High pupil-teacher ratio interrupts UPE progress
Dec 29, 2002
Concern has been expressed regarding the slow process of recruiting, deploying and accessing the payroll for the badly needed primary teachers as well as the high wastage rates at Primary Teachers Colleges (PTCs)
By Bamuturaki Musinguzi
Concern has been expressed regarding the slow process of recruiting, deploying and accessing the payroll for the badly needed primary teachers as well as the high wastage rates at Primary Teachers Colleges (PTCs). Delays in staff recruitment and deployment have prevented the achievement of a full staff establishment as planned.
In particular, the high pupil-teacher ratio (PTR) has been seen as leading to declining pupil performance, declining morale of teachers, delayed arrival of salaries, poor supervision of teachers, shortage of trained teachers, lack of teachers, poor quality of head teachers and lack of housing.
The teacher-recruitment drive has been met with systemic weakness, which is a threat to the sustainability of the gains so far achieved, since the Universal Primary Education Programme (UPE) policy was introduced five years ago.
In the Financial Year (FY) 2000-01, the Government of Uganda recruited 15,308 primary school teachers, resulting in the pupil-teacher ratio (PTR) improving to 59:1, from 68:1 in 1999-2000.
The primary staff establishment increased from the 1998-9 level of 94,000 to 101,000 in 1999-00. At the sixth Education Sector Review (ESR) in Kampala in October last year, the donors and the Ministry of Education agreed on an ambitious recruitment plan of teachers to reduce the PTR from the current 59:1 to 49:1 by October 2002. It is planned that the current average PTR of 58:1 will be further improved to 47:1 by 2002-03.
At this year’s ESR, the issue of teacher recruitment and remuneration still came up as a huge issue of contention. Once again government promised to look into the problem.
Under the Education Sector Investment Plan (ESIP) the Ministry of Education implements the agreed staff ceiling of 1 teacher to 55 pupils in primary three to seven and 1 to 110 pupils in primary one and two. The burden this exerts on the teachers is very high.
The education sector in 2000-01 received a total budget of sh403.8b (excluding direct donor project funding). Of the total budget allocated to primary education sh143,69b (55%) was allocated to teachers wages. Sh17b (8.5%) was not spent because of the slow rate of recruitment of primary school teachers by the District Service Commissions, and the sluggish issuance of letters of appointment by the Chief Administrative Officers. In the same year, 22,000 vacancies for primary school teachers were not filled.
The Minister of Education, Dr. Khiddu Makubuya, has encouraged Chief Administrative Officers to work together with the District Service Commissions to have all the remaining vacancies filled.
Godfrey Arnold Dhatemwa, the Assistant Commissioner Education Planning in the Ministry of Education and Sports, attributed the slow recruitment of teachers to new districts without capacities to recruit teachers. And in some districts there are no teachers available for recruitment or those interested in the teaching profession. “Some teachers that are recruited prefer to work in urban areas,†he said.
Last year, the Parliamentary Committee on Public Service and Local Government, revealed that 125,804 primary school teachers were recruited but their names never made it to the payroll. Only 103,404 teachers are on the payroll.
In its 2001-02 policy statement, the Committee recommended that the Public Service Ministry speeds up the decentralisation of the teachers’ payroll and ensure that access to the payroll does not take more than two months.
Dhatemwa confessed that there are some institutional framework problems amongst the ministries of Public Service, Education and Sports and Finance Planning and Economic Development to do with payroll management, “but we are gaining efficiency with time,†he said. “Accessing of the payroll and its management has improved hand in hand with the process of recruiting and deploying of teachers, though its not 100% perfect, Dhatemwa added.
The FY 2000-01 saw a significant improvement recorded in the management of the primary teacher’s payroll. The Ministry of Public Service cleared teachers’ salary arrears for the financial year 1993-94 and 1999-00 amounting to sh9,127,351,643. Of this sum, 75% was owed to primary school teachers.
Primary school teachers’ salaries rose from sh114b in 1999-00 to sh144b in 2000-01, and is expected to rise to sh178b by 2002-03.
Some districts and headteachers receive teachers’ salaries in time, but divert it for other purposes, retain it for months, or it is misappropriated. “Most times the salaries are paid out in time and are delayed because of the slow banking system,†Dhatemwa says.
Government is in the process of decentralising the teachers’ payroll, while districts build capacities to completely take over, he said. Through the decentralised teachers’ payroll, government hopes to reduce the build up of arrears.
To reduce corruption on the payroll, every teacher is now required to have a bank account. However, Dhatemwa did not rule out ghost teachers although he says that “with collective efforts they can be minimised.â€
Findings of an Evaluation Study in the School Facilitation Grant (SFG) identified teacher accommodation as a big burden under UPE. The evaluation study carried out in 1999 recommended that, the Education Ministry provides house allowance to the teachers, and communities encouraged to build teachers’ houses for rent.
