IGG report pins down district officials on UPE
A fresh report by the Inspector General of Government , Jotham Tumwesigye has pinned school administrations for failing to administer Universal Primary Education funds and the School Facilities Grant (SFG)
By Fortunate Ahimbisibwe
A fresh report by the Inspector General of Government , Jotham Tumwesigye has pinned school administrations for failing to administer Universal Primary Education funds and the School Facilities Grant (SFG).
The report reveals that there is still ‘non-compliance with the Universal Primary Education (UPE) guidelines in most schools’ across the country as a result of authorities failing to supervise and monitor the performance of the schools.
Owing to the tremendous increase in the number of primary children up to about seven million with the introduction of UPE for all the children in the country, government came up with the SFG policy to cater for the numbers. Unfortunately, some school authorities have let down this government policy.
The report which was presented to the speaker of Parliament, Hon. Edward Sekandi and copied to H.E President Yoweri Museveni covers investigations carried out by the IGG’s office for a period of six months from January to June, last year.
It was presented to the Speaker in January. Under article 231(1) of the Constitution, the IGG is required to submit to Parliament at least once in six months, a report on the performance of its functions, making recommendations as it considers necessary and containing such information as Parliament may require. This is the seventh report of its kind.
It was revealed that there is lack of transparency in the daily running of schools by some headteachers and mismanagement of UPE funds.
“There is general laxity regarding the inspection of schools by the staff of the District Education Departments, “ the report says.
Headteachers and Board of Governors account for 7.79% of the total percentage of the complaints received by the IGG’s office. Top on the list are district administrations with 10.5%.
There has been a tremendous increase in the number of cases against school administrations. Between July to December 2001, 76 cases were reported whereas between January to June, cases increased to 167.
There were 27 cases against District Education Officers (DEO’s), making it 1.89% of the total complaints. UNEB registered almost the lowest with two complaints.
‘The problems identified with the school management committees and headteachers directly emanate from poor supervision and monitoring of schools by the inspectors of schools,†the report says.
The report shows that in most districts around the country, some headteachers were making false claims and accountability was very poor.
The following districts were mentioned for involvement in different forms of irregularities Mukono, Kamuli, Rakai, Palisa, Iganga, Sembabule, Tororo and Arua.
In cases where it was established that there was misappropriation funds, the IGG recommended that the money be recovered.
The ombudsman recommended that the Inspectorate Department of the Ministry of Education and Sports revisit its work methods and strengthen its operations both at the headquarters and at the districts to rid schools of unidentified anomalies.’
There are delays in disbursements of funds to the respective schools by the district and yet the funds were received from the ministry in time.
Most of the complaints were about abuse of office through irregular recruitment, appointment of unqualified staff by some of the District Service Commissions, maintenance of ‘ghost’ workers on payrolls.
“Irregularities in the awards of tenders at the central government level was also rampant and this involved irregular award of Consultancy Services.
This was most done through flouting of procedures and guidelines in some cases through favouritism. It is therefore recommended that strict adherence to guidelines and regulations be observed.â€
The performance of the School Facilities Grant (SFG) was also found wanting according to the investigations carried out by the ombudsman.
“There was non-compliance with the SFG guidelines in that, most payments to the contractors were effected at the District Headquarters and not by the school management,†the report indicates.
Although the construction of classrooms and pit latrines was well done, in some schools it was still poor, where the floors had developed cracks and the furniture supplied was of very poor quality. (Most desks were already broken at the time of the inspection.)
The report reveals that there was a general laxity by the district administrators in inspection of the construction in schools.’
It was recommended that ‘there should be further investigations into UPE funds released to the district. This is because there was no proper accountability of the UPE funds at the district.’
There have been reports of buildings which were constructed under the SFG have collapsed barely three months after construction.
A fresh report by the Inspector General of Government , Jotham Tumwesigye has pinned school administrations for failing to administer Universal Primary Education funds and the School Facilities Grant (SFG).
The report reveals that there is still ‘non-compliance with the Universal Primary Education (UPE) guidelines in most schools’ across the country as a result of authorities failing to supervise and monitor the performance of the schools.
Owing to the tremendous increase in the number of primary children up to about seven million with the introduction of UPE for all the children in the country, government came up with the SFG policy to cater for the numbers. Unfortunately, some school authorities have let down this government policy.
The report which was presented to the speaker of Parliament, Hon. Edward Sekandi and copied to H.E President Yoweri Museveni covers investigations carried out by the IGG’s office for a period of six months from January to June, last year.
It was presented to the Speaker in January. Under article 231(1) of the Constitution, the IGG is required to submit to Parliament at least once in six months, a report on the performance of its functions, making recommendations as it considers necessary and containing such information as Parliament may require. This is the seventh report of its kind.
It was revealed that there is lack of transparency in the daily running of schools by some headteachers and mismanagement of UPE funds.
“There is general laxity regarding the inspection of schools by the staff of the District Education Departments, “ the report says.
Headteachers and Board of Governors account for 7.79% of the total percentage of the complaints received by the IGG’s office. Top on the list are district administrations with 10.5%.
There has been a tremendous increase in the number of cases against school administrations. Between July to December 2001, 76 cases were reported whereas between January to June, cases increased to 167.
There were 27 cases against District Education Officers (DEO’s), making it 1.89% of the total complaints. UNEB registered almost the lowest with two complaints.
‘The problems identified with the school management committees and headteachers directly emanate from poor supervision and monitoring of schools by the inspectors of schools,†the report says.
The report shows that in most districts around the country, some headteachers were making false claims and accountability was very poor.
The following districts were mentioned for involvement in different forms of irregularities Mukono, Kamuli, Rakai, Palisa, Iganga, Sembabule, Tororo and Arua.
In cases where it was established that there was misappropriation funds, the IGG recommended that the money be recovered.
The ombudsman recommended that the Inspectorate Department of the Ministry of Education and Sports revisit its work methods and strengthen its operations both at the headquarters and at the districts to rid schools of unidentified anomalies.’
There are delays in disbursements of funds to the respective schools by the district and yet the funds were received from the ministry in time.
Most of the complaints were about abuse of office through irregular recruitment, appointment of unqualified staff by some of the District Service Commissions, maintenance of ‘ghost’ workers on payrolls.
“Irregularities in the awards of tenders at the central government level was also rampant and this involved irregular award of Consultancy Services.
This was most done through flouting of procedures and guidelines in some cases through favouritism. It is therefore recommended that strict adherence to guidelines and regulations be observed.â€
The performance of the School Facilities Grant (SFG) was also found wanting according to the investigations carried out by the ombudsman.
“There was non-compliance with the SFG guidelines in that, most payments to the contractors were effected at the District Headquarters and not by the school management,†the report indicates.
Although the construction of classrooms and pit latrines was well done, in some schools it was still poor, where the floors had developed cracks and the furniture supplied was of very poor quality. (Most desks were already broken at the time of the inspection.)
The report reveals that there was a general laxity by the district administrators in inspection of the construction in schools.’
It was recommended that ‘there should be further investigations into UPE funds released to the district. This is because there was no proper accountability of the UPE funds at the district.’
There have been reports of buildings which were constructed under the SFG have collapsed barely three months after construction.