Last week, Education minister Janet Museveni appeared in parliament to defend her ministry's budget. As JOSEPHINE NAMULOKI reports, legislators on the parliamentary committee on education tasked the first lady to use her influence in government to cause funding for the many unfunded priorities in her sector.

Appearing before the education committee to defend the ministry’s budget for 2017/18, Ms Museveni told the committee that her sectoral budget for the coming financial year was inadequate, given the various activities the ministry has.

The education budget is projected at Shs 2.4 trillion for the financial year 2017/18. This includes a wide range of vote allocations, including primary, secondary and tertiary education, physical education and sports and special-needs education. Kalungu West MP Gonzaga Ssewungu opened the can of worms.

“Madam Minister, you are in trouble. The [former] minister [Jessica Alupo] got money while she was the minister of education. But you came here [in the ministry] and your budget has been cut. But your status, on the other hand, can make everything move in the budget and this is happiness to our committee,” Ssewungu said.

“Also at home, I want to assure you Madam Minister, when things fail on the side of my wife; I’m the one to answer all those questions; I’m saying that in the spirit of education ... how do we get unfunded priorities in the ministry when we have a minister who is the first lady?”

Some committee members called for the reallocation of the budget to have some funds go to unfunded yet priority areas like the students’ loan scheme and sanitary pads while others argued that in her position as first lady, she would still engage the finance ministry to increase the education budget.

“We have been in the field and to a large extent we agreed to the directive of the ministry to close schools,” Jonam MP Emmanuel Ongiertho said. “But we realized that some of the schools are mushrooming because nobody has been there to inspect them; can we see something put aside and we raise money for inspection?”  Workers’ MP Margret Rwabushaija added, hoping to give the minister a way out of her woes.

“It’s in our mandate to help the ministry as far as reallocation of funds in the budget is concerned,” Rwabushaija said.

The committee argued that while school inspection, students’ loan scheme, provision of sanitary pads, among others, were listed as unfunded priorities, there was concern that they be met. And the questions persisted.

“The committee is concerned that the item of funding the next cohort of students under the students’ loan scheme should not be appearing on the unfunded priorities list for the sector for FY 2017/18. What steps are being taken to ensure that gap is covered?” committee chairperson Connie Nakayenze (Mbale Woman) asked.

“I think the minister of education should just come out clearly to tell the public that government will not provide sanitary pads to girls in schools. Although it was in the NRM party manifesto to provide the pads, we have already gone into one year and in the coming budget, it’s not provided for,” said Makindye West MP Allan Ssewanyana.

The committee felt that the failure to find money to cater for these priorities would negatively impact on the learning in poor families who cannot afford university education tuition fees, while the lack of sanitary pads could lead to many girls dropping out of school.

MUSEVENI RESPONSE

The minister was as passionate as the MPs in her response.

“The ministry is continuing to engage with the ministry of finance to cater for [the loan scheme],” Ms Museveni said. “It is also important to note that the loan scheme will be self-funding when the first cohort of students for the courses running for four and five years are completed, then the funds will start revolving.”

She added: “About Shs 2bn is available from students who completed three-year science courses but these funds will settle outstanding contractual obligations with suppliers, which is very critical in the management of loans”. She added that there was a need for additional funding for the time being.
Higher Education state minister Dr John Muyingo added that all was not lost as they were still engaging the finance ministry for more funds.

“The budget process is still on We hope the ministry of finance will avail us [education ministry] the funds for the next financial year,” Muyingo said.

On sanitary pads, Janet said although she could not commit herself on when the funds would be available, but government was still committed to providing them in the future.

namuloki16@gmail.com

Loneliness descends on Mercy Alimo, a deaf mute child in Pece division, Gulu municipality. Alimo is five years old, and would be attending kindergarten just like any regular child. Each morning, her age mates in the neighborhood go to school.

However, as CAROLINE AYUGI reports, Alimo does not. There is no nursery school in Acholi sub-region that embraces children with speech and hearing needs.

It is about 7:40am and Alimo exchanges signs with her neighbour. The duo exchange seconds of hearty smiles. Immediately, her neighbour leaves for a primary school about 1.5km away. I later learn from Alimo’s mother, Monica Akun, that she is her daughter’s closest friend.

Akun is sad that her daughter is missing the socialization that she should be getting in kindergarten.

“I hope to enroll her next year in the only primary school in the district that includes the deaf,” Akun said.

Just like Alimo, hundreds of children with hearing and speech impairments in Gulu are at home, as there is only one primary school in Acholi sub-region which embraces learners with such disability.

THE EFFECTS

Monica Akello is a primary one sign language teacher at Laroo primary school in Gulu. The school includes the deaf. However, Akello says she faces a huge challenge there as the only sign language teacher there. None of her pupils ever undergoes kindergarten training.

“The pupils join primary one when they do not know the alphabet and numerals. So, I start by teaching them things taught in nursery school,” Akello said.

The situation gets even more complicated because most of them join the school without the basics in sign language. At worst, they join school with a rudimentary appreciation of what would go for local sign language, which is different from the signs nationally recognized or taught in schools. So, taking them from their local sign language to the recognized one is very challenging.  

A nursery school is a foundation of primary education. It is where pupils interact and learn how to socialize and make friends. This process aids the development of their brains and lastens their learning process. Akello explains that not attending nursey school turns deaf pupils into slow learners. So, they have to be handled individually, which affects the completion of the syllabus.

“If, for instance, I have seven pupils in one class, I end up giving each of them a different assignment. I handle them one-on-one due to their individuality. It is so exhausting and time-consuming,” She said.

Akello adds that she has difficulties introducing the pupils to tangible things like animals and insects, since the deaf unit does not have charts.

“Children are introduced to drawings in nursery school, but here there are no charts. So, I take the learners to the field to show them live animals and insects. Some of them freak out, and become uncontrollable, especially when they see insects they have not seen even in pictures,” she said.

Akello says the limited learning aids, and poor performance by most of the pupils, have made many parents take such children out of school, while some drop out on their own.

“At least half of the deaf pupils who join the unit drop out before they reach primary seven,” she said.

Akello revealed that the lack of a nursery school forces many deaf pupils in the district to start primary school when they are nine or 10 years old, yet by that age, the child should be in primary four.

“So, when they join primary one, we promote the fast learners to the next class every term, such that they complete three classes in one year,” she revealed.

Uganda has only 24 established primary schools and units for the deaf. Besides, there is only one nursery school for the deaf, in Mulago. Dominic Ocen, an official at the Gulu District Union for the Deaf, revealed that more than 100 deaf children within the municipality, who are registered at the union, are not studying.

“There are at least 150 deaf children within Gulu municipality, and only 30 per cent are in primary and secondary schools. The rest are at home,” Ocen says.
According to Ocen, all deaf pupils in the villages are not studying; something he says makes their future even more grim.

