60,000 ghosts found in UPE
Apr 05, 2007
OVER 60,000 ghost pupils are still on the Universal Primary Education (UPE) registers countrywide, according to a head-count carried out by the education ministry and the Internal Security Organisation (ISO).
By Fortunate Ahimbisibwe
OVER 60,000 ghost pupils are still on the Universal Primary Education (UPE) registers countrywide, according to a head-count carried out by the education ministry and the Internal Security Organisation (ISO).
Statistics from the Ministry of Education show that the total enrolment in 2005 stood at 6,606,677. But the verification exercise carried out in 2006 found that only 6,531,225 pupils were in school. This means a difference of 78,452 pupils, of whom 18,000 were regarded as absentees, while the remaining 60,000 were considered permanent absentees or ghosts.
Some head teachers argued that the difference in numbers is a result of absenteeism. But ISO discovered that some head teachers deliberately inflated the registers to continue getting capitation grants for those pupils.
“In most cases,†the ISO source said, “pupils who dropped out were not scrapped off the register and the schools continued getting their money.â€
The Government pays sh3,500 per pupil per year and a fixed grant for the school of sh100,000 per academic month, amounting to sh900,000 per year.
“It was discovered that the government was losing about sh210m every year as a result of such cases. That is why we got involved,†the source said.
“We took part in the exercise to make sure that the government sends money to pupils who are at school,†confirmed ISO deputy director Charlie Tumuhairwe. “Some cases of absentees were raised and those cases were exempted. We found a big number of cases where pupils were maintained on the register even when they had long abandoned school.â€
Drop-out rates were reportedly highest in Karamoja, the north and West Nile but the pupils were maintained on the register.
“Ghost pupils were discovered in each district across the country and some head teachers and primary schools were warned about the development,†the source said.
In Bundibugyo district, 57,484 pupils were on the register but the head count only found 53,413. “There is no way 4,000 pupils could have been absent. Some of them were non-existent but they had stayed on the register and the head teachers could not account for them,†said the source. In Rukungiri, 78,604 pupils were on the register but the head count only found 72,514, with 6,000 pupils missing.
Similar trends were recorded in Arua, Sembabule, Jinja, Kabale, Nakapiripirit, Wakiso and other districts.
“If a pupil stops attending school in term one and is still maintained as a pupil in term three, this can be a recipe for creating what people call ghosts,†said Albert Byamugisha, the assistant commissioner for statistics, monitoring and evaluation.
He said they had instructed schools to expeditiously identify drop-outs and remove them from the register.
A source in the ministry of education said although there has been evidence of ghost pupils over the years, not one head teacher has ever been reprimanded over the practice.
OVER 60,000 ghost pupils are still on the Universal Primary Education (UPE) registers countrywide, according to a head-count carried out by the education ministry and the Internal Security Organisation (ISO).
Statistics from the Ministry of Education show that the total enrolment in 2005 stood at 6,606,677. But the verification exercise carried out in 2006 found that only 6,531,225 pupils were in school. This means a difference of 78,452 pupils, of whom 18,000 were regarded as absentees, while the remaining 60,000 were considered permanent absentees or ghosts.
Some head teachers argued that the difference in numbers is a result of absenteeism. But ISO discovered that some head teachers deliberately inflated the registers to continue getting capitation grants for those pupils.
“In most cases,†the ISO source said, “pupils who dropped out were not scrapped off the register and the schools continued getting their money.â€
The Government pays sh3,500 per pupil per year and a fixed grant for the school of sh100,000 per academic month, amounting to sh900,000 per year.
“It was discovered that the government was losing about sh210m every year as a result of such cases. That is why we got involved,†the source said.
“We took part in the exercise to make sure that the government sends money to pupils who are at school,†confirmed ISO deputy director Charlie Tumuhairwe. “Some cases of absentees were raised and those cases were exempted. We found a big number of cases where pupils were maintained on the register even when they had long abandoned school.â€
Drop-out rates were reportedly highest in Karamoja, the north and West Nile but the pupils were maintained on the register.
“Ghost pupils were discovered in each district across the country and some head teachers and primary schools were warned about the development,†the source said.
In Bundibugyo district, 57,484 pupils were on the register but the head count only found 53,413. “There is no way 4,000 pupils could have been absent. Some of them were non-existent but they had stayed on the register and the head teachers could not account for them,†said the source. In Rukungiri, 78,604 pupils were on the register but the head count only found 72,514, with 6,000 pupils missing.
Similar trends were recorded in Arua, Sembabule, Jinja, Kabale, Nakapiripirit, Wakiso and other districts.
“If a pupil stops attending school in term one and is still maintained as a pupil in term three, this can be a recipe for creating what people call ghosts,†said Albert Byamugisha, the assistant commissioner for statistics, monitoring and evaluation.
He said they had instructed schools to expeditiously identify drop-outs and remove them from the register.
A source in the ministry of education said although there has been evidence of ghost pupils over the years, not one head teacher has ever been reprimanded over the practice.