Governance and Reform of Uganda’s Primary Education System: Beyond

Universalization
Dr. Adrian Mwesigye
Mbarara University of Science and Technology
Mr. Zaidi Kitagaana
Kampala University
A paper presented at The High Level Dialogue on the Reform of Uganda’s
Education System
Theme: Building New Pathways to Prosperity through a Transformed National
Education System.
Abstract

In the management and development of primary education in Uganda, there were a

number of challenges that require strategic change and institutional reform. As a
background, this chapter examines a brief history of primary education in Uganda. A
point to reiterate is the fact that there is hardly any force in society stronger than the
power of education (Di Leo, 2007). Ignorance can be reduced by education, and this is
what the missionaries, the precursors of formal education in Uganda, tried to do
(Ssekamwa, 1984). A landmark was the Castle Education Commission Report (1963)
which placed administration of schools in the hands of government and advocated for
democratization of education. However, primary education could not solve societal
problems. The purpose of this chapter is to investigate challenges of primary education in
Uganda today and then suggest some solutions. There is politicization of primary
education in Uganda to the extent that politicians have taken center-stage in policy
formulation and monitoring of funds (Grogen, 2008). The Universal Primary Education
project has been supervised by Resident District Commissioners who may not necessarily
be educationists. The chapter suggests employment of technical personnel in policy
formulation, review, monitoring and evaluation. Another pertinent issue is the attrition
rate at primary level. Of the pupils who enrolled in primary one in 1997, only 22%
completed primary seven. It is hereby recommended that government puts in place
measures to effect universal primary completion. Primary education should be free and
compulsory. The quality of education in Uganda has remained low: because of the high
pupil to teacher ratio and low teachers’ morale among other things. In that respect,
government should put in place enough facilities, and salaries of all public servants
should be reviewed to ensure regular and fair pay. Corruption is a big challenge in
Uganda and funds allotted for running primary education are embezzled (Grogan 2008).
Government should hold all civil servants involved accountable at all levels. Whereas
there is UPE, a number of parents cannot afford it because of poverty. Government
should intensify campaigns to increase household incomes and transform society from a
peasantry economy to a middle class economy. One of the major challenges in Uganda is
lack of an apt curriculum to make the product self-reliant at the end of schooling. This

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chapter suggests 8 years of primary education and reintroduction of practical and skill-
based education. In implementing the reforms, all members of society should play their
part so as to make sure that all Uganda children are educated.

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Introduction
The development of any country is directly proportional to the level of
development of its education system (Hanushek, 1997). A lot depends on how much
attention the country pays to education. The major purpose of education is to educate all
citizens and give everyone adequate opportunity to succeed in life (Hanushek, 1997). It is
important to note that that through knowledge and skills, all individuals can achieve
greatness (Mazurek, Winzer & Majorek, 2000). It is generally agreed that the more
knowledge and skills a person acquires, the better are the chances of achieving informed
mobility (Rost, 1993). There is hardly any factor in society that is as formidable as
education. Aristotle, in reference to society, once said that the educated differ from the
uneducated, as much as the living differ from the dead (Di Leo, 2007). Education deals
with knowledge that is recognizably worthwhile and capable of achieving a voluntary and
committed response and it leads to knew mental perspectives (Farrant, 1980). Arguably,
investment in education benefits the individual, society and the world as a whole. For the
individuals and nations, education is a key to the development of dynamic, globally
competitive economies. It is also fundamental for the construction of democratic societies
(Juuko & Kabonesa, 2007). Farrant (1980) opines that education is society’s cultural
reproductive system by which society reproduces itself, through passing on its main
characteristics to the next generation.

The importance of primary education in Uganda cannot be underscored.

Moreover, since a big number of pupils in Uganda drop out of school at this stage,
primary school education is the only basic education that such Ugandans can, in most
cases, ever be exposed to. Basic education means the minimum package of learning,
which every individual must receive to live as a good and useful citizen in society
(Education Policy Review Commission Report, 1989). Besides it being foundational to
post-primary education, primary education plays a major role in the acquisition of
functional literacy, numeracy, communication skills and a number of other skills that are
important for social development. Furthermore, primary education helps the children to
gain and maintain sound mental and physical health. It is also helpful as it instills values
of living and working cooperatively with others, and ensures cultural, moral and spiritual
values of life.
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Governance of Primary Education in Uganda

Brief history

It should be noted that school education was introduced in Uganda by

missionaries from Europe in the late nineteenth century, mainly by the Church
Missionary Society, the White Fathers, the Mill Hill Fathers, and the Comboni
Missionaries (Aguti, 2002; Ssekamwa, 1994). They first educated the sons and daughters
of chiefs, who would later work as clerks and other civil servants. Whereas, Aguti (2002)
insinuates that the purpose of those missionaries was not to educate all, but for children
of chiefs, the Education Policy Review Commission Report (1989), in contradistinction,
shows that there were some mission schools which provided equal opportunity to
children from all quarters of society. This point is stressed by Ssekamwa, (1994) who
posits that in an effort to eradicate illiteracy, missionaries started church schools
wherever they established a mission or in its outstations. This is further emphasized by
the Uganda Episcopal Conference Education Policy (1997), which reiterates that in
Uganda, formal school education was initiated by religious denominations to eradicate
ignorance from society.

