Legislators Call For End Of Public Schools
A number of legislators are calling upon the government to abolish free education offered through Universal Primary Education (UPE).
The government introduced this free education as a policy tool for achieving poverty reduction and human development but some parliamentarians believe it is the greatest cause of poor performances in national examinations due to poor funding.
During the 10th parliamentary sitting, Buhweju County’s MP, Hon. Mwijukye Francis stated that the government has abandoned these schools leaving them with no funding.
“I have heard the Prime Minister and President telling anyone who goes to these schools not to pay any shilling but how much does the government contribute? There’s no education taking place in UPE because teachers are not teaching.” Francis stated.
This submission comes shortly after Kampala City mayor, Lord Elias Lukwago called for the closure of the program because of the consistent poor performance in national examinations.
Speaking to the press at the City Hall, the Lord Mayor noted that free education has negatively affected the quality and standard of children following the government’s directive to promote every child’s education.
Out of the 2221 schools around Kampala, the government owns 79 but Lukwago believes it hasn’t done a great job to support them leading to the failure.
According to a report released by the Uganda National Examinations Board (UNEB), 97107 candidates failed. Out of these, 87825 were from UPE, leaving 9282 candidates only from private schools.
In Kampala City, out of the 79 government owned schools, none of them got aggregate four. Lukwago pins the poor result on lack of financial support from the government.
“We do not have enough staff to supervise these schools and the quality of work. A school can operate for close to ten years without registering with us.” He said.
Lukwago believes that the only way for quality education is for the government to work hand in hand with private schools to regulate their school fees, therefore making them affordable by all Ugandans.
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