The government prohibited the imposition of school fees in Universal Primary Education (UPE) schools, and enforcement of fees payment, such as expelling learners for non-payment, was criminalized.
However, school heads in UPE schools are concerned that foundation bodies view government grant-aided schools as revenue sources, rather than focusing on mobilizing additional resources to support the schools under their foundation, writes YUDAYA NANGOZI.
For two decades, the government has touted the Universal Primary Education (UPE) programme as an initiative that has made education accessible to millions of children. However, a recent report from the Initiative for Social and Economic Rights (ISER) indicates that beneath this apparent 27-year-old success lies numerous challenges that threaten the foundation of mass primary education.
Despite a remarkable surge in enrollment from 3.1 million learners in 1996 to about 8.6 million learners today, ISER found that the UPE remains plagued by quality, equity and accountability issues. The report from ISER examined the critical governance and accountability challenges that have undermined the promise of UPE and revealed how insufficient funding, weak oversight, and systemic gaps have continued to hinder the delivery of equitable and high-quality education for all.
In the report titled: We are not well educated but learning on the job; Governance and Accountability in the Provision of Public Primary Education in Uganda, ISER visited 48 primary schools in Namayingo, Sheema, and Yumbe districts. In each school, the researchers interacted with members of School Management Committees (SMCs), parents, foundation bodies, and district and ministry of Education officers.
Currently, there are 36,285 primary schools, 62% of which are privately owned while 34% are government-aided but founded by religious institutions and local communities. Of the 12,477 government-aided primary schools, 12,433 are implementing the UPE programme.
FOUNDATION BODIES ON THE SPOT
In assessing the relevance of foundation bodies in the governance of UPE schools, the report showed that they enjoy the highest representation of SMCs at 50%. The foundation bodies have at least six members including the chairperson.
The other members [one each] come from the local government, sub-county, local council, parent, school teaching staff, former learner, and the head teacher who doubles as a secretary but cannot vote in the meetings. The headteacher only provides education technical advice to the members.
Under section 5 (3) of the Education Act, the foundation bodies are mandated to ensure proper school management through SMCs, participate in policy formulation, and advocate for education, among other roles.
Although foundation bodies are required to mobilize resources for education purposes, the report found that they hardly do, and in some instances instead collect funds from schools as foundation body dues. During the research, some members of the SMCs decried this lack of support from the foundation bodies, noting that they seek to gain financially from the schools to run their projects.
"The challenge with foundation bodies is that we once had a reverend who always wanted us to pick money from the school and give it to him. For instance, the church may have a function and require us to contribute Shs 100,000. But the church has never mobilized money to contribute to the development of the school," a school SMC member told the researchers.
Whereas the law provides for foundation bodies to participate in the management of schools through the SMCs, they have since created elaborate parallel structures governing the schools they founded.
According to Michael Wafaana, the lead researcher, a review of documents and interviews with education ministry officials established that there isn't a standard or official Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed between foundation bodies and government before any school is taken on as a government grant-aided school.
"In the absence of such a document with explicit terms and conditions, as well as rights and responsibilities of the parties, foundation bodies end up assuming their own," Wafaana said.
The Director of Basic and Secondary Education at the ministry, Ismael Mulindwa, noted in the report that in the ongoing discussions for a formal MoU between government and religious foundation bodies, the latter have insisted on collecting what they call "foundation body dues" from schools, calculated per learner.
"We have been engaging the faith-based top leadership and I know this matter will be sorted," Mulindwa said while launching the ISER report at Hotel Africana in Kampala recently.
JUSTIFICATION OF FEES
The national leaders of the foundation bodies justified the charging of the foundation dues on various grounds.
In an interview with the Church of Uganda provincial education programs officer, Peter Ssenkumba, he explained that: "Foundation dues are mandatory and not collected under the carpet and even the government knows about it. As a foundation body, we offer services to these schools like inspection just in case some issues have been overlooked by government inspectors."
Ssenkumba added: "We have school chaplains that guide the teachers and pupils spiritually but are not on the government payroll. Who pays them? So, the foundation dues are not something that is done secretively. The government has not banned it. If there is anything that the government wants to ban, they issue a circular but because they know what it [foundation dues] does, they cannot ban it."
The head of the Uganda Catholic Education Secretariat, Fr Ronald Okello, agreed with the Church of Uganda's stand on the levying of foundation dues.
"The money is provided for in law. It ranges from Shs 10,000 per learner per term in schools in Kampala to Shs 500 in schools in Karamoja but most of them [learners] don't pay. For instance, this money facilitates the priest to celebrate mass in these schools; the priest travels 30km, and he can't travel on foot. It also facilitates those people who work for the church," Okello said.
The assistant secretary general of the Uganda Muslim Education Association (UMEA), Hajji Abdu Nasser Kiwanuka, explained that in policy, the learners in UPE schools are required to pay the foundation dues but the payment of the funds is well-known.
"Theoretically, they are supposed to pay but practically we don't charge them. If you look at the conditions in the schools, there is no way you can collect money from a UPE school," Kiwanuka said.
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The report, however, clarified that the foundation body dues are not provided for in any law. Instead, such action of charging learners
the foundation dues is against the provisions of sections 5 (3) and 8 of the Education Act that should guide any arrangements between the government and the religious or community organizations in the management of schools.
RECOMMENDATIONS
Overall, the report concluded that while the government has taken significant steps in implementing its commitments to equitable education, issues of inadequate funding, absence, and weak or contradictory policy frameworks have undermined the effective implementation of the UPE programme.
The ISER researchers recommended that parliament and the education and finance ministries should ensure that UPE is adequately funded to minimize the growing cost burden of public primary education on parents.
"The Education Ministry should issue a Statutory Instrument directing foundation bodies to desist from charging any form of foundation body dues from learners and also direct head teachers and SMCs to desist from collecting and remitting any such funds to foundation bodies," reads the report.
It further urged foundation bodies to work closely with SMCs and effectively mobilize additional resources for their schools rather than treating government grant-aided schools as sources of income.
The report also encouraged the Education ministry from time to time to utilize the powers granted to them under sections 3 and 57 of the Education Act, 2008 to issue regulations to address governance issues of schools and the UPE programme as opposed to relying on guidelines.