It is those church schools that later evolved into the present church-founded
primary schools. As stressed by the Education Policy Review Report (1989), most of the
children attended small rural schools, called Church Schools, unsupported by
government. In support to the aforementioned argument, Ssekamwa (1994) notes that
“unfortunately, there was little financial support by the colonial government for the
missions in their educational work” (p. 302). However, the colonial government was not
fully detached from the financial management of the schools. The same author, in this
regard, furthermore observes that “throughout the colonial era, missionaries controlled
the system of education but governments were mainly concerned with grants to aid
running the mission schools” (p. 129).

There were efforts by the colonial government in Uganda to establish rules and
procedures of educating the Ugandans right from the missionary days. The British
Colonial Policy in 1923 advised the British colonial administrators in Uganda to provide

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education for the African child. Soon after, the American sponsored Phelps-Stokes
Commission of 1924-1925 was set up to assess the development of education in Uganda,
where the Department of Education was established under the direction of Eric Hussey
(Ssekamwa, 1994). Thereafter, better schools were built, teacher training and grading
were introduced and grants from government were formalized. However, the significant
state financing of education, according to Magara (2009), started in 1940 where the
Thomas Education Committee recommended the involvement of governments in grant-
aiding schools.

In 1937, the De La Warr Commission recommended Makerere to be developed as

a regional university college, serving the British East African territory. The interest of
government then was to get so many African workers. That was why the Binns
Commission of 1951 encouraged rapid growth of education in Uganda (Education Policy
Review Commission Report, 1989). However, that type of education was not favorable to
national development. Ssekamwa (1994) intimates that “the main aim was to produce
white-collar workers, whose pre-occupation was to seek already created jobs, instead of
creating new jobs” (p. 307). However, in 1953, the Report on African Education in
Uganda, drawn up by a committee chaired by Bernard de Bunsen, gave emphasis to
Africanization of education and the training of high level personnel needed for the
country’s economic development (Education Policy Review Commission Report, 1989).

In 1963, the Uganda Government appointed a Commission under the

chairmanship of E. B. Castle and the commission proposed the merging of primary and
junior secondary schools. At primary level, it placed emphasis, not only on quantitative
expansion, but also on quality. The Castle Commission also underlined the need for
expanding girls’ education. The government instituted another commission in 1977,
under the chairmanship of Senteza Kajubi, to review the education system in Uganda.
But, the report of the said Kajubi Commission was not published, and its
recommendations were not implemented because of the liberation war of 1978-1979.
Consequently, since independence, the structure of education in Uganda has been
according to the Castle Commission Report on Education in Uganda of 1963, with a few
policy reforms. Therefore, as Juuko and Kabonesa (2007) argue, the present structure of

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education in Uganda has been in existence since missionary days, but particularly since
1965, following the recommendation of the said Castle Education Commission Report on
Education. This reflects how outdated the system is, thus crying for revision and up-
dating.

The above assertion, notwithstanding, many Ugandans remained non-literate,

with the literacy level standing at 65% in the mid-1990s (Education Policy Review
Commission Report, 1989). With the increased need for the children to access education,
the private sector became another player around 1990s. The Four-Year Rehabilitation and
Development Plan of 1988-1991 aimed at restructuring the curriculum, restoration of
educational facilities and lay foundation to cater for the growing population.

The current trends

It is important, heretofore, to examine the factors of teacher education in Uganda,

which is mandated to prepare teachers for educating children in primary schools.
Teachers are the backbone of every education system. The training of teachers has been
complemented by continuous teacher development programs. The Ministry of Education
and Sports has reviewed the Primary Teacher Education Certificate program, which now
emphasizes pedagogy to enhance teachers’ competences and deliver thematic curriculum
at lower and upper primary. Consequently, the new Primary Teacher Education
Certificate curriculum responds to the key cross-cutting issues that include HIV/AIDS,
gender, special needs education and psychosocial education.

However, the biggest concern raised by teachers is the remuneration of teachers,

an issue that will be expounded on in the section of challenges. According to the Voice of
the Teachers of June 2012, without adequate pay, no teacher, no matter how gifted,
experienced or well trained, can truly provide quality education without equitable
remuneration. According to the Education Sector Strategic Plan 2007-2015, the Uganda
Government intends to alleviate all the inefficiencies in primary teacher education. For
that purpose, the policy objectives enshrined in the plan include increasing and improving
equitable access to quality education, improving the quality and relevance of primary

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education, and improving the effectiveness and efficiency in delivery of primary
education. The Government plans to make primary education relevant by ensuring that all
children access school, learn the basics of literacy and numeracy and life skills. The
Ministry of Education and Sports aims to make the curriculum feasible and practical.

The aforesaid notwithstanding, the fact is that since Uganda’s Independence, the
state has been in control of education system, according to the recommendations of the
Castle Report (1963). Consequently, the schools are now open to all children, regardless
of their religion and race. There has been also a steady Africanization of the educational
syllabus, and a discouragement of disunity (Ssekamwa, 1994). That has been a positive
move towards national unity.

