National Budget: Education takes a lion's share in Mbarara

 

 

By Adolf Ayoreka

 

MBARARA - Education is one the sectors in Mbarara Municipality that have always been doing badly.

 

As far as pupils' performance and state of school structures is concerned, some schools have dilapidated buildings.

 

But, Mbarara Municipal Council (MMC) have passed the budget for the financial year 2018/2019 in which the education sector was given a lion's share in a bid to boost education in Mbarara.

 

In the 2018/2019 financial budget, councilors have allocated over sh14bn compared to the 2017/2018 budget of sh11.7b to provide schools with furniture, toilets, construct new classrooms and staffs quarters as well as prompt pay of teachers' salaries. 

 

Muzamir Matovu, the chairman education committee at Municipal council told New Vision that they have a big challenge in the three new divisions of Municipality that is Nyakayojo, Biharwe and Kakika which were annexed to the Municipality in 2014.

 

He says that some of the schools in these new divisions are in a poor state, some have no toilets and class room that affected the grades of some schools in last year's Primary Leaving Examinations results.

 

He attributed this to poor working and learning environment for teachers and pupils respectively hence giving education a lion's share in the next year's budget.

 

"we have schools such as  Karama primary school, Kambaba

primary school, Bugashe and Nyakayojo primary school that have no classrooms and we intend to build good classrooms.

 

"Work has already started in some schools because last year we failed to get a first grade in th whole division, that's why we thought of allocating more funds to heighten on the monitoring and supervision of teachers, prompt pay of their salaries and providing other scholaristic materials to pupils, the old divisions of Kakoba, Kamukuzi and Nyamitanga the situation is not bad as compared to that in the new divisions," Matovu stated.

 

Other schools that have been targeted include Biharwe Muslim Primary school, Rwenjeru in Biharwe division, Rwebishuri and Kyamugorani primary schools in Kakika division.

 

Robert Mugabe Kakyebezi the Municipality mayor who doubles as the secretary for education also echoed the same saying that they want to recruit more professional teachers basically for new divisions and ensure they are paid well, organising ports in schools.

 

"We have a lot that we need to do in the education sector because it has been lagging behind, poor structures in these schools are a bigger challenge, and some have no classrooms, but we want to ensure that these schools get required furniture and toilets," Kakyebezi noted.

 

He added that other sectors are not as  badly off as education, "if we can get the funds we allocated in the budget then we want to see our pupils perform better than before."

 

Administration sector will take sh3.7bn which was reduced from sh4.7bn in the 2017/2018 financial year, Roads and Engineering will take shs3.2bn from sh27.2bn in the financial year 2017/2018, next is Health  sector increased from sh2.4bn, next is Finance that will take sh1.2bn increased from sh474m in the 2017/2018, Statutory Bodies will take sh1.1bn increased from shs926m, Community services will take sh958m,

 

The total budget estimates for the financial year 2018/2019 which was passed amounts to sh27.9bn as compared to the last financial year of 2017/2018 which was estimated at sh49.4bn.

 

This is an indicator that there is a drastic drop  in the local revenue collections  in Mbarara Municipality which is majorly affected by under declaration of revenue by tax collectors and political interference.