Kampala — It is not difficult to picture an ideal school. Think of school children entering their classes, to find their teachers present and ready to teach.

Imagine them having textbooks, pencils and exercise books, a desk to sit on and a lunch waiting for them during the midday break. This picture of the ideal school - simple as it may be - is still far from reality in Uganda. Yet there is no need for pessimism, writes Jeroen Verheul, Ambassador of the Netherlands, a big supporter of the Education Sector.

If Development Partners, the Uganda Government and communities join forces in a quest for better quality Education. The Netherlands will support education in Uganda with roughly 58m euros in the next few years

Over the last ten years, the Government of Uganda has been striving to deliver Universal Primary Education (UPE) to all primary school going children of Uganda. Uganda has made tremendous progress towards achieving equitable access to UPE.

The Ministry of Education and Sports statistics over the UPE years are a testimony to this achievement. However, the high pupil enrolment numbers have come with a cost. Pupils may be in school, but learning achievements are still dismal. MoES statistics show trends of low competency levels in both numeracy and literacy. Yet these are the core business of education.

The good news is that Uganda fully recognises the problem of quality and is willing to tackle it. The Netherlands Embassy will therefore gladly support the Ugandan Education Sector in the next few years with an amount of roughly 58.5m Euros (Shs147b).

These funds will be donated through different channels, ranging from Sector Budget Support (12 m euros), support to the PRDP for kick-starting education in the North (22m euros), the CROWNS Project in West Nile for enhancing community participation in education in West Nile (6.2m euros) to the Acholi Bursary Scheme (9.3m euros) and the NFP/NPT programme for Tertiary Education (9m euros). The main goal of all these actions, however, is improving the quality of education in Uganda.

The Netherlands believe Uganda has taken a very important step towards improving the quality of Education by launching the Quality Enhancement Initiative last month. This initiative will ensure regular teacher attendance in school and class and enhance regular attendance of pupils in class and reduce drop-outs. It will promote regular and effective school supervision and inspection.

Also, it will encourage greater community participation in their children's education.This programme will start with twelve districts at the bottom of the district league tables and gradually be rolled out to the rest of the country. It is important to note that the QEI is not a donor plan. It is an initiative of the Ugandan Government itself.

The QEI is an integral part of the Education Sector Strategic Plan and will hopefully be firmly embedded into the revised ESSP 2008-2015. Even more important is it to realise that to achieve the QEI will be a daunting task indeed.

The Ministry of Education and Sports will need to forge strategic alliances with other line ministries e.g. Ministry of Local Government, Ministry of public Service, Ministry of Finance, Planning and economic Development, with Civil Society Organisations and Non-Government Organisations and with the wider school communities.

Without the unflinching support of its' sister ministries, quality UPE will remain a distant dream for the majority of Ugandan children. The Netherlands and other Development Partners are ready to join forces with Uganda on this Quest for Quality Education.

Jeroen Verheul Ambassador of the Kingdom of the Netherlands