USE will speed up national growth
Jan 14, 2007
UNIVERSAL Secondary Education (USE) begins next month. All Ugandan students who have successfully completed Primary Leaving Examinations (PLE) and are enrolled in eligible secondary schools will benefit.
Yusuf Nsubuga
UNIVERSAL Secondary Education (USE) begins next month. All Ugandan students who have successfully completed Primary Leaving Examinations (PLE) and are enrolled in eligible secondary schools will benefit. Eligible schools are:
All day secondary schools except those that are charging more sh75,000 per term per student.
All secondary schools located in conflict areas. Government will provide full tuition and parents will meet boarding expenses.
Rural boarding secondary schools located in sub-counties without government-aided secondary schools.
For sub-counties where a secondary school is ineligible and there is no other government-aided secondary school, private schools will be considered for the programme.
USE will increase equitable access and participation at the secondary school level. Currently the transition rates from primary to secondary education or post primary education has been oscillating between 46-50 percent of only those pupils who actually pass P7 and are eligible to join S1. There is also the “forgotten majority†who for some reasons don’t pass PLE. These have also been in the range of 20-25 percent out of those who manage to reach P7 and register for PLE. Only 35 percent manage to reach S4. And only 19 percent survive up to S6.
Secondary education contributes significantly to economic, social and cultural development. Therefore, easy access will contribute to national economic growth and development.
Following the introduction of UPE in 1997, enrollment in primary schools rose to about eight million pupils by the end of 2004. Therefore there is need to urgently provide increased opportunities to these pupils at the next level. Failure or delay to do so will automatically undermine out efforts in successfully implementing UPE and make sustainability of the programme very difficult.
Studies have indicated that majority of those who cannot access secondary education have financial constraints. The cost of accessing a secondary school is prohibitive to many families especially the poor.
Average school expenditure per pupil is highest in A-level and boarding schools due to the high costs associated with boarding facilities and a high proportion of graduate teacher employees.
Studies have shown that secondary education remains prohibitively expensive and as such inaccessible to many learners. Other studies have also indicated that financial constraints are the major causes of dropouts or failure to complete secondary education level. Presently secondary education system serves families of high income quintiles at far higher rate than those in lower quintiles.
Government subsidies have only been targeted to government grant aided schools in the form of teachers’ salaries and capitation grants.
Investment in secondary education is associated with export-led growth, utilising skill endowments generated by this level of schooling and that those with secondary schooling benefit directly and substantially from their participation.
Equitable access, education for all and the Millennium Development Goals cannot also be attained without USE.
In Uganda, there are 314 sub-counties without any government-aided secondary school and 71 sub-counties without any form of secondary education. While gender parity has been enhanced at primary education level to a ratio of close to 50:50, it remains elusive at secondary education.
USE is the bridge between primary and higher education. It is important for training the teachers, administrators and the staff of primary schools. The products of secondary education influence the quality of primary education as well as the tertiary and higher levels. It also trains mid-level technicians and further professionals. It therefore has a dual purpose of providing the higher levels with qualified and competent students as well as preparing students for the world of work.
Secondary education has high potential of improving the quality of living of people significantly. It also increases the capacity of an individual to earn and handle the world of work. Primary education is no longer adequate to cope with the needs of today’s competitive and globalised world.
Globalisation and the increased demand for a more sophisticated labour force combined with the growth of knowledge-based economy gives a sense of urgency to the heightened demand for USE.
According to a World Bank report, an adolescent equipped with secondary education can earn 1.7 times more than an individual with just primary education.
Demand studies have shown that despite the advocacy for vocational skills, it is the generic skills and knowledge in addition to positive work attitudes that are most valued by the employers.
Though predominantly an agri-based economy, the structure of our economy has been evolving to become more and more industrialised and services-oriented. This means that middle level skills are or will be needed urgently by the economy. These are provided by secondary education.
Effective secondary schooling offers access to abstract reasoning. This kind of flexible thinking is associated with growth-oriented production and new jobs in manufacturing and the service sector which have an increasing information processing and knowledge content. An under-supply of these skills is often seen as a constraint on development.
Scholars have said that no country can respond successfully to the need to increase production in manufacturing and services without middle level workers who have benefited from secondary schooling. For example, the majority of primary teachers are products of secondary education. If the quality of secondary education is poor the quality of primary education cannot be better because of the poor products from secondary education.
