the only female in the crowded presidential race, Maj Gen Muntu Mugisha of the Alliance for National Transformation (ANT) party and Independent candidate Joseph Kabuleta believe that the education sector needs an injection of fresh ideas.

They want brakes on the commercialisation of education in the country through tighter regulation because, as Uwezo Uganda pointed out in its 2019 report titled,  ‘Are our children learning?’ that children attending community, government and private schools continue to have large differences in learning outcomes.

For instance, when P3-7 pupils were tested on P2 English language reading, pupils studying at private schools were found to be twice as more competent than their counterparts at community and government schools.

“My government will reduce the over-commercialisation of education …[and] support private educators with input grants, free learning materials and technology as well as tax review for educators,” the manifesto of Mr Kabuleta, whose main theme is financial liberation of Ugandans, reads in part.

Mr Robert Kyagulanyi, aka Bobi Wine, of the National Unity Platform promises to provide sanitary towels to school-going girls, reigniting an unfilled 2015 campaign pledge that boxed President Museveni and his wife, the Education minister, when both backtracked on the pledge.

Plans for higher education
A number of the presidential flag bearers commit to popularise technical education alongside university education. 

The Forum for Democratic Change (FDC) party, just like the NRM, promises to build a technical and vocational college in each district for hands-on skilling to reduce unemployment.

With no figures on cost, and not information about source of funding, it is difficult to assess the impact of such development on financing to other key sectors or re-allocation of the education budget priorities.

Besides the intake of about 4,000 students each year to study at public universities on government sponsorship, the NRM introduced a loan scheme to enable brilliant but financially challenged students to fund higher education.  In addition, President Museveni established a State House scholarship for which eligibility criteria remains opaque yet it is unclear if another winner of the presidential vote would abolish the impugned scheme.

FDC proposes to make internship and apprenticeship compulsory for youth through a one-to-two years programmes to skill students and induct young graduates to the world of work.

Whereas Mr Kabuleta proposes to fix employers’ concerns about ‘half-baked’ graduates by offering industry-focused training, Democratic Party’s Nobert Mao hopes to introduce teaching career development at primary and secondary levels to make sure that interest and talents in the specific areas are detected and nurtured early. 

The question of policy prescription about the education sector is critical as it determines the quality of the country’s future human resource and inevitably affects all households. 

Covid-19 has helped to illuminate the handicaps. Whereas the government appears to have envisioned beforehand the necessity of Internet usage for multiple deliverables, and built a purpose-tailored Fibre-Optic National Backbone Infrastructure to connect different parts of the country virtually to one another, and link the country to the international information highways, it was surprisingly caught flat-footed when it came to delivery education online.

There is as of yet no official explanation why Uganda is stuck while it has in place a $100 million-plus infrastructure.   

It is a problem that other presidential candidates will encounter, and have to fix, if they win the ballot and aim to fast-track e-learning.

In addition, other likely hamstrings limited electricity access to 75 per cent of the household that live in rural areas, according to the 2020 Uganda Bureau of Statistics report.

What the candidates say...

Ms Nancy Kalembe
“The only thing the Ugandan education system should be pushing unrelentingly is the spirit of excellence… We will strongly support the teaching of financial literacy from an early age through faith-based avenues, in homes and in early primary curriculum … [and] establish regional universities affiliated to Makerere University and regulate private universities.”
 
President Museveni
“The NRM government will continue implementing measures aimed at improving the quality of education and addressing the factors causing pupils/students to drop out of school. Specifically, besides the continued provision of adequate inputs, the government will focus on school-level support supervision, active parental participation …and granting autonomy to schools...” - Extracted from manifesto.
 
Mr Patrick Amuriat
“Invest in the education sector to focus on technical education, apprenticeships, and excellence…provide free sanitary pads for all girls in UPE and USE schools and build and equip secondary schools in every parish  [as well as] make schools attractive by providing food, reducing congestion and increasing learning materials and provide extra-curriculum activities.” - Extracted from manifesto.
 
Mr Robert Kyagulanyi, aka Bobi Wine
“The National Unity Platform will endeavour to increase the number of home learning centres. The community-based system involves parents in their children’s education, empowers them to create literate homes and respects their linguistic and cultural diversity. It also allows children to be educated in their neighbourhoods without the need for long travelling times.” - Extracted from manifesto.
 
Mr Mugisha Muntu
“There is this wrong view that someone who is good in academic subjects is the only form of intelligence, but there are others who are talented in different ways but this is not recognised. Many (people) who could have become stars are lost along the way. Technical training must also be integrated into the system. The biggest problem we have is lack of discipline and leadership...”
 
Mr Joseph Kabuleta
“My pledge is for a basic, secondary and tertiary education system that addresses our unique needs as a country with one of the youngest populations in the world and one of the most robust entrepreneurial cultures. My government will ensure that our education addresses the skilling needs of our economy while improving the learning environment for learners, parents and teachers...”
 
Mr Arthur Katabalwa, Spokesperson for candidate Henry Tumukunde
“We have a near national scandal unfolding, there are districts where pupils leave UPE schools illiterate…We will look at the disparity in primary education which is the foundation. Students should go to schools where there are teachers, who are actually teaching, and teaching relevant subjects, especially in higher institutions of learning.”
 
Mr John Katumba
“Parents would be able to save money in form of transport, instead of moving long distances, searching for public universities.” – Extracted from New Vision story.
 
Mr Nobert Mao
“Create a vocational sector start-up fund for vocational students who excel in their studies and generate innovative business ideas after completion of their studies. This will help to create a new generation of entrepreneurs through our education system, as well as promote vocational education in Uganda.” - Extracted from Manifesto
 
Mr Willy Mayambala
“The first thing I will do is to scrap UPE and USE and only offer half bursaries because parents can afford to raise the half. I will instead offer free tertiary and university education because this is what parents cannot afford. Parents will struggle hard to ensure that their children go through the lower levels because they know the rest is free. We will also offer all scholastic materials and decent accommodation for teachers.”
 
Mr Fred Mwesigye
“We will ensure to facilitate schools and teachers better because we need them to build the citizens we need. The funds sent to facilitate schools should reach the students they are intended to benefit. We will renovate and put up new structures because some of the students study under trees which is inconvenient for their education. We will also put in place a team to follow up students who drop out of university due to financial challenges and streamline the loan scheme to help them.”
 

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