Government to license, register private schools through EMIS

Government has urged schools to register their learners and teachers on the  Education Management Information System (EMIS) ahead of plans to use it for licensing and registrations in 2025. 

Speaking on behalf of the Permanent Secretary during the opening of a two-day EMIS sensitisation workshop for private schools and institutions in Kampala at Nakasero Primary School on October 2, Mr Robert Okedi, the commissioner for Education Planning in the Education ministry, revealed that about 50 percent of private schools were not utilising the system. 

“As of September, 14,177 out of a total of 14,241 government schools in the country uploaded their learners on EMIS, indicating a response rate of more than 99 percent. On the contrary, only 31,464 out of a total of 61,572 private schools in the country have uploaded at least one learner on EMIS, indicating a response rate of 50 percent,” Dr Turyagyenda said in the speech.

She also noted that the number of learners in private schools uploaded on the system remains significantly low compared to that of government schools.

He revealed that a total of 10,638,144 learners in government schools have been uploaded on the EMIS compared to 2,952,062 learners in private schools.

The PS in the Ministry of Education, Dr Kedrace Turyagyenda, tasked private schools to embrace the EMIS to ease planning for the sector.

In 2019, the ministry developed the EMIS to eliminate ghost learners and teachers, and also ensure easier planning and management of education institutions. It was later revamped and rolled out in 2022.

However, ministry officials have on several occasions raised concern over the low uptake of the system among private schools. 

“These statistics highlight the disparity in response rates between private and public schools. As a ministry, comprehensive statistics are needed from both public and private education institutions to facilitate effective planning, budgeting, monitoring, evaluation, and evidence-based decision-making,” Dr Turyagyenda emphasised.

She also announced that starting with the next calendar year, all licensing and registration of private schools and institutions shall be carried out on the EMIS.

Speaking at the same function, Mr Okedi said starting this financial year, the ministry has ensured issuance of capitation grants for public primary and secondary schools depends on the enrolment on EMIS per school.

“There is a school in Masindi that reported that it had 92 learners yet in actual sense, they had 1,800 learners. When they sent them capitation grant for the 92 learners who had been captured in the system, they started complaining,” Mr Okedi said.

Ms Christine Nakazibwe, a physical statistician at the Education ministry, said the required information for this year should be uploaded before the end of November.

Mr Livingstone Mugoya, the head teacher of Bright Junior School in Kampala, said: “Right from its (EMIS) inception, we have been having several challenges. Different stakeholders were not prepared for it. Some parents did not have national IDs and birth certificates for their children and many were not willing to give us information about their children.”

My Mugoya also noted that domestic violence had complicated their work.

“When parents get disagreements, they keep changing information about their children. A woman who gets a disagreement with a husband might allege that the man is not the biological father of the child and then she will come and change the name of the child,” he said. 

Several other head teachers also said private schools were not registering all the children and staff into the system for fear of being overtaxed.