Therefore, USE is a very important milestone in national development.
The writer is the Commissioner for Secondary Education, Ministry of Education and Sports
UNIVERSAL Secondary Education (USE) begins next month. All Ugandan students who have successfully completed Primary Leaving Examinations (PLE) and are enrolled in eligible secondary schools will benefit. Eligible schools are:
All day secondary schools except those that are charging more sh75,000 per term per student.
All secondary schools located in conflict areas. Government will provide full tuition and parents will meet boarding expenses.
Rural boarding secondary schools located in sub-counties without government-aided secondary schools.
For sub-counties where a secondary school is ineligible and there is no other government-aided secondary school, private schools will be considered for the programme.
USE will increase equitable access and participation at the secondary school level. Currently the transition rates from primary to secondary education or post primary education has been oscillating between 46-50 percent of only those pupils who actually pass P7 and are eligible to join S1. There is also the “forgotten majority†who for some reasons don’t pass PLE. These have also been in the range of 20-25 percent out of those who manage to reach P7 and register for PLE. Only 35 percent manage to reach S4. And only 19 percent survive up to S6.
Secondary education contributes significantly to economic, social and cultural development. Therefore, easy access will contribute to national economic growth and development.
Following the introduction of UPE in 1997, enrollment in primary schools rose to about eight million pupils by the end of 2004. Therefore there is need to urgently provide increased opportunities to these pupils at the next level. Failure or delay to do so will automatically undermine out efforts in successfully implementing UPE and make sustainability of the programme very difficult.
Studies have indicated that majority of those who cannot access secondary education have financial constraints. The cost of accessing a secondary school is prohibitive to many families especially the poor.
Average school expenditure per pupil is highest in A-level and boarding schools due to the high costs associated with boarding facilities and a high proportion of graduate teacher employees.
Studies have shown that secondary education remains prohibitively expensive and as such inaccessible to many learners. Other studies have also indicated that financial constraints are the major causes of dropouts or failure to complete secondary education level. Presently secondary education system serves families of high income quintiles at far higher rate than those in lower quintiles.
Government subsidies have only been targeted to government grant aided schools in the form of teachers’ salaries and capitation grants.
Investment in secondary education is associated with export-led growth, utilising skill endowments generated by this level of schooling and that those with secondary schooling benefit directly and substantially from their participation.
Equitable access, education for all and the Millennium Development Goals cannot also be attained without USE.
In Uganda, there are 314 sub-counties without any government-aided secondary school and 71 sub-counties without any form of secondary education. While gender parity has been enhanced at primary education level to a ratio of close to 50:50, it remains elusive at secondary education.
USE is the bridge between primary and higher education. It is important for training the teachers, administrators and the staff of primary schools. The products of secondary education influence the quality of primary education as well as the tertiary and higher levels. It also trains mid-level technicians and further professionals. It therefore has a dual purpose of providing the higher levels with qualified and competent students as well as preparing students for the world of work.
Secondary education has high potential of improving the quality of living of people significantly. It also increases the capacity of an individual to earn and handle the world of work. Primary education is no longer adequate to cope with the needs of today’s competitive and globalised world.
Globalisation and the increased demand for a more sophisticated labour force combined with the growth of knowledge-based economy gives a sense of urgency to the heightened demand for USE.
According to a World Bank report, an adolescent equipped with secondary education can earn 1.7 times more than an individual with just primary education.
Demand studies have shown that despite the advocacy for vocational skills, it is the generic skills and knowledge in addition to positive work attitudes that are most valued by the employers.
Though predominantly an agri-based economy, the structure of our economy has been evolving to become more and more industrialised and services-oriented. This means that middle level skills are or will be needed urgently by the economy. These are provided by secondary education.
Effective secondary schooling offers access to abstract reasoning. This kind of flexible thinking is associated with growth-oriented production and new jobs in manufacturing and the service sector which have an increasing information processing and knowledge content. An under-supply of these skills is often seen as a constraint on development.
Scholars have said that no country can respond successfully to the need to increase production in manufacturing and services without middle level workers who have benefited from secondary schooling. For example, the majority of primary teachers are products of secondary education. If the quality of secondary education is poor the quality of primary education cannot be better because of the poor products from secondary education.
Therefore, USE is a very important milestone in national development.
The writer is the Commissioner for Secondary Education, Ministry of Education and Sports