Is sh7,000 per pupil enough in UPE?

Nov 07, 2014

It is a cold morning and two barefooted boys, probably aged 10, saunter through the dusty path connecting to the main road, leading to their school.

By Andrew Masinde, Daniel Edyegu and Gloria Nakajubi

trueIt is a cold morning and two barefooted boys, probably aged 10, saunter through the dusty path connecting to the main road, leading to their school. The school, under the universal primary education (UPE) programme, is massively overpopulated. Bupadhengo Primary School in Mayuge district is suffocating with a high population of 2,142 pupils. The school has 50 teachers and each class has about three streams.

The school, in spite of its high population, receives between sh3m and sh3.5m every term as part of capitation grant. This excludes the sh150,000 sent every month during the term. This comes to a tota l of about sh10m annually. However, had this school been receiving the official figure that should be sent by the Government for each pupil, which is sh7,000; it would amount to sh15m and not sh10m.

The sh15m would have been enough for this school to run efficiently. But as of now, the school, according to some of its administrators and teachers, would be struggling financially if it did not have a boarding wing. These findings are corroborated by a 2014 UNESCO report entitled, The use and usefulness of school grants; Lessons from Uganda. The regional research programme included studies in Ethiopia, Kenya, Lesotho and Malawi. It shows that in Uganda, “The grant is insufficient to cover school budgets.

Its disbursement also suffers from many delays.” The research established that many parents currently believe everything linked to school attendance should be free, including school lunch. Despite being forbidden under the UPE guidelines, the research team noted that most schools visited were devising indirect and, at times, direct ways of making parents pay some fees for running the schools. To make matters worse, Mwalimu has also established that at times schools take long to receive their funds.

As of now, all schools visited by Mwalimu had not received their capitation grants for this term. School administrators have now resolved to get scholastic materials on credit, often at overpriced rates. Are the funds enough? Investigations by Mwalimu show that whereas schools like Bupadhengo never get the expected sh7,000 per pupil, some schools do receive that amount. A good number of school administrators also say the funds are insufficient and at times do not hit the expected sh7,000 mark per pupil in a year

 According to credible sources and documentation obtained from Bupadhengo, the school uses about two boxes of chalk daily. It also uses about six cartons of white chalk every term; each carton containing 64 boxes – each sold at sh45,000. This implies that this school spends about sh2.88m on white chalk every term, which is close to the school’s entire capitation grant in a term.

Apart from chalk, the school uses two reams of manila papers, each going for sh83,000 and 10 boxes of marker pens per term, each costing sh3,000. Each ream of manila papers contains 100 pieces. Teachers must also have pens and counter-books to prepare their schemes of work and lesson plans. The school buys two boxes of red and blue pens per week and each teacher is entitled to two counterbooks.

Each counter-book goes for sh6,000, totalling sh600,000. A box of pens costs sh15,000, meaning the school spends sh360,000 on pens per term. The school also sets monthly tests, meaning there is need to purchase stationery occasionally. But since the funds are limited, each pupil is asked to pay sh700 for every examination paper.

A ream of papers costs sh14,000, and the school authorities say the cost would be abnormal for the school to foot. Adding up all these costs, the school spends far much higher than what is allocated as capitation grants Another school in Mbale district, Yoweri Museveni Primary School, is also struggling with a high population of pupils. The headteacher, Moses Mutambo, says the Government funding is inadequate.

The school has 1,249 pupils and receives about sh7.5m annually; which comes to about sh6,000 per pupil every year.“What complicates issues is that we purchase commodities on credit at hiked prices. More so, we have so many needs and this money sent on a termly basis is just not enough,” he explains. To fill the missing gap, management asks parents to contribute sh10,000 to the running of the school. He says some parents never pay this money, and “we cannot send away their children. By law, we cannot do that. It is voluntary payments.” The school, he says, collects an additional sh6.2m to ably meet its financial needs.

Mutambo explains that the school, to efficiently run on government funds, needs about sh10,000 per pupil annually. Meanwhile, at Kigweri Primary School in Buyende district, the headteacher, Michael Waiswa, says with a population of 672 pupils, they receive 1.35m per term; which is sh4.05m annually. He, however, argues that this it is not enough for the effective running of the school, saying each pupil receives only sh6,026 on an annual basis. “But when we have to buy scholastic materials on credit and pay later with interest.

This amount of money is not enough for us,” Waiswa says. He adds that even if it was at sh7,000 per pupil as the Government claims to be giving schools, it would still not be enough. More so, at Kamuli Township School, the headteacher, George Napeera, says with a population of 1,927 pupils, they are only allocated about sh10.8m annually; translating into sh5,604 per pupil. “This amount of money is not enough for us to do all the activities and purchases expected of us,” he argues. Headteachers in some schools have resorted to using personal funds to run schools.

Fulgencia Namata, a headteacher of Police School, Ntinda in Kampala, has had to use her own money for school activities. She says since this term’s capitation grants have not yet been sent to this school, she is operating on the edge. About sh1.2m was deposited on the school’s account last term, but the school could only access sh1m, with the rest being deducted as bank charges. The school has a population of 417 pupils, meaning that each pupils gets about sh8,600 annually. This is above the expected sh7,000; but Namata says even that amount is insufficient.

DID YOU KNOW?

According to the UPE capitation grant expenditure guidelines, 50% or sh3,780 of the total grant of sh7,560 is supposed to be spent on instructional materials. These include chalk, charts, blackboards, reams of papers for examinations and so on? This expenditure translates to almost sh2.3m a year if a school has 600 pupils.

NOT ALL SCHOOLS ARE BADLY OFF

At St. Jude Primary School in Naguru, Kampala, the outlook depicts a school that is in a rather decent condition. A well-maintained compound, well-maintained classroom blocks and a security fence give you a picture of a school on a proper course. Being a governmentaided school, curiosity strikes why they would not be complaining yet they have a population of 1,400 pupils.

Although not willing to divulge deeper into the details of their survival tactics, Charles Lubyayi says they have learnt to work within their means, and do the simple but yet important things that keep them running. Quite unusual is the fact that the school actually does not use all the money received as capitation grant. As of last term, about sh510,261 was apparently saved on the school account after all the schools’ expenditure.

Last term, the school received about sh3.1m. If on average they receive the same amount of money, it implies each pupil received about sh6,642 per term. Based on this, one wonders if there is proper accountability and usage of funds in other UPE schools in the country or this school has other sources of income.

Are we certain that capitation grant sent to schools is not enough, or is it just being misused? Send us your views at mwalimu@newvision.co.ug

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 The Mysterious UPE Capitation Grant Formula

UPE funds: A system gone wrong at St. Gonzaga

 

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