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Uganda: Govt Plays Big Role On Boarding Schools
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The Monitor (Kampala)
OPINION
13 May 2008
Posted to the web 12 May 2008
Aggrey D. Kibenge
I wish to correct a distortion in the Daily Monitor insinuating that government has no role in the operation of boarding schools in Uganda. This distortion is being repeatedly peddled yet throughout my discussion with the reporter, I never said this!
For clarity's sake, I will summarise the many things we discussed over the role of government (read Ministry of Education and Sports) in the operation of boarding schools in Uganda and delivery of primary education in general.
First, that government policy on education, and particularly on the operation of day and boarding schools, derives from the White Paper on Education (1992) which in Chapter Three, under general principles for effective use of educational resources stipulates that "Government will vigorously de-emphasise boarding education as a means of cutting down on the cost of education, and, therefore, providing education opportunities to as many citizens as possible at the various levels of both formal and non-formal education sectors."
It adds, in Chapter Four; "all new government-aided primary schools should be only day schools; and, where boarding facilities are provided these should be funded entirely by parents/beneficiaries." This is not the same as government having nothing to do with boarding schools!
In fact, when prompted along this very line, I reminded the reporter that such a position would be far from the truth, given that government remits capitation grants to boarding schools and supervises them. How can then one sustain an argument that government has no role to play in the operation of boarding schools in Uganda!
On whether the Ministry of Education and Sports (in this case the Minister and Permanent Secretary) have powers to discipline errant or non-performing officers viz District Education Officers (DEOs), District Inspectors of Schools (DIS), headteachers and teachers of primary schools, I spent invaluable time with the reporter examining the laws on decentralisation.
She was amazed, as indeed many of the media persons that have called me since then, to discover that primary education is a fully decentralised service, directly jurisdiction of the Local Governments.
The Accounting Officers for Local Governments are not the Permanent Secretaries but the Chief Administrative Officers (CAOs), implying that DEOs, DIS' and all staff of the Education Departments at District, City or Municipal Council level report to the CAOs.
In the same vein, all resources from the Central Government for delivery of primary education are remitted by the ministry responsible for finance directly to the Local Governments for disbursement by CAOs. Similarly, headteachers and teachers of all public primary schools in Uganda are appointed by the District Service Commissions (DSCs), deployed by the districts and, whenever it may be necessary to do so, are disciplined or sanctioned by the DSCs.
Nevertheless, I indicated to the reporter that the Ministry of Education retains an oversight responsibility on all matters of education although where a matter has to do with a decentralised service, like primary education, the ministry has to solicit the intervention of the Local Governments either through the relevant Accounting Officers (the CAOs) but often through and or with the knowledge of the Ministry for Local Governments.
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The writer is PRO, Ministry of Education and Sports
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