A significant landmark in the evolution of primary education in Uganda is the

introduction of Universal Primary Education (UPE) in 1997. President Museveni
launched the UPE policy in accordance with the Government White Paper of 1992.
Under this policy, government was to provide “free” education to a maximum of four
children from each family (Aguti, 2002). This later changed: because the President
directed that all children of school going age should benefit from UPE (Olupot, 2002).
Introduction of UPE in Uganda coincided with many other countries introducing similar
projects. Grogan (2008) observes that UPE was adopted by Malawi in 1994 and by
Lesotho in 2000, and the abolition of school fees was effected in Tanzania in 2000 and in
Cameroon, Burundi, Ghana, Rwanda and Kenya concurrently in 2003.

There has been an increase in pupil enrollment since 1964 when the Uganda
Government attempted to implement the recommendations of the Castle Commission
Report (1963) which stated that girls also be accorded equal chances to education.
Furthermore, the population increased and consequently the enrollment also increased.
However, there was an exponential increase in the enrollment starting with 1994 to 2004
as illustrated in Table 1 below. It is during that period that local Governments intensified
the program of sensitizing parents to take their children to school. There was also
introduction of UPE in 1997. Correspondingly, more schools were built from 1997 to
accommodate the surging numbers of pupils (see Table 2 below).

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Table 1: Primary school enrollment from 1964 to 2012

1964 1968 1974 1978 1984 1988 1994 1998 2004 2008 2012

526 642 878 1,204 1,930 2,417 2,305 5,806 7,377 7,969 8,317

Source: EMIS 1964-2012

Table 2: Number of primary schools from 1964 to 2011

1967 1977 1987 1997 2007 2011

2551 3384 7627 8600 18583 22200

Source: EMIS 1964 - 2012

The civil service structure in Uganda has been transformed from following a
highly centralized traditional civil service model to a decentralized structure, with most
of the authority and resources being devolved to the districts. According to SACMEQ
(1995 – 2012), this provides for a more accountable and responsive provision of basic
services to the population including education. The management and provision of basic
education is now, largely, in the hands of the district administrations, while the central
government remains responsible for policy control and maintenance of standards through
control of teacher education, curriculum and examinations.

The structure of Uganda Primary Education is seven years, after which the pupil
sits for Primary Leaving Examination (PLE) for admission to lower secondary school
known as ordinary level, or to a trade school (technical or agricultural). According to
Grogan (2008), the introduction of UPE raised hope that the state was stressing education
as a top priority for securing sustainable socio-economic development. The government
has, further, developed a philosophy of education for primary education, enshrined in the
aims and objectives espoused in Education Policy Commission Review Report (1989).

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According to the Report, the specific aims and objectives of primary education in Uganda
are to enable individual children to acquire basic literacy, numeracy and communication
skills, to develop and maintain mental and physical health. Furthermore the aims and
objectives are to instill the social, cultural and spiritual values of life, to appreciate and
protect the environment, to develop a sense of patriotism so as to understand the rights
and civic matters, and to develop adequate skills for making a living.

The seven year primary education structure, however, has remained as opposed to
the eight or nine years recommended by the Education Policy Review Commission
Report (1989). As earlier said, there was devolution of power to the districts. Aguti
(2002), furthermore, contends that the governance of primary education in Uganda is still
a top-down structure initiated by the central government and implemented by local
governments and schools. The central government is represented by the Commissioner
for Pre-primary and Primary Education who is answerable to the Director of Education
(SACMEQ, 2012).

At the district level, there is a District Service Commission which is the body in
charge of managing human resource recruitment in the district. When considering
recruitment of staff by the District Service Commission, the guidelines provided by
education Service Commission are followed. The local Government coordinates with the
central government in the management of primary schools. The Ministry of Education
and Sports, in this regard, gives technical support for purposes of ensuring
implementation of national policies and adherence to performance standards. As a result,
the Ministry of Education and Sports inspects and monitors activities at the district level.
The local government does the inspection and monitoring at the school level. Besides, the
ministry assists the local government by providing technical education officers.

The law of Uganda provides that the education officers appointed to act as district
inspectors of schools and district education officers shall be under the direction of the
Director of Education. The officers perform their roles at the local level. For example, a
district inspector of schools is mandated at any time to enter into any school in the district
under his jurisdiction and inspect and provide a report to the permanent secretary or other

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relevant officers with respect to the school buildings and standard of teaching. The
inspector may order the auditing of the school accounts.

The District Council’s Standing Committee Responsible for Education is charged

with the responsibility of overseeing the role of all educational services decentralized in a
district, division or sub-county. It is supposed to make part of the comprehensive and
integrated development plan of the district. The Ministry of Education and Sports,
through the District Education Office is mandated to put in place a School Management
Committee. That committee comprises twelve members, six, including chairperson, at
least two of whom are women, are nominated by the foundation body, one local
government representative nominated by the district council standing committee
responsible for education. More members are: one representative of local council
executive committee, one person elected by sub-county or division or municipal council,
one representative of parents, one representative of staff, and one representative of former
students. The School Management Committee manages the school in accordance with the
Education Act of 2008 and is subject to regulations and directions which may be given
under the Act by the Ministry of Education and Sports on matters of general policy.

