Sh1.5 Trillion Set For Schools

Sh1.5 Trillion Set For Schools By John Eremu THE Government has earmarked over sh1.5 trillion for the education sector over the next three years. Most of the money will be used to build classrooms and procure instructional materials for primary schools. The Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Education, Mr. Francis Lubanga, yesterday also announced at the on-going education sector review conference in Kampala that the ministry had met all the targets agreed upon with donors in April this year. The April review nearly ended up in a fiasco when the Education Funding Agencies Group (EFAG), the consortium of 14 donors that finance up to 90% of the sector’s budget, threatened to withhold sh100b in aid following the ministry’s failure to meet the targets. “With regard to the four critical undertakings, I am pleased to report that we have met all of them,” Lubanga said. He said the government had met the donor condition of allocating at least 31% of its expenditure on education, with 72% of the funds going to the primary sub-sector, far above the agreed 65%. He said the national pupil to teacher ratio was 59 pupils per teacher, a ratio lower than the targeted 66:1. He also said the classroom to pupil ratio stood at 99 pupils per class ahead of the agreed 109 pupils per classroom. Ends