Education in Uganda

Posted by Kate Rehberg

I originally wrote this a few weeks ago for my own blog while studying abroad in Uganda. As I continue to process the semester, one of the recurring themes is how often government policy and practices differ, and how often that inconsistency messes up many attempts at development. After some encouragement, here's the entry for your consideration.

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Uganda's president Museveni has gotten international praise for his “Universal Primary Education” system which debuted in 1997. Because of its supposed success, Museveni also launched “Universal Secondary Education” in 2003.

In the book Globalization and its Discontents which some people in our group have been reading on-and-off, we came across this praise of the program: “Most countries, facing severe budgetary constraints, have followed the Washington Consensus advice that fees should be charged. Their reasoning: statistical studies showed that small fees had little impact on school enrollment. But Uganda's President Museveni thought otherwise. He knew that he had to create a culture in which the expectation was that everyone went to school. And he knew he couldn't do that so long as there were nay fees charged. So he ignored the advice of the outside experts and simply abolished all school fees. Enrollments soared. As each family saw others sending all of their children to school, it too decided to send its girls to school. What the simplistic statistical studies ignored is the power of systemic change.”

Not so sure about that.

One of my close friends here, Gwen, is studying education in Uganda for her independent research project. She set out to look at parents' investment in their children's education (why they choose the schools they do, what they expect to get from their children after their schooling, etc)...and discovered instead that Uganda's claim of “free education for all” is basically crap.

There are two kinds of schools in Uganda: public and private. You can choose to go wherever you want as long as you can pay. Historically, families had to pay fees to both types of schools to at least cover operating costs, etc. But, with UPE, the government claims (to the public, other governments, and its international donors) to have eliminated all school fees at government schools. Parents are not supposed to have to pay anything to government schools for their children's educations. According to the government policy, schools are given 5,000 Ushs/term for P1-P3 and 8,000 Ushs/term for P4-P7. That's about $3 for each 1st - 3rd grader each term (there are 3 terms/year), and $5 for each 4th - 7th grader per term. That money from the government should mean that students don't have to pay for enrollement (they may still have to pay food and uniform costs, but that's all).

Expecting to verify this information, Gwen went to a government school and asked the head teacher how much it costs for each child's education. She said 12,900 Ushs per student per term, and that all government school fees were the same. The conversation below followed:

Gwen: “So the government pays those fees?”
Teacher: “Oh no, that's the parents”
Gwen: “But isn't this a government school?
Teacher: “Well, yes”
Gwen: “Well then what qualifies you as a government school? What does that status get you from the government?”
Teacher: “Oh, well, they give us 800 Ushs/student/term. Although...we often don't get what they say they will give us. So it's very hard for us to budget. Also, 800 Ushs is not very much. It's very difficult to make that stretch for 3 months.”

[Note: 800 Shillings is less than 40 cents].

To be fair, this conversation happened at a school in Kampala city. Apparently in rural areas the fees are a little less, because there aren't extra costs like electricity, etc. Regardless, though, across the country, students are paying to go to school at government schools. And Museveni is being praised by everyone as an educational innovator.

Which presents a problem for the international community that is currently funding Uganda and, by extension, UPE. To donors, Museveni's claims of free education are quite appealing. If it were true, the Globalization and its Discontents quote would be spot on. But giving schools 800 Shillings per child per term doesn't cover the cost of their education.

What Gwen's seen at the policy and implementation level, I've also seen at the local level during my own research. One of the questions I ask during interviews of IDPs living in Kampala is, “do your children go to school?” The vast majority of the time, the answer is “no” or “only one of my children does.” The answer to my follow up “Why not?” question is always, “I can't pay school fees.” Education as it currently stands is not an escape from poverty as Museveni pretends (and we donors believe) that it is.