Ocen said there are no plans yet by the union to lobby for funding from partners to set up nursery and primary schools for the deaf. The government has emphasized the need for Early Childhood Development centres (ECDs) in its policies.

In 2015, Uganda announced the initiative, emphasizing that every government -aided primary school must have a nursery school. But we are yet to hear about the opening of more nursery schools for the deaf.

Ocen, however, appealed to the government to consider opening up learning centres for the deaf mutes (people who can neither hear nor speak). According to Ocen, investing in the education of children with hearing and speech impairment will make them self-reliant, reduce dependency on relatives and brighten their future.

ayugic@gmail.com

Government’s delay to release Shs 5.6 billion to fund the next batch of students to access the students loan scheme could leave the programme in the balance.

According to officials from the Higher Education Students Financing Board (HESFB), government is yet to release funds required to facilitate new students joining the nine public universities and selected chartered private universities in the 2017/2018 academic year.

Rev Fr Prof Callisto Locheng, HESFB board chairman, revealed to legislators on the Education committee last week that the delay would cripple the board’s work, including calling for applications and selection of students joining the universities between June and September this year.

“We cannot advertise calling for new students to apply if this money is not there. We pray that we get that money and be able to remit to the universities and other tertiary institutions on time before the academic year begins,” Prof Locheng said.

Since 2014, the Higher Education Students’ Financing Board has been providing loans and scholarships to a total of 3,799 students pursuing science-related courses. The funds cover tuition fees, research, functional fees, as well as aids and appliances for persons with disabilities (PWDs).

Michael Wanyama, the executive director of HESFB, said so far, Shs 7.6bn has been paid out in the 2016/2017 financial year for new and continuing students in the different institutions of higher learning.

However, Wanyama expressed concern over the little funding towards the scheme, in spite of the swelling numbers of students interested in enrolling for loans and scholarships.

“We need to double the numbers over the next three years; however, it has remained static between 1,000 and 1,200 students enrolling whereas the numbers keep increasing and the chartered universities also keep increasing,” Wanyama told the MPs.

He also revealed that the scheme does not include accommodation and meals, which have seen some students drop out of the universities.

REACTIONS

Some legislators, citing the 2016/2017 applications, expressed displeasure over the criteria used to select beneficiaries from the districts.  In Arua, 63 applied and 12 got; 5 out of 20 students from Bukwo received loans; 31 out of 76 students from Bushenyi got; 1 out of 2 students from Buvuma got; 3 out of 13 were from Buyende; 20 out 60 from Kanungu got; 9 out of 25 were from Kween while 41 out of 102 students benefitted from Mbarara.

“Weaker districts which are very poor have not benefitted from this. There seems to be unfair distribution of the loans,” Joseph Ssewungu (Kalungu West) noted.

DRAMA

There was drama during the committee meeting when MPs asked the state minister for Higher Education, Dr Chrysostom Muyingo, to leave the meeting, to allow the officials from the students’ loan scheme to speak freely.

Before he left the meeting, Dr Muyingo assured the committee that government was committed to funding the loan scheme, an assertion legislators loudly rejected. The minister added that with the budget process ongoing, the ministry would look for the funds to ensure the students are enrolled.

“This is our baby and we want it to grow. We are looking for the funds right now; so, let us be patient,” Muyingo said.

The students’ loan scheme was introduced by government in 2013 with the aim of benefiting 1,000 students pursuing science-related programmes in public and private universities.

eyotaru@gmail.com

Starting May 29, 2017, the education ministry and the National Identification and Registration Authority (NIRA) will undertake a registration exercise of learners in all primary, post-primary, secondary and post-secondary institutions.

In a circular to all head teachers and principals of government and private institutions dated April 25, registration forms will be delivered centrally to districts.

The circular, signed by the ministry permanent secretary, Alex Kakooza, reads, “You are hereby informed that the government is undertaking an exercise to register all learners from the age of five years and above”.

The circular is also copied to district LC-V chairpersons, chief administrative officers/town clerks, district/municipal education officers, resident district commissioners, mayors and district internal security officers.

“Therefore, all heads of schools and institutions must pick the forms from the districts and ensure they are duly filled by parents/guardians,” reads the circular in part.

According to Kakooza, the registration programme seeks to ensure registration of learners and assign them with National Identification Numbers (NINs) while those who are 16 years and older will be issued with national identity cards.

In order to ensure an orderly and efficient exercise, all learners will be availed registration forms with guidelines to be filled by their parents/guardians and returned to schools by May 31, 2017.

Kakooza said parents/guardians are required to attach photocopies of their national identity cards or any other recognised form of identification upon returning the forms.

Head teachers and principals will also be tasked to provide accountability for all the registration forms received by their schools from the district headquarters.

Speaking to The Observer last week, Gilbert Kadilo, the NIRA spokesman, said the second term registration exercise targets only school-going children within the specified age bracket.

“For children who will join school for instance in baby class next year, they will possess birth certificates which have been inscribed with a national identity card number as it is with those having the cards,” Kadilo said.

JUSTIFICATION

Initially, the project will cost NIRA Shs 53bn, but is expected to culminate in a continuous registration, through the issuance of birth certificates for children younger than five years.

When asked about the registration of children that are out of school, Kadilo said their parents/guardians should help them process birth certificates with NIRA offices in Kololo.

Kadilo explained that the decision is based on a government directive to prepare a national register, made in 2004. That directive was eventually formalised by the Registration of Persons Act 2015.

However, the actual registration exercise started in 2014 with registration of people older than 16 years, in time for the 2016 general election. Kadilo then explained that the move was meant to actualize the government directive to register all nationals and make sure all children under 16 years are brought into the national register.

“Eventually, this national register will become the superior register of all persons, under the Registration of Persons Act 2015, and becomes the central reference point on persons in the country,” he said.

The registration is designed to facilitate government activities across the board. It will eventually bring in third parties (such as the education ministry and other agencies) seeking access to the register for purposes of planning, but Kadilo explained that the level of detail available to them will be limited accordingly.

In line with the Registration of Persons Act 2015, NIRA has taken over all registration functions like registering adoptions, births and deaths, with support from Plan International, World Bank and Unicef.

nangonzi@observer.ug

Of late, there have been complaints from both government and private actors on the challenges of running a private school under the Universal Secondary Education programme.

The private actors who own the schools say they are being sold short. On the other hand, the state insists some school owners are doing a shoddy job. MOSES TALEMWA spoke to both parties on the matter.

When Rose Nalubega started Rosa College School in Matugga, Wakiso in 2006, her idea was to provide an education service to students in the area. “There were no schools in the area, and this was our effort to support the community,” he says.

With time, the government intervened with some support. For each government-aided student, the state would provide capitation grant of Shs 47,000 per term. Under the memorandum of understanding  signed with the government, the money would be remitted to the school at the start of the term.

However, the practice has proved more complicated than the memorandum had promised.

