Schools get half of promised capitation grants

By Pascal Kwesiga

When Hajji Swaibu Kawooya joined Police Children’s School in Kampala as the headteacher in February this year, he found a pupil enrollment total of 1,116 pupils, a number which has increased by 100 pupils. However, this enrolment increase has not been reciprocated with an increase in the capitation grant.

He says for over two years now, most UPE schools like his, have been receiving the same amount of money regardless of whether their pupil population increases or not; and this has left them struggling to survive.

Kawooya adds that over time, as headteachers, they have lost tracking of the exact amount allocated to each pupil, since the figure changes every other year.

 “We always submit monthly reports to the district, which should be used when planning for such key issues as capitation grants. But our data provided is of less use, since it never tallies with the amount we receive,” he explains.

But Kawooya hastens to add that as headteachers, they have been deployed in these schools as managers and have to make sure all in well, with or without more capitation; much as the enrolment keeps growing.

Kawooya’s dilemma is sweeping through thousands of public primary schools all over the country. These schools under the universal primary education programme, are not indeed receiving the right amount of capitation grants to match their growing pupil population. More so, schools are receiving slightly above half of what they are indeed promised by Government, according to investigations done by Mwalimu.

When the Government abolished fees for primary education in 1997, it committed itself to paying sh7,000 per pupil each year. Technocrats had proposed sh10,000 for each pupil, but Government did not buy the idea due to inadequate funds.

Now 17 years later Government has not yet fulfilled its commitment of sh7,560 per pupil. The closest they came to this figure was only once in 2012/2013 financial year when it paid sh7,046 per child. More striking is that indeed the ministry plans for sh7,000 and not the agreed sh7,560.

This does not mean government increased capitation grant to the schools that year, but largely due to the fact that the number of pupils in school in 2012/13 financial year was lower than in the previous and other years that followed due to school dropout.

Statistics from the education ministry indicate that Government, since the inception of the programme, has been paying capitation fees for each pupil in ranging between sh4,500 and 6,500 per year.

Why schools get capitation grant?

The Capitation Grants are computed based on school enrollment with each pupil getting sh7,560 a year in addition to a block grant of sh100,000 per term. According to the Capitation Grants expenditure guidelines, 50% of the grant is supposed to be used on instructional materials; 30% on co-curricular activities (sports, clubs etc.); 15% on school management (school maintenance, payment for utilities such as water and electricity); and 5% on school administration.

The funds are released on a quarterly basis in any given financial year. But, at the end of the financial year, each pupil is supposed to be allocated sh7,560.

During the years the Government sent sh4,500 to schools for each pupil, it meant that it paid sh1, 500 for each pupil to keep at school per term. But, this amount of money of money– may hardly repair just one desk in a school.

But part of the problem, emanated from low Government funding for free primary education, allotted to the education ministry.  Statistics show that government has been allocating between sh30b to sh45b as capitation grant for the UPE program each financial year.

More statistics show that the education ministry didn’t receive the money it needed for UPE between 2002 to 2012. For example, according to the education budget of 2006/2007, over sh46b was required for UPE, but only sh32bn was approved, and only sh30bn was released. The cumulative budget shortfall for UPE between 2002 and 2012 stands at over sh111b.

This means the education ministry has to use the available little money to pay for all children which creates variability in the unit cost for each pupil because enrollment figures change every year.

Much as the education ministry is not receiving all the funds it requires for running of free primary education, for the last half a decade, they have been one of those ministries receiving the lion’s share of the national budget. But there is evidence to show that its’ percentage off the national budget has been declining in the last two financial years.

Just like other government programs, UPE faces funding shortfalls if Uganda Revenue Authority fails to hit its projected tax collections which inform budgeting processes.

Over years Parliament has approved the ministry of education budget, with the unit cost for each pupil under UPE below sh7, 000, but, on many occasions, the government has provided less. For instance sh5, 067 was approved as unit cost for each pupil in 2005/2006 financial year, but only sh4, 917 was released. 

As the funding reduces partly due to the reduction in foreign aid to education programmes in the Sub-Saharan Africa, the population is growing much as the drop-out rate is also high.

Government reacts

The commissioner for education planning and policy analysis, Godfrey Dhatemwa agrees that the government does not pay sh7, 000 per pupil because it’s small resource envelope. “”That is true because money is not enough. We provide what is available,”

He added that the ministry presents the budget frame work papers at the beginning of each financial year with a list of pupils and money required to pay for them, but capitation funds released to school managers does not correspond with the numbers.

“”We even have special inter-ministerial meetings during which we present these issues but the problem that the government resources envelop is small,” Dhatemwa said.

He admitted that the limited capitation grant has serious implications on the learners. “ Its capitation that runs the schools and there are a number of activities that have to be done using that money,” Dhatemwa added “It’s used to buy supplementary reading materials, repairing and replacing broken desks, fund co-curricular activities and others,” he explains.

