2,000 pupils overwhelm Bupadengo

 By Andrew Masinde

trueTwo gate-men, dressed in blue uniform stand guard as children stream in. For most schools, one guard is enough but to Bupadengo Primary School, that is not the case. Later, I learn that the deployment of two guards is because of the high pupil population. Bupadengo Primary School, which is under the Universal Primary Education (UPE) is located in Kamuli district. With a population of 2,142 pupils, the school has about 50 teachers and each class has about three streams.

 Poor funding 

According to the education ministry offi cials, on average, each UPE school in the country has about 320 pupils. According to documents seen by Mwalimu, the school receives between sh3m and sh3.5m every term as the capitation grant. This primary school should get at least sh15m annually if the offi cial sh7,000 per pupil is to be followed. Although the Government promised that the funds would always be released before the opening of each school term, this school receives its funds at the end of the term. According to the official capitation grants guidelines, half of this money should be spent on scholastic materials. Sources at the school said they use about six cartons of white chalk worth sh720,000 every term.

This is close to a third of the school’s capitation grant that it receives from the Government every term. This makes it impossible for the school administration to follow UPE capitation guidelines that require the school to spend only 50% of the funds on scholastic materials. Apart from chalk, the school uses two reams of manila paper (sh83,000 each) and 10 boxes of markers (sh7,000 each) per term. The school buys two boxes of red and blue pens per week. Each teacher is also entitled to two counter-books in which to prepare work schemes. Each counter-book costs sh6,000. A box of pens costs sh15,000 meaning the school spends sh360,000 on pens per term. The school also sets monthly tests on duplicating paper, which is about sh15,000 per ream.

Since funds are limited, each pupil is asked to pay sh700 for every examination paper. The authorities say the cost would be too much for the school to handle if they were not to ask the pupils to pay the money. Apart from scholastic materials, the headteacher, Godfrey Sajjabi, explains that sometimes, the school purchases commodities on credit with interest, which Government auditors fi nd unacceptable during accountability of UPE funds. “This gradually complicates the running of the school since we do not have enough funds,” he explains.

With co-curricular activities, the cost rises when competitions reach at the national level, especially in transporting participants to the sports venue, accommodation, feeding and paying trainers. “But at times, we fail to make it to some of these competitions because of limited funds,” Sajjabi says. He also says the school grapples with water and power bills. Sajjabi adds that the School Management Committee and the Parents and Teachers Association resolved to contribute some money to the running of the school. 

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The deputy head teacher, Charles Mpubani, with another teacher

Accountability

 The head teacher says he always proposes a budget, which he presents to the Parents and Teachers’ Association and school management committee for approval. “At the end of every year, I call for an annual general parents’ meeting where we table the schools’ expenditure.

They always have some suggestions on what to improve,” he explains. He says the sub-county chief is an active member of the school management committee and always attends the management meetings.  “This helps us to always be ready. He never asks for allowances, but instead contributes to the running of the school every time he visits,” the head teacher explains. Zahra Nanyinji, a parent, says she attends several parents’ meeting but pays little attention on the allocation of funds. “As a parent, all I want is to see that my child is at school. I do not think parents need to be involved in the budgeting process. I trust our head teacher because our children perform well,” she adds.

Samiru Bukusuba, another parent, believes the school administration is transparent. “I like the head teacher because he is always transparent. We also contribute some money to support the school instead of depending on Government funding,” he says. Meanwhile, the chairman of the school management committee, Paul Naguyo, says whenever the capitation grant is released to the school, the head teacher calls for a meeting to agree on its allocation. 

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Pupils of Bupadengo Primary School in class

DISTRICT LEADERS SPEAK

Kamuli district education offi cer Joseph Musoke says the UPE money is never enough to effectively run highlypopulated schools. “We always advise the schools to work with the school management committee and the PTA to look for alternative ways of funding the schools’ operations,” he says. “We are pleased that this school works well with the two bodies. They have always submitted their accountability in time. It is one of the schools, which has always accounted for its funds.

The auditors have never found any fault with them,” he explains. He adds: “The Government should openly allow parents to contribute some little money to supplement the capitation grants. This is because the Government’s funding is always too meagre to perfectly run schools,” he explains.

Kamuli district chairman Salaamu Musumba says they are not satisfied with the funding to he UPE schools. “Despite the challenges, we are happy that the head teachers have love for their schools and have always tried to utilise the allocated funds. We have not yet received any issues of schools misappropriating money,”she adds.