“The money comes at the end of the term or even later; so, we have to borrow money to run the school in the hope that the money will be refunded in time,” she says. “However, many times we borrow this money and the government does not remit capitation grant in time.”

The practice has brought Rosa College School and many similar schools endless cash flow problems. The schools have been forced to use scarce resources, often budgeted for the institution’s growth, to pay for the education of government-aided students 

“Thus when the government comes we just sweep it off the account and go pay for debts, which ministry officials are not happy with … but we have no other option,” she explains.

Indeed, an August 2016 report by the Initiative for Social and Economic Rights (Iser), found various district education officers complaining that the directors of public-private partnership (PPPs) schools were not following established financial guidelines.

But several PPP owners complain that they have been shortchanged by government in implementing its side of the agreement. The Iser study, A threat or opportunity: public-private partnership in education, cited several district education officers who had very scathing things to say about PPPs.

“They have administrative issues, proprietors are greedy, and in some, school enrolments are going down. There is no value for money. If you look at performance, it is wanting,” the study quotes an education official. Like many other colleagues across the country, this education officer wants the government to divert monies allotted for PPPs to other efforts.

“Money for PPPs should instead construct seed schools completely managed by government. There, we shall see value for money,” the report quotes Kole DEO, Tom Okare, as saying.

“There is no educational quality and teaching materials are not provided adequately. The government should instead construct seed schools completely managed by government. Then we shall see value for money,” he added. 

The Iser study also quotes several head teachers complaining about the problems of running PPPs.

"Running these schools is very hard. The capitation grant is way below the cost of education amidst the high levels of inflation. This is worsened by the fact that sometimes the capitation grant comes later,” says Steven Waako, director of Kaliro College School.

SECTOR ADMISSION

The education ministry admits that the problem is much more complicated than it looks on the surface. Since Nagojje SS started in 2009, there have been three permanent secretaries in the education ministry.

Starting with Francis Xavier Lubanga in 2009, to Dr Rose Nassali-Lukwago until last year and the current office holder, Alex Kakooza, there is agreement that capitation grants are regularly late and this affects the performance of PPPs in providing an education service.

For instance, before she left office in 2015, Dr Nassali-Lukwago told parliament that her ministry was “overwhelmed by the number of students who [had] enrolled in schools under the government’s Universal Secondary Education”.

She admitted that the sector acknowledged that the monies were too little to make a difference and often arrived late. She added that the increased enrolment was also eating into other plans.

“We would like to employ more teachers but the wage bill doesn’t allow us. We hope with time as the government resource envelope improves, we shall be able to recruit teachers because the students seeking an education in our schools have increased,” Nassali-Lukwago said.

Both Lubanga and Dr Nassali-Lukwago’s successor, Alex Kakooza, agree that these delays are affecting service delivery in PPPs.
 
CAPITATION GRANT ISSUES

Nalubega and Waako note that the performance of PPPs would improve if the government would increase capitation grant to schools. Indeed, the education ministry requested the sectoral parliamentary committee to recommend an increment in capitation grant to Shs 100,000 per student per term, last year due to an increment in inflation.

That request was set aside due to “competing demands in the sector budget” and labeled an unfunded priority.

Earlier, the Iser report had sampled several rural based secondary schools, which admitted that they had requested the ministry to consider raising the rate of capitation grant to Shs 200,000 per student “or at least Shs 100,000”.  Further, in following a strategy started by the public universities in 2015, the PPPs asked the government to pay their teachers’ salaries, due to a high turnover of instructors, owing to late payment.

INEQUALITIES

Even as all of this was happening, there have been private negotiations by some schools to have their capitation grants raised, while the rest of the sector stays at Shs 47,000 per student per year.

For instance, schools under the Promoting Equality in African Schools (Peas), a UK-based charity, have a complicated arrangement, that has the potential for inequality problems.

Peas signed a memorandum of understanding with the ministry in 2000. Under this deal, Peas receives a per pupil per term capitation grant that enables them to eliminate tuition fees for eligible learners.

However, students in the different Peas schools pay other fees ranging from Shs 80,000 to Shs 250,000 per school to cater for expenses such as lunch or boarding fees. Peas runs 24 schools in Uganda and are planning to take up more. On the other hand, PPPs operate under a similar MoU, which limits the amount of money they can charge students to less than Shs 80,000 per term.

GOVT ACKNOWLEDGES

Responding to concerns by the school owners, the commissioner for Private Schools and Institutions, Ismail Mulindwa, acknowledges that the situation is dire.

“The government’s hands are tied … we can’t increase the capitation grant now due to the budget cuts we are facing,” he said. “We need a common forum where we can discuss all issues and find a lasting solution.”

Mulindwa notes that demands by the schools are not new, seeing as the capitation grant has been the same since 2009. In factoring in inflation, the amount is completely insufficient.

Other officials in the ministry note that there are reports that some schools have noted the sector’s inability to solve the problem and are flouting the agreement, to charge extra fees just to survive. And the sector prefers to look the other way, in the hope that the parents, who pay the fees, don’t complain.

mtalemwa@observer.ug

Every morning, learners around the country gather at their respective schools to study.

They follow the same syllabus as the rest of the country, but in the prison formal education system, things are a little unique. In the second of a four-part series, PRISCA BAIKE explores how education is conducted behind bars.

During the release of A-level results last month, a man in a dark suit, identified as Gilbert Niwamanya, was introduced to the media at the Luzira Upper prison. The man, who is not an inmate at the prison, was identified as the head teacher of what some know as Luzira Inmates secondary school.

Shortly after Niwamanya’s speech, Dennis Mujuni, an inmate in a yellow pair of trousers and a button-up shirt, unlike the other inmate-students, clad in shorts and non-button shirts, introduced himself as the inmate head teacher. To anyone else, it was strange that a school had two head teachers.

According to Anatoli Owakubaruho Biryomumaisho, the senior welfare and rehabilitation officer at Uganda Prisons, this is the norm in prison.

“Every prison school head teacher has an inmate co-head teacher and every teacher sent from the ministry of education has a co-teacher within prison,” explains Biryomumaisho. He later adds that the ministry only sends teachers while the head teachers are trained prison officers with an education background.

He explained that a head teacher, who doesn’t have an in-depth understanding of the prison system, cannot effectively run a prison school due to the kind of students that they handle.

Biryomumaisho says the prison education system cannot function without co-teachers and co-head teachers as they coordinate inmates and teachers.

“They are the mobilisers of enrolment and retention; so, we must have them. They foster teamwork and good discipline within the school system,” Biryomumaisho said.

While the teachers from the education ministry are paid by government, co-teachers offer pro bono services. However, they are motivated with sugar, rice and soap, among other items, that are supplied by NGOs and from within prisons.

Being a co-teacher also comes with benefits like having your own room and getting priority treatment in prison as they are respected within the prison system.

