Is our education system fit for purpose?

By Dr Ian Clarke

Uganda has a rapidly growing population, with 50% of it now being 15 years or under. 

This not only puts stress on the education system but gives great significance to the type of education we provide, since the future of the nation depends on the kind of people our education system produces. 

India, which is now the most populous nation in the world, has vast numbers of young people, some of whom have gone on to become top executives in global companies, such as Google and Microsoft. 

The Indian system places a high value on mathematical skills which have formed the basis for top graduates in the fields of economics, physics, accountancy and digital technology. 

So, what does Uganda produce? We have very good law and medicine graduates, we also produce large numbers of graduates in subjects such as IT, social science, and public administration. 

Ugandans also speak English well, compared to other East African countries which gives us a comparative advantage. 

Law and medicine are good qualifications, and we produce excellent professionals in these fields, but many of our doctors go abroad to work, so we are bearing the cost of training for the benefit of other nations. 

Many of our lawyers find themselves in a position to scope opportunities for business, but these are usually in deal-making and property development, and it is rare to find lawyers running companies in manufacturing or trading. 

Dr Ian Clarke

Most such companies are run by Ugandans of Indian ethnicity, Somalis, Eritreans and other foreigners. 

So why are Ugandan graduates not starting businesses that provide jobs and growing the economy? Despite the USA losing most of its manufacturing base to China some years ago, it found a new niche in Silicon Valley and has dominated the world in the digital economy and artificial intelligence ever since. 

So, what is Uganda’s niche? If one were to analyse the preferences of those who go through the Ugandan education system, one would find that there is a bias towards taking secure jobs in the public sector, academia, and the corporate sector. 

This may be a hangover from colonial days when the top students were educated to be part of the colonial administration, and there is still a mentality that the top jobs are in government. 

Many parents still push their children to get government jobs. If Ugandans prefer secure jobs, what about the surveys which have shown Uganda to be one of the most entrepreneurial countries in the world? 

The truth is that most of the entrepreneurs are there by necessity because they cannot find a job, and often their endeavours are more akin to hustling than building a sustainable business. 

I am not denigrating these small businesses; indeed, I laud them, but they are mostly at a micro level, and many of them fail within the first year. 

But I do not see the top graduates from our universities being orientated towards starting businesses that will add to economic growth, provide employment and develop the country, though recently, I have met a few graduates who have set up businesses in the coffee sector. 

I was asked why I diverted from medicine to agriculture, to which I responded that they are both sectors which contribute to development, since one cannot have a healthy population if people do not have enough money to pay for healthcare. 

Much of the poverty in Uganda is in rural areas where people are subsistence farmers, while the level of commercial farming is low. 

The distinction between subsistence farming and commercial farming is not in scale (one can have small commercially viable farms), but the subsistence farmer does not price in his labour, while a commercial farmer prices in his inputs, including labour and charges accordingly, to make a profit. 

There are many Ugandans with large tracts of land which could be put to commercial farming, but it either lies idle or has been taken over by squatters. 

If we were to take all the land in Uganda and make it productive and profitable, we would have a significant impact on the development of Uganda through improving the rural economy.

But I don’t see our university graduates making an impact in this sector. One reason is that they are trained in theory not in practice, and, despite having agricultural graduates, there is an urgent need to train farm managers.