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MPs raise queries over quality of Uganda's education
Ministry of Education and Sports Permanent Secretary Ketty Lamaro appears before the Public Accounts Committee of Parliament on July 3, 2023. PHOTO/DAVID LUBOWA
What you need to know:
- The Education ministry blamed the issue on inadequate funds.
Members of Parliament’s Public Accounts Committee (PAC) have raised concerns over the deteriorating quality of education in the county.
The lawmakers, who were meeting officials from the Education sector to respond to issues raised in the Auditor General’s report yesterday, said some graduates cannot express themselves during job interviews.
“I see there is poor standardisation of education. You find that someone has got a first-class degree in law and cannot even write any simple policy document,” Mr Eddie Kwizera Wagahungu (Bukimbiri County) said.
“Do you have a plan of standardising education so that people are not ashamed when they go out or do interviews and cannot even introduce themselves,” Mr Kwizera added.
The committee chairperson, Mr Medard Sseggona (Busiro County East) asked, “What has happened to the quality of education in this country to the extent of schools now indulging in a practice of appealing for support from OBs (Old Boys) and OGs (Old Girls)?”
“Can you share with us a written policy on UPE (Universal Primary Education) and USE (Universal Secondary Education)? If you cannot pay for our children, don’t pretend because we do not only want quantity but quality [of education]. Ugandans pay for quality,” Mr Sseggona said.
In response, the Permanent Secretary of the Education Ministry, Ms Ketty Lamaro, blamed the issue on inadequate funding, which she said is affecting their ability to offer quality education to students.
“If it is to do with quality, we require money, and adequate resources to provide quality,” Ms Lamaro said, adding, “As we speak now, the overall budget of education in terms of percentage to the overall national budget is 8 per cent.”
She said of the Shs52 trillion budget for the 2023/2024 Financial Year, the education and sports sector was accorded Shs600 billion.
“In other countries, it is at 20 [percent], 23 or even 25 [percent]. You can only do much with eight percent in terms of the various interventions under education. So, for most of these issues, whether grant aid per school, you will need about Shs460 million to grant aid to a school…how much is that for 100 schools? If we are saying eight percent, we cannot say much about the quality you want,” Ms Lamaro said.
HET Commissioner Dr Safinah Kisu Museene. FILE PHOTO/ COURTESY
Dr Safinah Museene, the commissioner for Health Education and Training (HET) at the Health Ministry, said the Education for Health Framework that is currently being crafted by a nine-member team will address some of the issues concerning quality of learners.
“….in the policy, the areas of concern [are] inadequacy of quality and quantity of health workers and that is what the policy is addressing. In the area of quality, we noted that whereas we have assessment bodies for nurses, for medical doctors, we did not have one. A provision for that has been put in the policy,” Ms Museene said.