As we worked on this story, I was accompanied by five prison officers touring the ongoing classes at the men’s section in Kigo prison. I’m momentarily captivated by one teacher, who is conducting a chemistry lesson about crystallization.

For a moment, I am taken back to my own chemistry days, getting hit by the harsh remembrance of how I hardly enjoyed the subject. This in-mate teacher, however, had me hooked to his lesson; I took pleasure in how he, with a constant smile, enthusiastically articulated his statements to his ardently attentive students, before he stopped to have a word with us.

As I interview him, I see my reflection in his shiny black shoes, which efficiently complement his neatly pressed orange prison uniform. Peter Ssesanga, who doubles as a deputy head teacher of the secondary section, has been teaching chemistry and physics at this prison for the last six years and he is glad to serve his time meaningfully. The motivation may be little but the benefit of keeping his brain active, while carrying on with his profession is priceless.

“I enjoy teaching people who never thought they could get education,” said Ssesanga. Interestingly, he is looking forward to the day that sciences will be introduced at A-level in prisons. He makes one believe that teaching in prison is not a nightmare, as many people might imagine.

Biryomumaisho explains that criminals change a great deal as soon as they get to prison and many of them are well-behaved people.

“A female teacher can walk through the male prison wards and conduct her lessons without any problems,” says Biryomumaisho. The male students are also very protective and respectful of their teachers, especially the females who outnumber the male teachers. However, he clarifies that male co-teachers are not allowed in the female section and vice versa; each section has its own co-teachers.

Prison teaching is interactive and in form of discussions since the students are mature people, who have an independent mindset as Biryomumaisho notes, citing an example; they may just not feel like studying because it is simply too hot or too cold. This, he says, requires a teacher to understand that these are already stressed people and it is important for them to be understood.

“It is hard psychologically but when you get used to it and handle them well, it becomes easy,” says Biryomumaisho.

FACILITIES

Like other ideal schools, prisons also have libraries and computer centers. From the libraries, students can borrow all sorts of books, both educational and leisure books according to Daphne Namudde, the welfare and rehabilitation in-charge at Kigo prison. 

The computer centre at Kigo prison is a spacious room with 14 study points and a huge table with about 20 seats around it. This table serves as a reading point.

From the centre, students can enroll for a certificate in computer applications and those who have never interfaced with a computer can get to learn the primary components of a computer. The centre, as expected, does not have internet. Students rely on software called the encyclopedia, which serves a purpose akin to Wikipedia.

Apart from the normal curriculum, the students receive non-examinable trainings in social entrepreneurship, philosophy and creative writing, among others, in a six-week annual programme sponsored by the Iowa-based Drake University in conjunction with Muteesa I Royal University.

For the non-student inmates, a separate life-skills training program in disciplines such stress and anger management, self-esteem and critical thinking are provided. These are to ensure holistic individuality and successful reintegration to society and to minimize the chances of relapsing. 

At the break of dawn, head counting within their respective residential wards is what precedes all the day’s activities. Thereafter, breakfast is served.

Like in most schools, classes normally start at 8am and end at 4:30pm; break and lunch time inclusive although bad weather such as fog or hailstorms distort their programs as inmates are meant to be within their wards in such circumstances.

Sgt Nelson Ezama, the coordinator for schools in prison, said classes in prison run from Monday to Friday.

“We respect weekends and we have holidays as well. We try to align our programmes to the national standards,” Ezama said, adding that students sit for both internal and external exams every term.

Students, who consistently perform poorly within one year, are discontinued from the formal system and encouraged to go for vocational studies. Issues of indiscipline at school, according to Biryomumaisho, are handled by counseling.

“We don’t punish them as they are already under punishment. But where necessary, we have a set of regulations with a systemic way of giving disciplinary action,” Biryomumaisho says, emphasizing that caning inmates is illegal.

Students at prisons with farms are exempted from working as they have to attend classes. While inmates must retire to their wards at 3:30pm, an allowance is made for the student-inmates, to stay in class to enable them complete their day’s work. 

After their evening meals (around 7:30pm), while students outside the prison go for evening revision classes, inmates, on the other hand, are expected to stay within their wards and maintain silence with lights out.

This makes it hard for them to read or discuss, leaving them with the toilets as their only place to revise and discuss as they are the only places with lights throughout the night.

During national exams, candidates are fed on a special diet consisting of fried beans, rice and chapatti to make them feel special.

“Such food makes them happy, which greatly helps them during examinations,” said Niwamanya.

REAL COST OF LEARNING

Education in prison is entirely free, with government and NGOs providing scholastic materials. All students have to do is to be willing to learn and enroll for the service. Those who had already started education from outside prison have to provide authentic documents before they are enrolled into the system.

A study at the University of California, Berkeley, USA has shown that a country’s crime rate is directly proportional to the level of education of its citizens. The joint study, with Lance Lochner of the University of Western Ontario in Canada and Enrico Moretti of the University of California, Los Angeles, concludes that the less literate a society, the more likely less educated folks are to commit blue-collar crimes such as murder, rape and burglary.

“We estimate the effect of education on participation in criminal activity accounting for endogeneity of schooling,” the study says.

Biryomumaisho, who has seen the study, adds that the more educated members of society have a tendency to commit white-collar offences, which include but are not limited to corruption, misuse of office and fraud.

According to the prisoners’ census of 2015, out of the 44,952 prisoners, 13.7 percent had never been to school, 23.7 percent had attended lower primary while 38.5 percent completed primary school by conviction time.

As far as secondary school education is concerned, only 19.1 percent of the prisoners had completed O-level while only 3.0 percent of them had completed A-level. Only a measly 2.1 percent of the inmates had attained tertiary education, with 350 prisoners being bachelor's degree holders while only eight had attained more than that.

“Most of the illiterate criminals only commit these crimes because of ignorance,” says Biryomumaisho, “Why would one rape or defile if he knew that it was a crime; [yet] he can actually propose to an older woman?”

It is such findings that actually validate education in prison as it checks the rate of relapse (re-offence) upon an inmates’ release.

So far, Uganda has the lowest relapse rate due to its comprehensive prison rehabilitation services. With a re-offending rate of 23 per cent, (nine mostly petty offenders), the country has been ranked the best in Africa and seventh in the world according to the African correctional journal and the international criminal journal respectively.

pbaike@yahoo.com

Two decades since its inception, prison education is still a work in progress. In this last of the four-part series, PRISCA BAIKE unveils the challenges facing the system and where improvements can be made.

At the release of last year’s O-level exams, 22-year-old Morrish Ogema who had excelled with aggregate 21 carried two feelings; inexplicable joy for the once-in-a-lifetime chance to study as he serves his 15-year jail sentence and that of disillusionment for not being able to study sciences at A-level.

“I’m very happy that I could study and make it while in prison,” said Ogema. “I’m going to do HEG and become the best teacher although I had had wanted to do PEM and become an engineer.”

