Uganda’s expenditure on education far below East African countries, says World Bank
Students at Kololo Secondary School queue for food during their lunch break at school on February 6, 2024. PHOTO/STEPHEN OTAGE
What you need to know:
- Uganda’s public education spending equaled 2.7% of GDP in 2021, far below the average percentage of selected East African countries and the recommended 4 per cent minimum level.
The World Bank analysis of public spending on education has revealed that Uganda’s education spending is far below the levels of most East African countries and international comparator groups, which requires increased spending for the country to achieve adequate development.
In its 22nd edition of economic update for Uganda’s Economy, the World Bank said the education budget is primarily financed through domestic resources.
In Financial Year 2022, public education spending from the national budget totaled Shs3.6trillion, while development partners contributed Shs83billion.
The World Bank says “local governments are encouraged to top off transfers from the central government with locally mobilized resources, but these revenues represent a small fraction of the consolidated budget.”
The report further shows that Uganda’s public education spending equaled 2.7% of GDP in 2021, far below both the 4.2 per cent average for selected East African countries and the 4 per cent minimum level recommended by the Education 2030 Framework for Action.
In 2021 Tanzania’s spending was 3.3 per cent, Rwanda 3.8 per cent, Kenya 4.8 per cent and Ethiopia 5.1 in 2018.
The World Bank said education spending represented 11.3 per cent of total government spending in 2021, also the lowest level among regional peers and below the Education 2030 benchmark of 15 per cent.
“Public education spending per student at the primary, secondary, and tertiary levels is consistently below the regional average. As a share of GDP per capita, the per-student government expenditure across all levels of education are below the regional average, including tertiary education,” said the World Bank.
The World Bank explained in the report that Uganda spends the equivalent of 3 percent of per capita GDP at the primary level, far below the regional average of 9 percent. Public spending per student at the secondary level is equal to 10 per cent of GDP per capita, also well below the regional average of 19 per cent.
It adds that even at the tertiary level, where costs are high across the region, spending per student in Uganda is equal to just 63 per cent of per capita GDP, whereas the regional average is 98 per cent.
‘Regressive expenditures’
The World Bank Economic update shared on Monday expressed concern that primary education receives the largest amount of total public funding, but the second-largest amount goes to tertiary education, which tends to benefit students from better-off households.
The report reveals that primary education accounts for the largest share of domestically financed education spending (36 per cent), followed by higher education (25 per cent), secondary education (20 per cent), and BTVET (6 per cent).
“Indeed, expenditures on higher education are the most regressive of any level. Public education spending has grown over the past decade, driven by an increase in expenditures on higher education. Between FY2011 and FY2022, domestically financed public education spending rose by 76 per cent in real terms—an average annual increase of 6.9 per cent,” said the World Bank.
“About 43 per cent of these additional resources were directed to tertiary education, especially to finance the establishment of new universities in sub-regions without them. Another 24 per cent of expenditures were not classified by education level,” the World Bank added.
The World Bank highlighted that wages account for the largest share of Uganda’s public spending on education, but the nation’s teachers are not well compensated relative to comparably educated workers.
Over most of the past decade, wages represented about 62 per cent of the total education spending, above the regional average of 49 per cent.
At the primary and secondary levels, wages account for 79 per cent and 58 per cent of expenditures, respectively. However, salaries for teachers with a university degree are 37-42 per cent lower than the national average salaries for other professionals in Uganda.