In the absence of enough money to fund the schools’ activities, Dhatemwa said “School managers have to cut on the number of these activities and may be have three supplementary reading materials and one football. Managers have to decide how to use that money,” Dhatemwa adds.

The secretary to the treasury, Keith Muhakanizi, however, says the issue of inadequate funding does not arise. Muhakanizi denies that Government could provide as low as sh4, 500 as the total cost unit for a pupil for a year in a UPE school.

“There is no little funding. That is in your mind. But apart from that, you are a liar; we have never paid sh4,000,” he added.

He adds that the focus should not be about the amount of money, but how to use the amount that is received.

“The problem is not money. What is failing free primary education by the way is that teachers in government schools are not teaching but teachers in private schools are teaching,” he added.

Public reaction

A parent Michal Musinguzi says the UPE policy should be reviewed to allow the parents take part in the education of their children and that the program should only be restricted to slums in urban centers.

 “The government should concentrate on paying teachers’ salaries. This kind of funding to education is not sustainable. The government is like a poor man refusing to be assisted yet it is clear that he is poor,” Musinguzi explains.

Lawrence Bategeka, an independent principal research fellow said UPE was a brilliant idea that would have gone a long way in eradicating illiteracy, but, it was ruined by politics.

“Primary graduates can hardly write their names and some are dropping out because they have not seen any usefulness in the program. We have hardly moved towards eradicating illiteracy if not retrogressed,” he added.

The politicisation of UPE, according to Bategeka, created an impression in parents that the duty of educating children had shifted to the state and that their responsibility was reducing to producing babies. “They took teachers who charged extra fees to RDCs (Resident District Commissioners). Even sh7, 000 is not enough for a pupil for a year,” he said.

But he hastened to add that funding to UPE could be influenced by government priorities “If the priority of a country is security, it will come first and education will be second,”

An economist, who did not want to be named, says that even the sh7,560 is not enough. “If somebody promised to educate your child at sh20,000 per year would you be happy? I would be extremely worried about the type of education my child is going to receive,”

A teacher at a city primary school says the delay in sending capitation grant worsens the already demoralised teachers and pupils. “You need money to run a school but there are times when the school does not have any coin,” he adds.

Much as Government should be credited for constructing classrooms, increasing teachers’ pay, more parents and education still believe there is more work to do since some schools are still struggling to education pupils. The learning conditions have a big bearing on a child’s learning. Currently pupils at Kyempisi and Karongo primary schools in Masindi district for instance, can hardly take down notes in their books.

They have to place the books on their laps in crowded classrooms to write as they push each other. At Kisanja primary school in the same district, pupils are currently taking lessons under tree sheds because the roof of the school was blown away by a storm. In the neighbouring Kiryandongo district, some pupils are studying in grass thatched halls.  There are many such cases across the country.

The government allowed public schools in urban centers to charge sh10, 000 from each pupil as payment for water, electricity and phones. The amount of money urban schools collect from pupils as utility fees is far higher than capitation grant sent to the schools by government. “For us we volunteered to pay this money for the learning of our children. You cannot leave the education of your child to government alone,” a parent says.

A ministry of education official on condition of anonymity proposes that, UPE should be restricted to rural primary schools or communities where parents can hardly afford tuition fees. He also suggests that the programme be restricted to rural areas and regions with a higher number of people living below the poverty line.

“The current budget for UPE cannot serve the whole country. Just like you can buy a range rover car with a budget of a premio car, you cannot deliver quality education without money,” he adds.

He says there are regions in the country where parents are willing to pay sh50, 000 per child in a term. “Let the Government look at the economic activities and incomes of the people per region to determine who pays and who should not pay.”

The head teacher at Biina Muslim Primary school in Kampala, Abdul Matovu said capitation grant is not consistent. “The amount of money they send for each pupil keeps changing and this affects planning because you cannot do everything you are supposed to do,”

A head teacher of a school in Luzira who asked not to be named said the inconsistent capitation grant is the reason for the teachers’ stress.

“We are always stressed and complaining all the time. For example if I wanted to have midterm exams, I have to buy them with my money from Kampala Capital City Authority and that is the stress I am talking about,”

The head teacher says she has failed to track the amount of capitation grant her school gets per year because they are not issued with banks’ payment slips. “You just find little money on the bank account and there is no way you can know if that is the right amount of money meant for your school or not. We are not doing what we are supposed to do and that is why we are stressed all the time,” the head teacher explains.

Police Children’s School’s head teacher gets about sh2m as capitation in every financial year. Much as this money is not enough compared to the financial demands of the school,  the head teacher says that this being a conditional grant, each of the specified areas of funding has to get a portion of the money, however little it may be. But this is this not sustainable?

(Additional reporting Gloria Nakajubi)