Achievements of Universal Primary Education in Uganda

In order to contextualize the issues properly, this chapter will mainly tackle the
achievements of UPE, which has been in place for about 15years. It should be realized
that the achievements of primary education in Uganda prior to UPE are also included in
the UPE achievements to be discussed.

With the advent of UPE in Uganda, there has been increased access to education
(Aguti, 2002; Grogan, 2008; National Development Plan 2010/11 – 2014/15, 2010). It is
generally noted that enrollment of primary school going children shot up from 2.5million
in 1996 to 6.8million in 2000 (Aguti, 2002) and 8.2 million in 2009 (National
Development Plan 2010/11 – 2014/15, 2010). The increase was bigger in 1996 – 2000 (4
years 4.3 million) than 2001 – 2009 (8 years, 1.4 million). The reason for the initial

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upsurge was the backlog of school age children who had not been accessing school and
were now able to do so (Aguti, 2002).

In order to accommodate the numbers of pupils, the Ministry of Education and

Sports embarked on putting up more buildings. For example, by the end of 1999, 4000
additional classrooms were constructed for primary school children while by the end of
2001, a total of 6321 had been constructed (Aguti; 2002) Since 1997, more teachers have
been trained. To reduce the pupil-teacher ratio, there were deliberate efforts to restructure
primary teacher education and to increase the number of teachers trained, retrained, and
upgraded. This was under the education and teacher development project. As a result,
between 1995 and 1999 7800 in-service teachers had trained or upgraded. Colleges and
universities intensified distance education programs designed to meet the UPE
challenges.

In the 1990s, there was a move to improve the quality of teaching in the
classroom. Although quality of teaching is still a challenge as a result of many factors,
the Ministry of Education and Sports, through Teacher Development and Management
System (TDMS) has tried to improve the quality of classroom teaching. TDMS, funded
by various sources, was developed as part of the Primary Education and Teacher
Development Project (PETDP). The overall aim was to improve teaching and learning in
Primary schools by developing a teacher education system that integrated pre-service and
in-service training approaches. In that regard, TDMS has been able to train different
categories of education staff ranging from principals of Primary Teachers’ Colleges
(PTCs) to community mobilizers. A summary of those trained by TDMS up to 2010 is
given in Table 3 below.

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Table 3: Number of people trained by TDMS

Staff category Numbers trained

Untrained teachers upgrading to Grade III 8,685
Head teachers 7,414
Principals of Core PTCs 18
Deputy Principals in core PTCs 54
Coordinating Center Tutors 539
Volunteer Community mobilizers 13,000

Source; Makau 2011 pp. 9 and 10.

TDMS has itself not matched the numbers needed for UPE, but the addition of trained
teachers that the existing PTCs would not have single handedly trained using full time
residential training, is credit to the project.

Challenges of Primary Education in Uganda and Recommendations

The main aim of this chapter is to highlight the challenges of Primary Education
in Uganda and suggest possible solutions. The aim is to contribute to the suggestions
given to policy makers to review the primary education sector for national development.
There is no nation whose development is greater than its education system. Education is
important for the provision of the public good whose returns are critical for sustained
economic growth and social transformation (National Development Plan 2010/11 –
2014/15).

Politicization of the education system

(Grogan, 2008) succinctly argues that the rapid elimination of school fees at the
primary school level was likely accelerated by the first direct elections for the president
of Uganda which took place in 1996. As a campaign strategy, President Museveni made a
promise to provide free primary schooling. An enumeration and advertising campaign
was undertaken and the new school entrants began learning within few months of the
presidential announcement. At the district level, the program was supervised by Resident
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District Commissioners (RDCs), some of whom had no technical know-how of education
issues.
A politician can be an influential person in the community. By and large, his or
her dictates and likes affect societal needs and demands. In instances where politicians
dominate policy formulation and enforce policy implementation, there is likely to be an
unplanned economic outcomes. The politician can persuade the uninformed member of
society and some of the elites to comply with government policies. Despite the resistance
the civil society may put across to protest such imbalance, the politician has a way of
quelling such resistance and silencing intellectual voices that are advocating for change.
In Uganda, a politician has become an important person, even at the Local Council 1; the
Chairperson in a village wields a lot of influence in the management of a primary school
in that village.
The solution to the above problem is proper consultation with and respect of
technocrats. Education policy and review should be done by professionals in Teacher
Training Institutions. Such is the system in Japan, where university professors, among
other things, are also charged with supervising and reforming the education system as
part of their outreach programs. Much as the government is credited for using technocrats
to draft the Kajubi report, the accruing Government White Paper has never been debated.
Besides, it is observed that copies of the Kajubi Commission Report are very rare and
hard to get, to balance the debate in case it is allowed. Moreover, it is not clear why the
Government White Paper has never been put forward for public debate. Nonetheless, it is
important to use technocrats in reforming the country’s primary education because as the
age-old adage goes, “knowledge, unlike money, increases when it is shared”.