The soft-spoken inmate from Dokolo appealed to the education ministry to introduce sciences at A-level, a view that was shared by the school’s inmate co-head teacher, Dennis Mujuni.

“It is our humble request that the government avails sciences at O-level. That way, the goals of Prisons Service will be achieved,” said Mujuni at the Upper prison upon the release of the 2016 O-level results.

GOVERNMENT INVOLVEMENT

Apart from not having sciences, the A-level section and primary section across all the prisons education centers have not yet been taken over by government. They are private schools operating within a public institution under the public-private partnerships, according to Anatoli Biryomumaisho, the officer in charge of formal and informal education in the Prison Service.

“Ministry of education ought to take up its mandate of educating the citizens through providing grants and also providing education programs to all the inmate schools countrywide,” noted Biryomumaisho, adding that there is need for government to consider a block fund to provide assistance in prison schools.

“Our inmates have one parent - government. So, we are looking to government to provide additional funding, books and other scholastic materials,” said Biryomumaisho.

While formal education largely relies on NGOs, the government through the education ministry is supporting skills development through funding, provision of inputs and facilitation of both agriculture and skills development such as tailoring, embroidery and handicrafts, among others. Biryomumaisho hopes the same attention can be paid to formal education so as to give an all-encompassing rehabilitation program to the country’s citizens who are in conflict with the law.

He notes that formal education plays a big role in rehabilitation and it significantly reduces the re-offending rate upon an inmate’s release.

“There is a correlation between literacy and the level and type of crime,” Biryomumaisho says, “Above 90 per cent of the crimes are blue-collar and they are mostly committed by the illiterate.”

This trend, according to Biryomumaisho, justifies the need for government’s full involvement in prison formal education. Agreeing with him is Moses Ssentalo, the officer in charge of Kigo prison. He maintains that formal education helps prisoners to understand national issue and be civically educated while reducing the crime rate.

“Government should take keen interest in what we are doing and support us,” Biryomumaisho said.

He also urges the ministry to consider providing education to prisons in hard-to-reach, work and stay areas.

NEED FOR A DISTRICT STATUS

Today, there are 15 prison formal education units across the country, although plans are underway to establish more. The schools are Luzira Upper, Murchison bay prison, Luzira women prison, Kitalya prison, Kigo main, Kigo women prison, Jinja main prison, Jinja women prison, Mbarara group of prisons (M/W), Masindi main prison, Arua prison, Gulu main prison, Fort Portal main prison, Namalu prison (in Karamoja) and Nakasongola prison.

Out of the 45,000 prisoners in the country, 2,408 are enrolled in primary, 576 are in secondary school, 161 on the university programme while 3,131 inmates are undertaking vocational and technical skills training on a separate training component from the production component.

Only Luzira prison enjoys the full education system from P1 to university. Most other correctional facilities stop learning at secondary school level, with plans to progress further, as the number of learners increases.

Inmates, who are held upcountry but are keen to further their education beyond senior one, can seek transfer to Luzira, depending on the length of their sentences. According to Gilbert Niwamanya, the Upper prison inmate secondary school head teacher, this is done on an exchange basis.

“After P7, students are transferred on an exchange basis … to facilities that have the classes they are going to, and others are transferred out of their [current holding centres],” Niwamanya explains.

Administratively, this has put the prison education system under 15 regions across the country with intentions to expand further. However, Biryomumaisho believes there is need to streamline formal education within prisons.

“We need a district status as prisons to streamline our activities,” Biryomumaisho says, highlighting the need for economic viability to facilitate more teachers.

He believes that district status would be instrumental in rationalizing the prison education system into a robust scheme. This would see the prison district obtaining independent funds that they can use to budget and prepare for learning processes in their areas as needed. The budgets would include infrastructure, scholastic materials and teachers.

PHYSICAL INFRASTRUCTURE

The absence of physical infrastructure remains a big challenge across all prison facilities. While a few prisons like Upper prison and Kigo have classrooms and tents, the majority of the prison schools, including Luzira women, study under trees, according to Niwamanya, the Upper prison inmate secondary school head teacher.

“This makes studies dependent on the vagaries of weather,” Niwamanya says.

Due to the limited physical infrastructure, the school only has one laboratory where a few basic experiments can be carried out for all the science subjects.

Biryomumaisho maintains that while Uganda Prisons Service is mandated to rehabilitate inmates, he hopes that the ministry of education will come to their aid in providing physical infrastructure in terms of classrooms. Ssentalo is hopeful about the situation.

“Despite the absence of infrastructure, we have human capital and goodwill. We are capable of overcoming any challenge that may come forth,” he says.

OTHER CHALLENGES

On the inmates’ side, the most outstanding challenge for those who wish to continue with education, while in prison, is the inability to access and provide past academic documents to prove their level of education before admission.

“If someone is going to enroll for secondary, they [need to] produce their primary education certificate which is then followed up at Uganda National Examinations Board to ensure that it is authentic and recorded,” says Ssentalo.

This, however, is not always possible as some people can’t trace their documents while in prison; so, the only option is to re-sit Primary Leaving Examinations before proceeding to secondary.

Upon completion of education and release from jail, many ex-convicts experience stigma and are many times denied employment opportunities despite their reformation and qualification. It is upon this background that Biryomumaisho urges society to be part and parcel of the rehabilitation process.

“Communities should know that rehabilitated ex-convicts are not bad and give them opportunities,” says Biryomumaisho who appreciates organisations such as the United Nations and Mulago paramedical school, among others, for offering employment opportunities to some of their former inmates.

Lastly, top on prisons' agenda, Biryomumaisho and Anthony Owino, the welfare and rehabilitation officer in charge of gender, say there is a need to accelerate education among women inmates as this is important in ensuring gender equity in the provision of formal education in prison.

pbaike@yahoo.com

Milestones Junior School staged a reading expo for parents and other invited guests recently. Located in Ssonde, Mukono, the pupils thrilled their audience with their reading skills in Luganda, Kiswahili, and the English language.

One after the other, the pupils took to the stage full of confidence to display their newly learnt reading and speech skills. Started last year, the school is already host to pupils from nursery to P5.

Speaking to the parents and children, the director of the school, Dr Mouhamad Mpezamihigo, also vice chancellor at Kampala International University, challenged the pupils to aim for excellence in everything, including character building, respect for others and a good understanding of what is needed to for the future.

He explained to parents that the school aims to unpack the potential of pupils, staff and parents through a daily mile of achievement, hence the name of the school - Milestones.

The chief guest at the function, the LC-III chairman for Goma division, Elisa Nkoyoyo Mukasa, commended the school management for being visionary by establishing a community school in the division.

As a current postgraduate student, Mukasa said he would be using Milestones to benchmark good school management basics.

The academic committees of Mbarara, Gulu and Busitema universities formally released their government sponsorship admissions lists last Friday.