Makubuya has encouraged district leaders to take up the issue of building of teachers’ houses “very seriously.†He disclosed that with effect from financial year 2001-02, local governments are required to earmark up to 15% of their SFG budgetary allocations for building teachers’ houses, as one way of attracting and retaining teachers.
Lack of teachers’ houses has resulted in rural schools failing to recruit competent teachers. Teachers’ remuneration is not attractive leading to students with poor grades joining the teacher’s colleges as a last resort. The big gap between the teachers’ wages and that of the headteachers has left many teachers frustrated. A head teacher earns over sh400,000 per month compared to sh90,000 of a grade III teacher.
There are 45 PTCs in Uganda, with a total capacity of over 16,500 trainee teachers. Half of these join the pre-service and in-service training per year on average.
In the financial year 2000-01 teacher training spent sh14b(5.3%) of the education budget. In 2000, 14,142 trainee teachers registered for the final examinations. Of these, 8,248 (58.3%) passed, 5,417 (38.3%) failed, and the non-graded were 477 (3.3%). The previous year, 19,910 registered, 11,183 (56.1%) passed, 7,972 (40%) failed, and the non-graded were 755(3.8%). The worrying 41% pass rate for PTCs in the 1990s has improved, rising to 57.9% in 2001.
Donors have expressed concern that 90% of trainee teachers pass their practicals, but less than 20% become qualified.
Many teacher colleges up-country are poorly equipped, with sub-standard libraries and laboratories. To change this, the Education Ministry allocates sh3.376b to rehabilitate and equip some non-core PTCs, and upgrade some PTCs to core status.
Ocen is optimistic that if all factors affecting the performance of PTCs were addressed, “the PTCs will be producing the required number of teachers and the pupil: teacher ratio would be significantly improved.â€
Talking about the teachers’ reluctance to teach in rural areas, the Commissioner said this was partly due to the poor transport network and lack of access to medical services in rural Uganda.
A primary school teacher, Susan Kayondo, strongly suggested that a special allowance for rural teachers be considered to attract and retain them. “Grade III teachers do not receive any allowance on top of their salaries, in rural areas most walk to work over long distances.â€
The national recruitment drive for primary teachers resulted in the hiring of 106,854 by October 2001.
“To have a teacher in front of the appropriate number of students is vital for quality of education and we see the recruitment of the fully staffed educational establishments as a major target for the ministry in the near future,†Francis Lubanga, the Permanent Secretary (PS), in the Ministry of Education noted.
Concern has been expressed regarding the slow process of recruiting, deploying and accessing the payroll for the badly needed primary teachers as well as the high wastage rates at Primary Teachers Colleges (PTCs). Delays in staff recruitment and deployment have prevented the achievement of a full staff establishment as planned.
In particular, the high pupil-teacher ratio (PTR) has been seen as leading to declining pupil performance, declining morale of teachers, delayed arrival of salaries, poor supervision of teachers, shortage of trained teachers, lack of teachers, poor quality of head teachers and lack of housing.
The teacher-recruitment drive has been met with systemic weakness, which is a threat to the sustainability of the gains so far achieved, since the Universal Primary Education Programme (UPE) policy was introduced five years ago.
In the Financial Year (FY) 2000-01, the Government of Uganda recruited 15,308 primary school teachers, resulting in the pupil-teacher ratio (PTR) improving to 59:1, from 68:1 in 1999-2000.
The primary staff establishment increased from the 1998-9 level of 94,000 to 101,000 in 1999-00. At the sixth Education Sector Review (ESR) in Kampala in October last year, the donors and the Ministry of Education agreed on an ambitious recruitment plan of teachers to reduce the PTR from the current 59:1 to 49:1 by October 2002. It is planned that the current average PTR of 58:1 will be further improved to 47:1 by 2002-03.
At this year’s ESR, the issue of teacher recruitment and remuneration still came up as a huge issue of contention. Once again government promised to look into the problem.
Under the Education Sector Investment Plan (ESIP) the Ministry of Education implements the agreed staff ceiling of 1 teacher to 55 pupils in primary three to seven and 1 to 110 pupils in primary one and two. The burden this exerts on the teachers is very high.
The education sector in 2000-01 received a total budget of sh403.8b (excluding direct donor project funding). Of the total budget allocated to primary education sh143,69b (55%) was allocated to teachers wages. Sh17b (8.5%) was not spent because of the slow rate of recruitment of primary school teachers by the District Service Commissions, and the sluggish issuance of letters of appointment by the Chief Administrative Officers. In the same year, 22,000 vacancies for primary school teachers were not filled.
The Minister of Education, Dr. Khiddu Makubuya, has encouraged Chief Administrative Officers to work together with the District Service Commissions to have all the remaining vacancies filled.