Low completion rate of the primary cycle

According to the 2008 Education Act, primary education shall be universal and
compulsory for children aged six and above, which shall last seven years. The
government shall ensure that a child who drops out of school prior to completing primary
education cycle attains basic education through alternative approaches. However, that
objective has so far not been realized. Government, therefore, should ensure that children
who enter school in primary one finish primary seven. It is transcribed; furthermore, in

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the United Nations Millennium Development Goals (United Nations (2002)) documents
that one of its objectives is to reduce the number of uneducated African youths. The
aforesaid documents target the year 2015 when all children in the world will have
completed primary seven (Grogan, 2008). The attrition rate of school going children from
primary one to primary seven is still high in Uganda as the cohort below indicate

Table 4: Attrition of first UPE cohort in Uganda 1997 – 2003.

Year/ 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003

Class
P1 2.1 m
P2 1.3m
P3 1.1m
P4 0.96m
P5 0.83m
P6 0.7m
P7 0.48m
(22%)
Source: Education Strategic Investment (2004 – 2015)

The analysis shows that of the first cohort of UPE that started in 1997, only 22%
successfully completed primary seven in 2003. This is a national average, but the attrition
rate is worse in rural areas. It is to be noted, furthermore, that in 2005, only 28% of the
pupils who enrolled in primary one completed primary seven whilst in 2009, the same
percentage of the pupils who enrolled in primary one completed primary seven (see Table
5 below). Going by the primary school completion rates, Uganda is doing very poorly
and drastic measures must be taken to improve these rates

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Table 5: Dropout rate of primary school pupils from 2005 to 2009
Primary Education: The Crisis of Numbers
Primary School Enrolment by Class (2005-2009)      
Class 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009

P1 1,712,420 1,763,284 1,832,129 1,897,114 1,946,312

P2 1,175,032 1,199,325 1,213,486 1,318,238 1,349,356

P3 1,162,462 1,199,975 1,224,812 1,279,900 1,367,359

P4 1,019,290 1,054,288 1,096,256 1,164,640 1,212,182

P5 915,504 914,375 939,804 993,337 1,042,501

P6 759,220 763,253 761,212 795,021 833,559

P7 479,951 468,438 470,272 515,729 546,505

Grand 7,223,879 7,362,938 7,537,971 7,763,979 8,297,780

total

Source: Education Strategic Investment (2004-2015)

The government, as noted earlier, should make sure that those children who enter
school should be enabled to complete. In their report to the government, the Education
Policy Review Commission (1989) states that only when every child is enrolled at the
right age and does not quit school without completing the full cycle of primary education,
it would not be possible to ensure that all the citizens have the basic education needed for
giving a full life. However, such an ideal situation has not been taken into consideration.
Although the government of Uganda has tried to provide universal primary education, it
has not met all the obligations, as laid out in the international instruments. There is no
enforceable legislation in Uganda that makes primary Education compulsory. Not all
school going children enroll in primary one and some of those who enroll eventually drop
out. There is no legislation that provides punitive measures for parents who do not ensure
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that their children attend school. Therefore, it is hereby suggested that Uganda should
move beyond Universal Primary Education and venture into Universal Primary Education
Completion. Primary Education should be free and compulsory.

Quality of education
There are fears that perhaps with the massive number in primary school
enrollment without commensurate expansion in facilities, teachers and teaching learning
materials may have compromised the quality of education. The Ministry of Education
and Sports has raised this concern in its reports which say that the quality of teaching has
probably been affected by the adverse pupil - teacher ratio after the introduction of UPE.
In all countries of Africa, in which UPE was instituted, the elimination of the direct costs
of schooling created an instantaneous large increase in school enrollment. Grogan (2008)
notes that enrollment increased nearly by 70% in Malawi, 75% in Lesotho, and 22% in
Kenya. However, the aggregate increase in primary school enrollment in Uganda was far
beyond service delivery. In reference to Uganda, Aguti (2002) furthermore adds that UPE
quality may have been compromised by the low morale of teachers.
There is an overemphasis of increased number of enrollment to the detriment of
quality education. Issues to do with quantity and quality of primary education cannot be
addressed or achieved in isolation from each other. Expanding accessibility is relatively
meaningless, unless the education provided contributes to the acquisition of knowledge
and development of skills. As Uganda moves towards 2015, the year set for achieving
Millennium Development Goals, citizens should be worried that national efforts have
focused, almost singularly, on the easy-to-measure goal of accessibility. National
commitment to improving the quality of school education remains unclear since current
country success is measured by achievement levels of universal access to school by boys
and girls. Unfortunately, appropriate school education is overlooked in the pledge to get
every child to school.
No doubt, the benefits that can accrue from access to basic education are
commendable. It may be argued that access to education will contribute to higher
personal life-time gaining, smaller and healthier families, reduced incidence of
HIV/AIDS, higher economic growth and increased participation in the democratization

