Who is lying about capitation grants?

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Last week, Mwalimu ran a story on the adequacy of the funds disbursed by the Government to schools under the Universal Primary Education (UPE) programme.

The Government is supposed to pay sh7,560 per child per annum although the amount sent to schools usually oscillates between sh6,000 and sh7,500.

According to the expenditure guidelines, 50% or sh3,780 of the grant should be spent on instructional materials for a school of 600 pupils.

This translates to almost sh2.3m. While public school teachers are always whining about the inadequacy of capitation grants, their counterparts in private schools say they would even make a saving if they got the money. But some of the readers of this pull-out, teachers and experts do not agree with this view.

Here is their feedback: 

Funds not enough

Patrick Kaboyo

Malcom X, a renowned African-American Muslim minister and a human rights activist, asserted that “Education is our passport to the future, for tomorrow belongs to the people who prepare for it today.” Linking tomorrow, cannot resonate with an allocation of sh7,000 for a child per year. Sh7,000 to build our future! This is hiding our heads in the sand and also building the foundation of our country on the sand.

We need to guarantee our future and not leave it to, ‘To Whom It May Concern.’ Assessing whether sh7,000 is more than enough to enable any school deliver quality learning outcomes and even make a saving as was reported by teachers interviewed, is far fetched and unrealistic.

It is rhetoric and hard to believe because for a number of years, the unit cost for school capitation has not been helpful in the delivery of quality education. For instance, there are 236 school days in 2014 with 79 days in first term, 68 days in second term and 89 days in third term.

While it is true that children are expected to learn throughout the 236 days, it is not true that all pupils can be in class for 236 days. By calculation, if sh7,000 is to reach the school account in time, each child is entitled to shillings sh2,333, an amount that cannot buy a kilogramme of sugar on the market today.

Aware that the cost of education financing varies from school to school, there are standard costs that are not debatable. Costs to cover scholastic materials, feeding, school health, hygiene, water and sanitation, instructional materials in right numbers are not matters for negotiation, but rather a right. It is therefore, not right to say sh7,000 is enough to run a private school in a year without interrogating the other sources.

Private schools have diversified other sources of funds which parents never query and a weak regulatory framework to stakeholder protection and value for money.

Government’s continuous procrastination in having the unit cost for capitation grant reviewed, its silence on the illegitimate diversification of sources of funds of private schools is not only a heavy burden to the parents, but also a policy and legal deficit on its side.

The Education Act 2008 requires urgent amendment to address the unit cost for capitation, offer a balanced and acceptable room for contribution from different partners like parents whose children’s education is very vital.

Since it is mandatory for all public primary schools to display annual capitation releases and utilisation, private schools too must do the same to qualify the fact that they can do better with the sh7,000 and even save.

Financial prudence and transparency are still lacking in private schools but should be promoted. As a result, best public practices in financial management to school stakeholders must be replicated by private school managers for school capitation grant cannot be a matter of betting but rather set out with a clear formula.

The sh7,000 might be better than nothing but is inadequate to address the education challenges of the time whether in a low enrolment, medium or high enrolment school anywhere.

(The writer is the executive director of the Coalition of Uganda Private School Teachers Association)

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Schools well facilitated

Benjamin Tumusiime

I am confident like most people argued in last week’s Mwalimu story, that the sh7,000 allocated to teachers is enough. I find it amusing that UPE schools always claim that the funds are not enough, yet most of their bills are footed by the Government.

If these funds are released to schools on time and in a lump sum, I am confident that any serious head teacher in a UPE school would find it adequate.

We should not forget that most head teachers make us believe that this money is not enough, even after they have created ghost pupils in the system. We are gradually losing so much money through ghosts, in the universal primary education schools in the country.

We should remember, as elaborated in that story, that some of these scholastic materials, which are supposed to take the biggest chunk of the capitation grants every other term, are always bought once a year. Why would you buy a blackboard, charts, or other reading materials every other term? What matters most is the way you budget for these funds.

It should be noted that most UPE schools run a daytime programme, unlike private schools, which have both the day and evening programme. This means the costs can easily be minimised. What we should be doing right now is to sensitise parents about their responsibilities.

This should help them know what they are supposed to do to help schools to run efficiently. This will also help the Government to have parents who can monitor the utilisation of funds.

(The writer is a teacher in a private school - benjamintumusiime@yahoo.com)

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Other responses from social media

Patrick Musiime

At last….Now we know that headteachers have not been telling us the truth all this time. They misuse the money and make us believe that the funds are not enough. If the Government is meeting the cost of paying teachers, how can you fail to utilise the millions sent to you school every term?

Linda Rice

Come on...That is more than one restaurant meal in the United States. Robert Wamboga: Is there any private school that charges less than sh100,000 per pupil in Kampala

Prince Nicholas

Private schools are just not sincere.

Peter Okwera

It amuses me that some of these private schools that charge us abnormally are the same schools that are now telling us that the money sent to UPE schools is enough.


Also related to this article

Is sh7,000 per pupil enough in UPE?

The Mysterious UPE Capitation Grant Formula