According to the lists, published in The Observer today, Busitema University admitted 99 students, Mbarara took in 155, while Gulu will host 165. The release follows on the heels of that by Makerere University and Makerere University Business School (Mubs), which took in 1,574 students.

According to the academic registrars of Muni, Lira and Kyambogo universities, their final admissions lists are scheduled to be released later this week.

“We shall formally release them after they are approved by the academic board" said Esther Ssekasi of Kyambogo University.

A look through the list shows a growing regional preference among some of the students applying to the institutions. Kampala and Wakiso district schools dominated admissions to Makerere and Mubs; however, there was an increasing presence of students from western Uganda, even if they are still few.

There were no students admitted from northern Uganda schools at Makerere University and Mubs. However, some of the schools in northern Uganda feature in the Gulu University admissions list. 

There is a similar trend at Busitema University, where schools from eastern Uganda, also largely missing on the Makerere and Mbarara lists, feature on its admissions list, as released last week.

The government sponsorship admissions were carried out jointly between the eight universities meeting at Makerere over the last four weeks.

These included Makerere, Kyambogo, Mubs, Mbarara, Gulu, Lira, Muni and Kabale. The respective academic committees forwarded representatives to these meetings who, after making their selections, referred them to their institutions for approval, before the release.

According to Makerere University’s deputy academic registrar for admissions, Charles Sentongo, this first round of admission will be followed by a district quota intake, which takes the best students from each of the 114 districts across the country. 

“We hope to have concluded this admission round by the end of June,” he said on Thursday. “After this, we will consider the special interest groups such as those exceling in sports or those with special needs.”

After this process, the universities will then commence the private admissions scheme, where paying students can apply for admission.

mtalemwa@observer.ug

Kakira Secondary School emerged winners of the second Busoga schools regional debate competition held at Busoga College, Mwiri in Jinja recently.

According to a statement from Uganda Dialogue Arena (UDA), the organisers of the event, Kakira SS beat eight other schools to the trophy.

They include Busoga College Mwiri, Jinja Secondary School, Kakira High School, Rena College Mayuge, Mother Kevin Secondary School and St Florence High School.

“The competition focused on the motions, Student indiscipline has escalated strikes in schools and Income disparity has greatly affected Uganda’s tax base.

Founded in 2009 as the Uganda Youth Debating Society (UYDS) and since renamed UDA, the platform unites students and young people to tackle pertinent national issues through debate and dialogue.

Fredrick Musiimenta, the UDA founder and chief executive, says the organisation has inspired about 9,000 young people through debate, entrepreneurship skills, and career guidance, among others.

“The quality of debate in Uganda today, especially among the young generation,is wanting; some graduates are unable to sustain a conversation in English which is Uganda’s official language,” Musiimenta said.

“Some are shy and may fear to put across their ideas to solve problems; as a result, many riots and chaotic demonstrations have sprung up almost regularly in many parts of the country,”

So far, the debating competitions, held in various districts, have featured youth from western, eastern and central districts.

In 2016, the UDA held five regional youth debates that attracted at least 70 secondary schools with more than 1,900 young debaters and future leaders.

nangonzi@observer.ug

Deputy Speaker Jacob Oulanyah has urged graduates of Uganda Management Institute (UMI) to be torchbearers of integrity at their workplaces, in a bid to end rampant corruption in the country.

In his statement read by the Tourism state minister, Godfrey Kiwanda, on Friday at Gulu campus, Oulanyah noted that many graduates fail to practice their code of ethics taught to them, thus leading to abuse of office.

“If you are part of something wrong at your workplace, you are the wrong person. To avoid this, we need an attitude of ethics and change among us [graduates],” he said.

The call came about during the 15th graduation ceremony, held at UMI’s Gulu campus over the weekend. The ceremony was called to honour 157 (92 men and 65 females) graduates, who completed their studies in various disciplines.

These included the postgraduate diploma in Project Planning and Management, Human Resource Management and Development, Financial Management and Public Policy and Governance.

UMI director general, Dr James Nkata, revealed that the institution intends to introduce new programmes this year. While he did not reveal what the new programmes were, he explained that they were intended to teach students about ‘corporate loyalty’ that will strengthen their integrity when working.

“We want to produce students who will focus on pursuing the goals of their workplaces and not just their welfare,” he added.

Makerere University's school of Public Health's ResilientAfrica Network (RAN) recently launched Technovation Challenge outreach in several secondary schools across the country.

Started on April 2, 2017, the engagement exercise had been scheduled for a week. According to Brian Ndyaguma, the lead innovation scaling expert at RAN, the exercise was largely targeted at supporting female students with science, innovation and technology skills.

The girls were taught how to conceive and develop the mobile applications relevant to their communities. They were also taught how to effectively present their solutions to the public, as a way of improving their participation in the national technovation challenge.

RAN’s Rebecca Koburungi led a team to western Uganda, where 234 students were engaged. These included Nyaka Vocational School in Kanungu, Rubaare SS in Ntungamo, Bishop Kivengere Girls School in Kabale, Kibubura Girls School in Ibanda, Bweranyangi Girls School in Bushenyi and Maryhill High School in Mbarara.

In eastern Uganda, Loyce Twongeirwe led a team to eastern Uganda, where 226 girls were engaged at Tororo Town Academy, Rock High School, Tororo Girls School, Busitema University, PMM Girls School (in Jinja), Jinja SS, St Noa Mawagali SS and Wanyange Girls School.

Ndyaguma led a team to northern Uganda, where 102 school girls were engaged at Ikwera Girls SS, Lira Town College, Mentor SS, Lira University, All Saints University, Otino Waa High School, Gulu High School, Gulu SS, Gulu College and Oysters and Pearls Secondary School in Gulu district.

In the central region, the outreach met girls at Gayaza High school, Nabisunsa Girls’ school, Makerere Modern SS, Trinity College Nabbingo, Mengo SS, May Christian College, Nkumba University, Royal Giant SS and Mityana SS.

Ndyaguma explained that the major challenges experienced during the outreach cut across all the four regions.

“These challenges included an inadequate number of computers for the hands on training in some of the schools, poor and in most cases no reliable internet connectivity, lack of self-esteem in the students which directly hinders their ability to pitch [their products],” he said.

In response many said they were happy with the development. A teacher at Bishop Kivengere Girls School was particularly typical in her message.

“With this guidance we have received during the pitching sessions and experience shared, we can now confidently compete nationally with the Kampala schools,” she said.

Some 20 innovative teams are waiting with baited breath as Makerere University’s Resilience African Network (RAN) prepares to announce the results of the second round of innovators' pitch for new ideas.

The teams were on April 20, 2017 invited to RAN’s Innovation Lab where they made 10-minute pitches of their ideas.

The 10 teams are expected to receive between $7,500 (Shs 25m) and $15,000 (about Shs 50m) to support scaling up of their solutions. 