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process among other things. But, this chapter would like to add that true benefits of
schooling are derived from the learning that takes place in school. The quality of
education matters just as much as the quantity. Indeed, improving the quality of
education requires more than just increasing the level of in-puts at school level.
Improving quality requires the government to make necessary structural changes in the
institutions, including accountability systems that measure pupil performance, incentives
to improve performance and local level autonomy that gives schools and parents the
power to suggest change.
Prior to the introduction of UPE in Uganda, most schools charged additional fees
through Parents Teachers Association (PTA). Some of that money was used to
supplement teachers’ salaries. That is because the remuneration of a primary school
teacher is quite low. Aguti (2002) candidly stresses that teachers must rely on extremely
low salaries. With the introduction of UPE, parents no longer pay this PTA, and the
teachers cry for a reasonable increase of salaries has fallen on deaf ears. Their struggle
for using legitimate means to let the bureaucrats understand the situation has been harshly
dealt with. A teacher therefore continues to struggle in this world of high cost of living,
with a daily remuneration of about $ 3.5, in a country where some politicians earn $ 400
per day. Such disparity in remuneration keeps the teacher’s morale low.
This chapter recommends that the government puts in place enough facilities
needed for learning and teachers be given a reasonable pay. Equitable sharing of national
resources is a right for every Ugandan including teachers. This chapter furthermore
recommends that there should be national restructuring of salaries in Uganda, not done by
politicians, but by a Salary Review Committee preferably from the Ministry of Public
Service. Politicians, particularly parliamentarians, in fixing their own salaries, get a lion’s
share due to hedonism. There should be rational salary structuring for all public servants.
Muzzling teachers will not make them teach well enough because, as the saying goes,
“you may take the donkey to the well, but you cannot force it to drink”. A teacher may
be suppressed, and seemingly goes to class, but may not teach to maximum capacity. It is
one thing for the children to go to school under UPE policy, and quite another for them to
learn adequately in school.

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Corruption
Corruption is a major problem in Uganda. Paradoxically, corruption is extensively
condemned at all levels in Uganda, right from the president’s office up to Local Council
1. But it is abetted by the very people who claim to abhor it. Such hypocrisy keeps the
vice much alive in the country. Graft, therefore, is discouraged only in theory, while in
practice, people in public office embezzle public funds at all levels. Measures against
corruption are, but mere lip-service, with a few junior officers tried and released on a
bond paid using the embezzled public funds. No measures are imposed to ensure due
return of stolen money!
That said, the capitation grant that is sent to UPE schools dwindles before it
reaches the schools because it is embezzled at every level where it passes. Grogan (2008)
posits that of the money remitted by government to UPE schools, only about 13% reaches
schools. He adds that, most of the grant is absorbed by local politicians and
administrators. That suggests that schools in Uganda which were dependent on revenue
from school fees collection have suffered greatly for there is little operational capital.
That is even worse in rural areas: because, as Reinikka and Swensson (2004) intimate,
schools in better off communities receive larger fractions of the original grant money
because less is embezzled. Ugandans need to walk the talk right from the top to the
lowest levels if corruption is to be eliminated.

Poverty in the rural areas

As said earlier, the capitation grant that reaches the schools is less than what is
actually sent. Therefore, the people in the rural areas, who had thought that they would be
relieved of a burden, could not cope with the demands of educating their children.
Poverty in the rural areas is at alarming levels, with some people living on less than one
dollar a day. The recurrent pronouncement by some politicians at all levels that the
economy is improving is a political gimmick, because it is not seen in terms of service
delivery and household incomes. It is noted that whatever achievements have been made,
have been realized within the context of economic reforms that are informed by
neoliberalism (Grogan, 2008). For a country like Uganda, such successes are assessed in
terms of macro-economic targets and poverty reduction with little consideration for the

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human rights aspects at the micro level. As the population of Uganda increases, the GDP
is also likely to increase. This is usually the index of development quoted by the
politicians. But, as matter of fact, the GDP per capita should be the index for economic
development. This is when GDP is divided by the population. The GDP per capita of
Uganda is at $ 453, which means that on average a Ugandan earns $ 1.3 per day. Bearing
in mind that a number Ugandans earn huge sums of money, then it means that the poor in
the villages earn less than one dollar a day. It becomes difficult for them to keep their
children in school because, after failing to balance the cost of running a school on
capitation grant only, school administrators have irregularly imposed some fee on
parents.
Some of the items that the parents have to provide include school uniform,
scholastic materials like, pens, pencils, and exercise books, lunch and at times contribute
to building fund. That is in spite of the fact that this pupil does not contribute much to the
family income during school days which account for 75% of the child’s primary school
life. The Ministry of Education and Sports’ section of the government’s Poverty
Eradication Action Plan (PEAP) was developed in synchronization with the ESSP 2007-
2015. PEAP stipulates that there will be increasing ability of the poor to raise their
income. It further stipulates that this would enhance the quality of life of the poor, which
is a national target. The education section of PEAP is geared towards those aspects of the
education sector that must directly address poverty issues. However, the plan seems to
have remained on paper. Uganda needs economic transformation rather than political
rhetoric. There should be a move away from a peasantry economy to a middle class
economy for the nation to adequately train human resources at primary level.

