MPs right on scrapping direct govt sponsorship
Oct 27, 2008
<b>By Kakungulu Mayambala</b><br><br>I wish to react to your articles “MPs back cost-sharing in Varsitiesâ€, The New Vision, Thursday October 2, and “MPs want Makerere sponsorship abolished,†Daily Monitor, Thursday October 2, in which it is reported that Members of Parliament are now push
By Kakungulu Mayambala
I wish to react to your articles “MPs back cost-sharing in Varsitiesâ€, The New Vision, Thursday October 2, and “MPs want Makerere sponsorship abolished,†Daily Monitor, Thursday October 2, in which it is reported that Members of Parliament are now pushing for a policy reversal that will see direct Government sponsorship to Makerere and other public universities scrapped.
This is too good to be true. It is a pity that it has come this late but all the same, it is a positive development to which I implore the MPs on the Parliamentary Committee on Social Services and the whole House to consider seriously.
The 100% government sponsorship to the so-called Government Sponsored students under the current arrangement is benefiting mostly students from well-to-do families at the expense of those from poor families.
This is because the bulk of the students who qualify for entry into public universities on Government sponsorship each year come from the so-called first-class schools which are mostly located in the central and western regions of the country.
This has been going on for the last 30 years unabated and has caused not only regional imbalances in public universities admissions but also led to imperfections in the job market which has disfavoured students from mostly the war-ravaged Northern and Eastern regions of the country.
The Parliament correctly noted the anomally in the admission system, from the current arrangement to a cost-sharing system or a soft loan system, this regional imbalance in admissions into our public universities in Uganda shall be solved.
It is indeed very unfair to see only the children from the rich families who can afford school fees at the prominent high schools in Uganda being the only beneficiaries of Government sponsorship (the very people who can afford to pay for their children at the University) whereas the poor are just suffering with exorbitant fees.
With the scrapping of Government sponsorship and the introduction of a loan scheme, the Government will not only end this social and moral injustice but university education shall also be made cheaper at the public universities since all the students shall be contributing financially to their studies at the university.
Then, those who cannot afford the cost-sharing (the ones from poor families) shall be aided through repayable soft loans.
My only fear though is that the corrupt might invade the soft loan scheme and again dispatch these loans to students would can afford to pay for themselves.
Strict procedures clearly establishing the students’ economic background should be used so that only those who qualify can indeed take the soft loans. A loan scheme or any other related credit facility so created should be pro-poor and efficient.
This way, it will help end the inequalities in our education system where one’s family background would inevitably determine whether or not they will join a public university in Uganda and the course they will study at the University. There should be an end to this institutionalised inequality.
Merely scoring top grades should not be the sole yardstick for government sponsorship at a public University. It is financial need and academic ability that should be the determining factor. The new proposal will also help the public Universities in solving the many student strikes related to tuition increments. I recommended that the Government prepares the legislative framework, the source of funds and handles how eligibility to the loan scheme would be reached. This way, higher education shall be accessible to all the disadvantaged children of Uganda.
This hitherto a far-fetched dream shall be realised through the new proposal. Lack of funds to finance one's education at university level which has been used in Uganda for a long time as a stumbling block to social integration and cohesion will have been removed.
The poor can now have a smile on their faces; that at last equality for all in Uganda’s education system and not discrimination based on the economic muscle shall determine one's destiny in the country's higher education system.
I remember as a poor paying undergradaute student at Makerere University’s Law School at times missing course tests and exams because my father could not afford to pay my tuition fees on time.
At times, I had to borrow from friends or ask my lecturers to help me out. Had such a loan or credit facility existed, maybe I would have graduated with a first class honours than the upper-second Bachelor of Laws Degree I graduated with in January 2003.
The new proposal twins in very well with the Government programmes on Universal Primary Education and Universal Secondary Education both of which are pro-poor.
At last, I can be sure that the brightest boy or girl from the remotest village in Uganda has a chance in the near future to study at a public university in Uganda.
The writer is a Doctor of Science
of Law Candidate, The University
of Arizona, Tucson, USA
I wish to react to your articles “MPs back cost-sharing in Varsitiesâ€, The New Vision, Thursday October 2, and “MPs want Makerere sponsorship abolished,†Daily Monitor, Thursday October 2, in which it is reported that Members of Parliament are now pushing for a policy reversal that will see direct Government sponsorship to Makerere and other public universities scrapped.
This is too good to be true. It is a pity that it has come this late but all the same, it is a positive development to which I implore the MPs on the Parliamentary Committee on Social Services and the whole House to consider seriously.
The 100% government sponsorship to the so-called Government Sponsored students under the current arrangement is benefiting mostly students from well-to-do families at the expense of those from poor families.
This is because the bulk of the students who qualify for entry into public universities on Government sponsorship each year come from the so-called first-class schools which are mostly located in the central and western regions of the country.
This has been going on for the last 30 years unabated and has caused not only regional imbalances in public universities admissions but also led to imperfections in the job market which has disfavoured students from mostly the war-ravaged Northern and Eastern regions of the country.
The Parliament correctly noted the anomally in the admission system, from the current arrangement to a cost-sharing system or a soft loan system, this regional imbalance in admissions into our public universities in Uganda shall be solved.
It is indeed very unfair to see only the children from the rich families who can afford school fees at the prominent high schools in Uganda being the only beneficiaries of Government sponsorship (the very people who can afford to pay for their children at the University) whereas the poor are just suffering with exorbitant fees.
With the scrapping of Government sponsorship and the introduction of a loan scheme, the Government will not only end this social and moral injustice but university education shall also be made cheaper at the public universities since all the students shall be contributing financially to their studies at the university.
Then, those who cannot afford the cost-sharing (the ones from poor families) shall be aided through repayable soft loans.
My only fear though is that the corrupt might invade the soft loan scheme and again dispatch these loans to students would can afford to pay for themselves.
Strict procedures clearly establishing the students’ economic background should be used so that only those who qualify can indeed take the soft loans. A loan scheme or any other related credit facility so created should be pro-poor and efficient.
This way, it will help end the inequalities in our education system where one’s family background would inevitably determine whether or not they will join a public university in Uganda and the course they will study at the University. There should be an end to this institutionalised inequality.
Merely scoring top grades should not be the sole yardstick for government sponsorship at a public University. It is financial need and academic ability that should be the determining factor. The new proposal will also help the public Universities in solving the many student strikes related to tuition increments. I recommended that the Government prepares the legislative framework, the source of funds and handles how eligibility to the loan scheme would be reached. This way, higher education shall be accessible to all the disadvantaged children of Uganda.
This hitherto a far-fetched dream shall be realised through the new proposal. Lack of funds to finance one's education at university level which has been used in Uganda for a long time as a stumbling block to social integration and cohesion will have been removed.
The poor can now have a smile on their faces; that at last equality for all in Uganda’s education system and not discrimination based on the economic muscle shall determine one's destiny in the country's higher education system.
I remember as a poor paying undergradaute student at Makerere University’s Law School at times missing course tests and exams because my father could not afford to pay my tuition fees on time.
At times, I had to borrow from friends or ask my lecturers to help me out. Had such a loan or credit facility existed, maybe I would have graduated with a first class honours than the upper-second Bachelor of Laws Degree I graduated with in January 2003.
The new proposal twins in very well with the Government programmes on Universal Primary Education and Universal Secondary Education both of which are pro-poor.
At last, I can be sure that the brightest boy or girl from the remotest village in Uganda has a chance in the near future to study at a public university in Uganda.
The writer is a Doctor of Science
of Law Candidate, The University
of Arizona, Tucson, USA