Govt invests sh483b in school infrastructure

Over the past few years, the government has taken on an ambitious capital investment programme of school construction at both primary and secondary level. This, for the most part has been occasioned by a growing school age-going population, overcrowded classrooms in some areas of the country and increasing enrolment numbers.



At the primary, secondary, and other levels, there has been an increased stock of infrastructure, including classrooms, laboratories and libraries. For a good measure, the Government has also embarked on the rehabilitation and maintenance of existing infrastructure.

Armed with a development budget of sh483.472b for the financial year 2019/2020, the Government embarked on phased construction of primary and secondary schools per parish and per sub-country.

The Government also made good on its promise to rehabilitate, expand and equip the existing [technical, vocational education and training institutions] TVET in the country. The ministry is also committed to building a business, technical and vocational education and training (BTVET) institution, per constituency.

There are currently, 133 government-aided BTVET institutions around the country. Last financial year, the Government expanded 145 primary schools with less than three permanent classrooms to provide an additional 929 classrooms.

The Government also constructed dormitories at schools in the Karamoja subregion. Beneficiary schools are Moroto High School, Lobalangit Primary School in Kaabong, Kiru Primary School in Abim, Kamion Primary School in Kaabong, Lolachat Primary School in Nakapiripirit and Karita Primary School in Amudat. In the last financial year, the Government completed the construction of 15 seed secondary schools.

The construction work took four years to complete. A further 117 seed secondary schools are reportedly under construction.

While presenting the education sector's accomplishments in the past four years, as part of the NRM Manifesto week in May, Mrs Janet Museveni, the First Lady and also the education and sports minister, said under the intergovernmental fiscal transfers programme (UgIFT), the ministry would build an additional 115 seed secondary schools in the 2020/2021 financial year.

Mrs Museveni said 100 more seed secondary schools would be constructed under the Uganda Secondary Education Expansion Project (USEEP). For starters, seed schools are those established in areas where, previously, there was no school.

The objective of the World Bank-funded inter-governmental fiscal transfers programme on the other hand is to help Uganda improve the adequacy and equity of fiscal transfers and improve fiscal management of resources by local governments for health and education services.

USEEP on its part, is an International Development Association-funded project, which was approved by the World Bank earlier this year. The project is to cost sh554b.

Under the auspices of the project, the education ministry will build the schools in 60 districts with no public secondary schools and below-average gross enrolment ratios. Some of the beneficiaries are refugee-hosting districts.

"These capital investments in school construction are welcome developments for Uganda's chequered education sector. A sufficient number of secondary schools will stand the sector in good stead, especially with the growing demand for secondary school education in different parts of the country," consultant with the East African Partnership for Education, Lydia Nakaweesi says.

"It will also likely bode well with the education and sports sector strategic plan's enrolment objective for secondary education of 35.5% by 2025. Improving Uganda's lower secondary level enrolment rates puts the country in a steady stride towards achieving Universal Secondary Education," she adds.

Building secondary schools in underserved or underprivileged areas of the country also means that Uganda will be on the inside lane in its quest to increase the lower secondary school enrolment rate from 32% to 46% by 2025.In the past few years, Uganda has lagged behind her neighbours in terms of improving enrolment at lower secondary level.

World Bank experts writing in last year's Economic Update on Human capital in Uganda report, said for Uganda to achieve a lower secondary gross enrolment ratio of 46%, more school facilities to accommodate about one million additional students, would have to be built. In many respects, the secondary schools constructions, mean that Uganda, which, in recent years, has been inundated with a steady influx of refugees; (1.2 million in number, with some 132,000 projected to be of secondary school-going age) will, if all goes well, be able to absorb, the 132,000 into the new schools.

In recent years, there have been concerns principally from the civil society that the school infrastructural development projects are usually devoid of requisite facilities. On that, the education ministry has made it clear that all the seed schools being constructed will have comprehensive infrastructure, including 400-seater multipurpose halls, staff houses for six teachers (including the headteacher), information and communications technology and science laboratories, libraries and classrooms.



Though there have also been calls for the ministry to provide housing for teachers, only where it is most needed; for fear that it would not be cost efficient for the government, the ministry did not waver in its commitment to build decent houses for many teachers, last financial year.

Nine semi-detached teachers' houses were constructed in nine primary schools in the hard-to-reach district of Bukwo. Five semi-detached houses were constructed at six primary teachers' colleges (PTCs) — Shimoni, Erepi, Kisoro, Ibanda, Rukungiri and Ngora. Under the School Facility Grant, 86 teachers houses were built by the ministry in the financial year 2018/2019.

Notwithstanding the milestones, education experts have warned that the ministry will likely face high pupil/student classroom ratios challenges in the future, unless the country's high population growth rates are checked.

"More efforts are also needed to halt high teacher attrition rates and absenteeism," educationist and proprietor of Busega Preparatory School Edward Lule says.