Theoretical curriculum
A lot has been said about the primary school education curriculum in Uganda that
ends up producing job seekers rather than job makers. During the colonial era, most
subjects were taught according to the British Syllabus until 1974. British type of
examinations measured a student’s progress through primary to other levels. In 1975, the
government implemented a local curriculum, and for a short time, most school materials
were published in Uganda. But, at the same time, the economy deteriorated and violence

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increased. The education system suffered the effects of economic decline and political
instability during the Amin’s regime (Kwesiga, 2002). As a result, the quality of
education declined, school maintenance standards suffered, teachers fled the country,
morale and productivity deteriorated along with real incomes, and many facilities were
damaged by warfare and vandalism.
In order to reestablish the national priority on education, the present government
adopted a two-phase policy, to rehabilitate buildings and establish minimal conditions for
instructions, and to improve efficiency and quality of education through teacher training
and curriculum up grading. Important long-term goals included establishing universal
primary education, extending the seven-year primary cycle to eight or nine years, and
shifting the emphasis from fairly academic to more technical and vocational training.
Whereas UPE has been taken as a government policy, the rest of the goals have not taken
root.
The primary school education curriculum is so inadequate, such that those who
complete the cycle are not employable. There is a mentality that those who go to school
will eventually get white collar jobs, but the primary seven leavers in Uganda do not have
the skills to be employed. That is why jobs that need more practical aspects, like watch,
motor vehicle, and mobile phone repair are dominated by less schooled Ugandans. The
primary school education curriculum in Uganda is not practical because it is only meant
to prepare the pupils for secondary education. Nyerere (1977), when he suggested that
primary school education should last for 8 years, and those to start primary schooling
should be 8 year olds, he had in mind a primary school product who would contribute to
societal development in Tanzania. Nyerere’s argument was corroborated by the
Education Policy Review Commission Report (1987), when it suggested 8 or 9 years of
primary education. This chapter suggests eight years as a primary school cycle.
Noteworthy is the observation that the primary curriculum is still academic and
examination oriented. Moreover, the examinations are oriented towards assessment of
improvement rather than assessment for improvement. There are efforts made to revise
the primary school curriculum taken by the Ministry Of Education and Sports through the
National Curriculum Development Center. There has been effort to let the teacher know
and try to equip the learners with knowledge, competences, attitudes, skills and values.

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The bottom line is life-long learning with thematic curriculum initially developed for
primary one to primary three. Content is arranged in themes that put together related
knowledge which makes learning clearer and avoids repetition. It describes what the
child is expected to know, understand and be able to perform in relation to each theme.
Implementation of that curriculum was effected through the Continuous Professional
Development (CPD) training, support, supervision and improved learners’ performance.
However, there have been challenges of the thematic curriculum. Some teachers
have not yet learnt how to use methods that would help in handling the large number of
learners. Transfer of teachers has affected implementation of thematic curriculum
especially when those brought on board are not trained in this new curriculum.
Furthermore, some private schools have been slow in implementing the curriculum.
This chapter suggests that the primary curriculum should be revised further to
make training more practical, and many stakeholders should be involved in this
curriculum review. There is need for a continued and compulsory CPD for teachers to
enable them to share methods like the group participatory approach. Continuous
assessment is a better alternative than relying on examinations for elimination. A
curriculum has to be in line with the utilitarian principles espoused in the argument that
its outcomes must serve the common good (Barrow & Woods, 1988).

Inequity
One of the key focus areas of any effective educational reform should be equity,
equality and redress. This chapter emphasizes equity only, but as Mazurek, Winzer and
Majorek (2000) stress, the noted overlap of equity and redress means that light will be
shed on the latter two. The disparities earlier created between rich and poor schools, the
advantaged and disadvantaged pupils and gender imbalance still exist. Furthermore,
failure to implement affirmative action should clearly show that inequity still exists up to
today. However, this chapter will stress gender which is the most affected area of
inequity in Uganda.
In the 1995 Constitution of the Republic of Uganda, article 33(1) stipulates that
women shall be accorded full and equal dignity of person with men. Article 33 (5)
furthermore states that women shall have the right to affirmative action for the purpose of

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 redressing the imbalance created by history, tradition or custom. Despite the above
pronouncements, the girl child in Uganda is still discriminated against, especially by
tradition and custom. With many cash-strapped families, where choice has to be made as
to who should or should not attend school, females are commonly discriminated against.
Even at school, the dropout rates, except for employment, is slightly higher for girls than
boys. Juuko and Kabonesa (2007) reaffirm that in Uganda, the right to education of the
girl child has historically been affected by a complex interaction of political, social,
household, economic and community factors. Kwesiga (2002) also notes a negative trend
towards access by women to primary education. Below is a table showing primary school
dropout rates by gender and the reasons behind. The sample was taken from Mpigi
District as an example.