Addressing the teams after their pitches, the head of RAN, Prof William Bazeyo, said they were keen to support the most transformative solutions.

“Let us critically analyze what these innovators are doing, ensure that their proposed solutions have the potential to positively impact target communities almost immediately and support them to achieve this,” said Prof Bazeyo,

Bazeyo, who is also dean of the school of Public Health at Makerere University, added that the exercise would continue for the foreseeable future as the youth were endowed with skills.

Among the innovators was the MamaOpe-Pnuemonia kit, a portable device designed to detect pneumonia at home, using a smartphone.

The pitch at the RAN offices in Kololo was preceded by an exhibition at Makerere’s freedom square, a week earlier, where 100 innovators showcased various applications in the Health, Agriculture, Livelihood and Education fields.

One of the judges, Diana Nandagire Ntamu of Makerere University Business School, remarked: "For me, I see a lot of potential at RAN; different new ideas emerge all the time”.

When Peace Immaculate Nansubuga was deployed to head Kikonge primary school in Kkingo sub-county of Lwengo district at the start of 2015, she did not know what to expect.

She had spent hardly a year at Namulanda primary school in the neighbouring Kisekka sub-county but was told Kikonge badly needed her skills. With this trust at the back of her mind, she arrived motivated in her new role.

Her high spirits were dampened on the first day at office when she discovered that despite having ten teachers on the government payroll, the school had only 63 pupils and had spent the last decade without a first grade. While the school had a good number of classrooms, the pit latrines, built some 18 years ago, were almost collapsing.

“I sat down and [decided] to raise this school from the ground,” she says. “I realised that people had a negative attitude towards the school and this had to change.”

Nansubuga started by hiring private teachers for the nursery section and also revived the school football team; music, dance and drama team; as well as the scouts and guides club.

She also introduced a vigorous targets-oriented approach for her teachers to ensure quality teaching. Her efforts had paid off by the end of the year as the school registered four first grades in the 2015 Primary Leaving Examinations.

“People started bringing their children back. Now the enrolment has reached 178 and last year we had eight first grades,” she says.

She also started an old pupils’ association to help inspire young ones. The association has met twice in two years and at a recent meeting, they fundraised for the reconstruction of school latrines. At least Shs 3.4m was needed for the pit latrines.

“Most of the old pupils cannot be traced but the few that came contributed Shs 470,000 and I have already started on the construction. We want more to come on board. We also need money to repair verandas of classroom blocks because they are all dilapidated. We can’t wait for government to do this,” she says.

Each pupil pays Shs 8,000 per term, which caters for lunch, periodic tests and exams and the remuneration of two private teachers. Nansubuga, however, says very few parents are willing to pay.

After two years, Nansubuga is confident that her mission to return the school to its 1990s glory days is on course. Kikonge was a dominant force in academics and co-curricular activities, especially music and football, but the last 15 years preceding 2015 were characterised by a steady decline.

“With the help of our old pupils and the goodwill of the parents, we think we can go back to where this school belongs,” she said.

With demand for affordable sanitary towels growing, 200 students from 23 schools decided to take matters into their own hands, participating in a one-day business clubs’ exercise.

The event, organised by Educate! at Aga Khan primary school last Saturday, saw students developing their own idea of making sanitary towels, to address menstrual-related issues among girls.

The national student business exhibition club competition brings together the top student business clubs in Educate! communities in Jinja, Luweero, Masaka and Kampala.

The event was inspired by former Uganda Investment Authority executive director, Dr Maggie Kigozi, who challenged the students to seek theoretical and practical solutions to their problems.

A reusable sanitary towel costs Shs 3,000. However, with materials supplied to them, there are hopes that the prices for every child will be reduced.

Kigozi also called for amendments in the school curriculum to give students an opportunity to engage in practical innovations.

Following the exercise, students said they had achieved a lot from such exhibitions that enable many to start their own businesses. According to research, students learn best through application.

Retired Supreme court judge George Kanyeihamba recently had a grandfatherly moment with Cavendish University Uganda students.

Dubbed “Justice Kanyeihamba’s premier conversation with students: Kanyeihamba’s reflections on Uganda’s constitutional history, constitutionalism today and projections for the future,” the event lasted three hours, in which he presented and answered questions at the university’s law school situated on Bukoto street, Kamwokya, Kampala on May 13.

Kanyeihamba challenged the students to be courageous and vigorous so as to bring about a better Uganda for future generations. He intimated to them how, despite his old age, he was managing a busy schedule that included maintaining a weekly column in Sunday Monitor since retirement. 

Urging them to be courageous and purposeful, he said: “You are still young; you ought to read a lot and widely and work hard using the law to make Uganda better. I have escaped death three times. Many are disappointed that I’m still alive! Others have wished me death several times, but I cannot give up defending the public good.”

He added: “The Christian integrity my parents imparted in me has remained in me despite the many problems I have gone through. But why don’t you do the same? Is none of you Christian?”

He challenged them to do what their conscience tells them is good for Uganda, rather than what powerful people dictate even when it is against the Constitution and the law.

Kanyeihamba narrated how he felt betrayed by President Museveni, who embraced the 1995 Constitution with gusto, but later started tampering with it.

“As chairman of the Legal Drafting committee, there is no word in that Constitution that I did not scrutinize. Though in his first speech about the Constitution, Museveni said he would go back to the bush if anyone tampered with it, he himself removed the term limits and is scheming to remove the age limit,” Kanyeihamba charged.

He observed that the current implementation and enforcement of the Constitution has diverted from the intended fashion. Hence the Constitution is no longer popular as the masses are not consulted anymore during amendments to it.
 
PARALYZED JUDICIARY

Kanyeihamba said the judiciary has lost independence and become paralyzed, simply becoming accountable to Museveni the man: “The judiciary has been captured not so much by the executive but by the presidency”.

He said parliament has lost the powers of making and unmaking the Constitution, now grabbed by the NRM caucus. 

“Over the years, the NRM party has taken over the power of making law: ideas are initiated in NRM, then discussed secretly by the NRM caucus. Parliament simply passes the caucus’ resolutions, sometimes with bribes to compromise them,” he added. He lamented that what is now regarded as the supreme law of the land is not the Constitution but the resolutions of the NRM caucus.

He said even the process of appointing judges has lost its constitutional stipulations. “When judges were nominated, as is still the case in Kenya and other countries, names are published in the media, so that the public can discuss them. But why are the president and the Judicial Service Commission ignoring the provisions of the Constitution?” he queried.

He warned that unless the young generation think and work hard, corruption and breach of laws will continue unabated. “If you have a government that is corrupt, then they will be happy [to] do nothing, [because] birds of the same feather flock together. By the nature of sins committed in the judiciary lately, many judges and lawyers should have been suspended or dismissed. Nonetheless, nothing is being done.”

