HAS THE 1.5POINT SCHEME SERVED ITS PURPOSE?

GIRL-CHILD EDUCATION

By Frederick Womakuyu

Alice had big dreams. The best A’level student from Bugi village, Sironko district wanted to become a doctor and help fellow Bagisu access better medical care, but her dream was shattered. She fell short of going to Makerere University by half a mark.

That was 1989, when there was neither private sponsorship nor affirmative action for women. This meant she had to repeat S.6 or go to a college. Alice’s plight was just part of a bigger problem.

Before 1990, the number of female students admitted to Makerere University was less than 10%, according to a former vice-chancellor, Senteza Kajubi. “We had to get rid of the gender disparity. Ninety percent of the students were boys,” Kajubi says.

Girls’ education was hindered by challenges, including cultural biases. “Most of the domestic work was left to girls. They were not given time to revise, thus the dismal numbers at university. We had to compensate them,” he explains.

Albert Byamugisha, an official in the education ministry, says: “Because of scarcity of resources and the belief that girls were less brilliant than boys, the little money that a family got was spent on financing boys’ education.”

In 1990, Makerere senate instituted the 1.5point scheme where female students’ chances of admission were boosted. “The aim of the scheme was to increase the number of female candidates admitted to undergraduate programmes,” says Cathy Kanababita, the head of women and gender studies at Makerere University.

The scheme was also in line with the Constitution, which states: “Women shall have the right to affirmative action for purposes of redressing the imbalances created by history, tradition or custom.”

This includes the promotion of education of the marginalised females in remote areas like Karamoja, where education is a privilege rather than a right. Kanababita says initially, they wanted at least 35% of undergraduates to comprise female students.

“The scheme was subject to review. It was intended to promote and advocate the implementation of gender policies at Makerere,” Kanababita says.

Kajubi says female students have proved they can perform excellently beyond the 1.5 points.

“We have more female students scoring first class in engineering and law, which was never heard of,” he says.

Kajubi says the 1.5 point scheme has helped female students from poor rural families re-think their strategies.

“Before the scheme, all females who did not make it to university were left with no option but marriage. Today, many are gaining entry,” Kajubi adds.

Vincent Ekwang, the Makerere University academic deputy registrar, says in the 2007/2008 public university admissions (both government and private), the number of females admitted was almost equal to that of males.

He says they admitted 45% of the girls into public universities. “We had 7,432 males and 6,103 females. There’s a small difference, but the idea is to have a ratio of 50 males to 50 females.”

The scheme still faces challenges. Kanababita says they are not achieving an equal number of females to males at the university because fewer girls do sciences at A’level.

“We are far below the target. We have less than 25% of the girls doing sciences at university,” she says. The implication is that fewer females go on government sponsorship since 75% of the scholarships go to science courses. “Although we have tried to overcome this challenge by introducting the female sponsorship scheme under the Carnegie programme, where over 600 girls have benefited, the difference has been marginal.”

Kanababita says: “Studies show that from at an early age, some teachers, especially males give less support to girls and more to boys.”

Fewer girls from remote schools have accessed the scheme.

“It is females from elite schools centered in Mukono, Jinja, Kampala and Mpigi, with access to better laboratories and all equipments who make it to university,” Ekwang says.

He cautions that the scheme creates unfair competition to males. “The 1.5 enables one pursue courses like engineering, in case one falls short of the pass mark,” he adds. “Boys do not have this privilege.”

Kanababita says the scheme is under review. “We have to emphasise sciences and make them accessible to females, and build better laboratories. Parents also have to support females materially.”

Ekwang advises that the government policy of compulsory sciences in secondary school should become a a rule.

He recommends that the 1.5 extra points should be reduced to one point to reduce the unfair competition the males face.

Ekwang says the scheme can be phased out when a 50:50 ratio of girls to boys at university has been achieved.

He warns that if the 1.5 extra points to females is phased out now, the number of females at public universities ia likely to drop by almost 50%.

HAS IT IMPACTED ON ENROLMENT?
- According to the Gender Main Streaming Division website, gender.mak.ac.ug, in 2001 the number of female students admitted to the university increased from 25% to 35%.
- Makerere academic deputy registrar, Vincent Ekwang, says: “The number has continued to increase.”
- In 2001, the Senate Committee on Gender Mainstreaming was asked to research on whether the scheme had benefited the most deserving female applicants from remote schools and the performance of the beneficiaries.
- Recently, the committee concluded the study and although the researchers cannot reveal the details to the public before the senate authorises, Kanababita says the scheme, regarded by many as ‘the saviour of the female gender in Uganda’, has surpassed its target.
- She says the study titled The impact of the 1.5 points, shows that overall, the number of female students in public universities had increased to over 46%.
- Ekwang says out of the 82 students admitted on government sponsorship for Bachelor of Laws for the 2009/2010 academic year, 74 are female and eight male.