Godfrey Arnold Dhatemwa, the Assistant Commissioner Education Planning in the Ministry of Education and Sports, attributed the slow recruitment of teachers to new districts without capacities to recruit teachers. And in some districts there are no teachers available for recruitment or those interested in the teaching profession. “Some teachers that are recruited prefer to work in urban areas,†he said.
Last year, the Parliamentary Committee on Public Service and Local Government, revealed that 125,804 primary school teachers were recruited but their names never made it to the payroll. Only 103,404 teachers are on the payroll.
In its 2001-02 policy statement, the Committee recommended that the Public Service Ministry speeds up the decentralisation of the teachers’ payroll and ensure that access to the payroll does not take more than two months.
Dhatemwa confessed that there are some institutional framework problems amongst the ministries of Public Service, Education and Sports and Finance Planning and Economic Development to do with payroll management, “but we are gaining efficiency with time,†he said. “Accessing of the payroll and its management has improved hand in hand with the process of recruiting and deploying of teachers, though its not 100% perfect, Dhatemwa added.
The FY 2000-01 saw a significant improvement recorded in the management of the primary teacher’s payroll. The Ministry of Public Service cleared teachers’ salary arrears for the financial year 1993-94 and 1999-00 amounting to sh9,127,351,643. Of this sum, 75% was owed to primary school teachers.
Primary school teachers’ salaries rose from sh114b in 1999-00 to sh144b in 2000-01, and is expected to rise to sh178b by 2002-03.
Some districts and headteachers receive teachers’ salaries in time, but divert it for other purposes, retain it for months, or it is misappropriated. “Most times the salaries are paid out in time and are delayed because of the slow banking system,†Dhatemwa says.
Government is in the process of decentralising the teachers’ payroll, while districts build capacities to completely take over, he said. Through the decentralised teachers’ payroll, government hopes to reduce the build up of arrears.
To reduce corruption on the payroll, every teacher is now required to have a bank account. However, Dhatemwa did not rule out ghost teachers although he says that “with collective efforts they can be minimised.â€
Findings of an Evaluation Study in the School Facilitation Grant (SFG) identified teacher accommodation as a big burden under UPE. The evaluation study carried out in 1999 recommended that, the Education Ministry provides house allowance to the teachers, and communities encouraged to build teachers’ houses for rent.
Makubuya has encouraged district leaders to take up the issue of building of teachers’ houses “very seriously.†He disclosed that with effect from financial year 2001-02, local governments are required to earmark up to 15% of their SFG budgetary allocations for building teachers’ houses, as one way of attracting and retaining teachers.
Lack of teachers’ houses has resulted in rural schools failing to recruit competent teachers. Teachers’ remuneration is not attractive leading to students with poor grades joining the teacher’s colleges as a last resort. The big gap between the teachers’ wages and that of the headteachers has left many teachers frustrated. A head teacher earns over sh400,000 per month compared to sh90,000 of a grade III teacher.
There are 45 PTCs in Uganda, with a total capacity of over 16,500 trainee teachers. Half of these join the pre-service and in-service training per year on average.
In the financial year 2000-01 teacher training spent sh14b(5.3%) of the education budget. In 2000, 14,142 trainee teachers registered for the final examinations. Of these, 8,248 (58.3%) passed, 5,417 (38.3%) failed, and the non-graded were 477 (3.3%). The previous year, 19,910 registered, 11,183 (56.1%) passed, 7,972 (40%) failed, and the non-graded were 755(3.8%). The worrying 41% pass rate for PTCs in the 1990s has improved, rising to 57.9% in 2001.
Donors have expressed concern that 90% of trainee teachers pass their practicals, but less than 20% become qualified.
Many teacher colleges up-country are poorly equipped, with sub-standard libraries and laboratories. To change this, the Education Ministry allocates sh3.376b to rehabilitate and equip some non-core PTCs, and upgrade some PTCs to core status.
Ocen is optimistic that if all factors affecting the performance of PTCs were addressed, “the PTCs will be producing the required number of teachers and the pupil: teacher ratio would be significantly improved.â€
Talking about the teachers’ reluctance to teach in rural areas, the Commissioner said this was partly due to the poor transport network and lack of access to medical services in rural Uganda.
A primary school teacher, Susan Kayondo, strongly suggested that a special allowance for rural teachers be considered to attract and retain them. “Grade III teachers do not receive any allowance on top of their salaries, in rural areas most walk to work over long distances.â€
The national recruitment drive for primary teachers resulted in the hiring of 106,854 by October 2001.
“To have a teacher in front of the appropriate number of students is vital for quality of education and we see the recruitment of the fully staffed educational establishments as a major target for the ministry in the near future,†Francis Lubanga, the Permanent Secretary (PS), in the Ministry of Education noted.