Table 6: Dropout rate by gender and reason in Mpigi District

Reason/ Lack of pregnancy marriage fees Jobs Sickness Family Dismissed Others Total
gender interest responsibilities disobedience undisclosed

Female 65205 6695 9448 13016 4053 18279 25677 703 19997 163073
male 74884 241 2085 12708 7412 19348 21689 1429 21238 161034

Source: Uganda Education Statistics Abstract, 2002

The above table shows that the difference between girl and boys who drop out of
school may be small. But what are important are the reasons behind dropping out of
school. More boys than girls get out of school due to lack of interest. That implies that
girls are more interested in education than boys. More girls get out of school due to
pregnancy than the boys responsible for pregnancy. More girls than boys get out of
school to get married. This is a cultural practice; because females marry at a relatively
younger age than males. Another factor is that females are not expected to have the
economic means for getting married. Girls, further, are looked at as a form of wealth
which accrues from bride price. More girls than boys get out of school due to lack of
school fees, because, as noted earlier, where investment choice in poor families has to be
made, boys are preferred. More boys than girls get out of school due to sickness. More
girls than boys get out of school due to commitment to family responsibilities. More boys

22  
 
than girls quit schooling to look for jobs (most girls go out to work as house girls); more
boys than girls get out of school due to disobedience resulting in expulsion; and more
boys than girls who get out of school have the reason undisclosed.
Although indicators for access to primary education in Uganda show positive
trends, infrastructure in primary schools remains inadequate due to straining budgetary
resources allocated to the education sector. The percentage for total public expenditure on
primary education has been varying since the year 2000, from 69.7% to about 58% by
2011; consequently low completion rates of primary schooling. The 2006 Uganda
Demographic and Health Survey results indicate that an average 31.7% of the adult
population aged 15-24 years have completed at least primary education. The full
realization of equity however, has been undermined by combination social ills that
include civil unrests, HIV/AIDS, early pregnancies, unemployment, poverty, and labor
exploitation.
This chapter suggests revisiting several cultures which discriminate against
women. All children in the family should have equal status and the state should reinforce
this situation. It is important to note that when a girl child is educated, the outcome is
some of the highest returns of all development investments, private, social, family and
society. Investment in girls’ education reduces women’s fertility rates, lowers infant
mortality rates, lowers, maternal mortality rates, protects against HIV/AIDS infection.
This is because education equips the girls with knowledge about those ills, and they are
educated about their possible solutions. In addition, investment in girls’ education
increases women’s labor force participations and earnings, and creates intergenerational
benefits. Therefore, all imbalances in provision of primary education should be
addressed.

Other issues
There are many other challenges that are worth of mention. Grogan (2008) argues
that, because school fees were abolished at primary school level in Uganda before
infrastructural improvement in the school system had been carried out, the access shock
resulted in decrease in resources available per pupil and per teacher. There was also a
large increase in the pupil - teacher ratio at 83:1. Therefore, there are fewer text books,

23  
 
classrooms, desks, teachers, and teachers houses. Furthermore, the abolition of payment
of fees means that PTAs have reduced influence upon primary schools, although they
remain resilient as a powerful, though informal management body. Conflicts have arisen
between the School Management Committees which are official organs, and the informal
PTAs. Capitation grant sent by government was not enough to run administrative costs in
schools. The budget of 14.8% allocated to education was not enough as the Ministry of
Education and Sports had to run with deficit at times creating management crises.
Furthermore, unlike in developed countries, the language of instruction remains different
from what the child uses at home and in the community.
Prioritization by government would be required for solving the above problems.
According to President Museveni, political opportunism, eminent in Uganda, involves
failure to tell people what the country needs. This chapter notes that the president’s
pronouncement denotes lack of proper prioritization, putting more investments to where
it should not go. Primary education should be among the sectors given top priority.

Conclusion
Providing education to a Ugandan child is not a privilege of the child but it is his
or her right and it is the duty of the state to provide such education. This is not only for
the good of the child but also for the good of society. In order to make a realistic cost-
effective investment, this country needs to invest in primary education to realize the
much needed social, economic and political development. The modern workforce,
towards which Uganda is heading in industrial and agricultural sectors, requires a
different set of competencies other than those that are there today. Young people now
need to follow written directions that assume an understanding of abstract concepts.
Schooling children need to go beyond acquiring the basics of reading, writing and
counting. They need to know how to solve problems, using vigorous methods of problem
identification, hypothesis formulation, data collection and analysis and reporting.
Learners should be enabled to think critically so as to make informed decisions.
The education system in Uganda must interact with other government systems,
central and local government as well as the public service. It is incumbent upon families,
communities and state to utilize resources well for the education of their children.

24  
 
Furthermore, the Ministry of Education and Sports should interact with the international
community and other agencies to offer external support.
It is important to reiterate that in any country, and in Uganda in particular, the
government has the most important role and obligation in reforming education, and they
need to be held accountable by the citizens to perform well. However, neither educational
assessments, nor technocratic policy reform processes alone, will bring about the policy
and service delivery changes necessary to improve school education. All stakeholders:
citizens, parents, academicians, members of the local community, educationists, and
politicians, need to take collaborative action. Such action must be locally driven and by
everyone concerned to improve the quality of education, and ultimately the quality of
development, in focusing on accountability and bringing about a sustained better
education service delivery. As citizens have a right to demand better responsiveness and
answerability from all position bearers, as responsible citizens, they must, and should be
enabled to, play their part.

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