Dr Olive Sabiiti, dean, faculty of Law, told The Observer the conversation was part of the university’s routine activities of equipping students with practical skills, role models and experiences that should impact on their lives. She received a number of books authored by Kanyeihamba that he donated to the university.

Kanyeihamba promised to keep returning to the institution for intellectual discourses with the students.

jmusinguzi@observer.ug 

A highly placed source at Makerere University has told The Observer that among the four professors who expressed interest in the position of vice chancellor is suspended don Prof Elisam Magara.

Others are former VC and presidential candidate, Venansius Baryamureeba, college of Humanities and Social Sciences principal, Edward Kirumira, deputy vice chancellor, Finance and Administration, Barnabas Nawangwe, and Elisam Magara.

Magara was suspended over a year ago by outgoing Makerere University vice chancellor Prof. John Ddumba-Ssentamu for allegedly submitting students’ results without marking the examination scripts. He is currently in court, battling the suspension.

When contacted, Irene Ovonji-Odida, the chairperson of the search committee, said, “The search committee has not yet announced the names of the applicants for the VC position nor has it announced a shortlist. I can only comment on both issues when we make the announcement,” Ovonji-Odida said in an SMS.

Ddumba-Ssentamu, who declined to reapply for the position, which he will have held for five years on August 31, said he is not aware of the shortlist but, ‘it would be disturbing,’ if Magara applied and got shortlisted.

“The names of those who applied for the VC position are still a secret and surely I can’t know who applied and who didn’t,” Ddumba-Ssentamu said.

“But if indeed Magara who is under suspension for submitting results without marking students papers is shortlisted, that would be very unfortunate.” 

We contacted, Magara, who until his suspension was the dean of the East African School of Library and Information Science, admitted that he applied for the VC position.

“Have they released the names of those who submitted their applications? The other day you [media] people were announcing other people and my name was not there; so, who is telling you that?” Magara said before admitting he submitted his application.

“Anyway, what I know is that I submitted my papers but because they have not yet announced the shortlist, I don’t want to appear as if I’m advertising myself.”

Magara added that although he is on suspension, there is no law that stops him from applying.

“What is the relationship between my suspension and the advert for the VC position? It is up to the committee to see whether it can consider my application, not the public. I have every right to apply and what I know I’m not under any condition not to do so ethically and legally; God has cleared me.”

bakerbatte@observer.ug

The executive director of the Foundation for Human Rights Initiative (FHRI), Dr Livingstone Sewanyana has commended Uganda Christian University (UCU) for introducing two new programmes in the humanities.

Speaking during the launch of the programmes at UCU on May 5, Dr Sewanyana said, “there has been this school of thought in the country that arts do not matter. I want to say today that I do not agree!”.

We should emphasize the importance of arts. I think we need to have a holistic approach to development, like the countries we tend to admire like Malaysia have done,” Sewanyana added.

The new programmes, the Bachelor of Human Rights, Peace and Humanitarian Interventions (BOHPHI), and Bachelor of Organization and Development Management (BODM), are run under the university’s department of Development Studies, in the faculty of Social Sciences.

BOHPHI is meant to help the learners appreciate the challenges of human rights violations, introduce them to the issues of promotion and protection of human rights, peaceful coexistence, and the aftermath of war and instability. BODM is to introduce the learners to how organizations are initiated, built, function, and equip learners with skills in designing, implementing, and managing development initiatives.

Explaining the new programmes, the university’s head of Development Studies, Rev Canon Dr Uzzial Kiriaghe Matte, said this is part of the ongoing curriculum review, and confirmed that these programmes have already been approved and accredited by the National Council for Higher Education (NCHE).

“The department has been undergoing a [review] to strengthen our curriculum since 2014,” Dr Matte said.

“The aim is to tailor our training programmes more closely to the needs of society and offer more appreciable and usable skills to our graduates. We believe that the new courses will add to the range of options for our applicants.”

Dr Matte also announced that the department is set to include more elements of entrepreneurship in the existing Bachelor of Development Studies course.

Consequently, the programme will be renamed the Bachelor of Development and Social Entrepreneurship. Together with the Masters in Development, Monitoring and Evaluation, these two programmes are awaiting the approval of the NCHE before being rolled out.

Sewanyana commended UCU on the quality of her graduates.

“I applaud UCU for producing the best employees in the country. I employ over 200 people but I want to tell you that your products are among the finest, and I want to commend you for that,” he said.

It was a rainy Sunday morning, but nothing was going to dampen the mood, as ALI TWAHA joined thousands of Makerere University students and well-wishers in a run to raise funds for the Students' Centre, early last week.

The Makerere University Endowment Fund, which was behind the run, raised Shs 50m as a start towards building a Students’ centre at the main campus.

According to fund chairman Dr Martin Aliker, the move is an effort by students, alumni and well-wishers to support their alma mater.

“It is a long journey but we have to start somewhere and this run is our effort to start the road to putting up a students’ centre,” he said, last week.

The students’ centre, to be built in between the Senate building and Lincoln flats at an estimated cost of Shs 1.5bn, will be a three-storey complex that will host a canteen, halls, offices and a theatre.

The speaker of parliament, Rebecca Kadaga, was chief runner and contributed Shs 1m, before pledging that parliament would raise Shs 40m for the cause.

There were other contributions from MPs, Makerere staff and students, bringing the figure to Shs 50m in cash and pledges, according to officials in the vice chancellor’s office.

Among these was Shs 3m raised by the principal of the college of Humanities and Social Sciences, Prof Edward Kirumira, who sponsored 300 students, as well as an undisclosed sum by former vice chancellor, Prof Venansius Baryamureeba. Both participated in the run.

The runners were divided into 5km and 10km segments of the run. According to vice chancellor Prof John Ddumba-Ssentamu, the run was just one of the many ways that the endowment fund would work to raise funds for the building project.

“We are working to raise Shs 150m as startup capital, so construction can start, but we will work to find other ways to mobilise funds to ensure completion of this building as our legacy to future students of Makerere,” he said.

Less than a kilometre from Kalungami trading centre in Iganga district stands what should be Nabitende Vocational Training Institute.

But, as ABUBAKER MAYEMBA found, the entire project was abandoned under unclear circumstances and in its place is a single five-classroom windowless block with rusting iron-sheets.

On a cold day, I arrive to find that the only reminder of the institute is a poster to show passers-by what government had envisioned in starting a vocational institution here. The poster states Knowledge and Skills for Self-reliance as the intended institute’s motto. However, this is now the home to Bright View primary school.

Constantin Ogwang, the school’s headteacher, observes that if the institute had been established, maybe the village would be dealing with fewer criminals as the area youths run the own businesses; instead, they  have resorted to gambling and crime. 

“Because of lack of skills, most of them think planting sugarcane, stealing and gambling are the only ways of making money. They cannot be employed in any factory,” Ogwang says.

Nabitende Vocational Training Institute was designed to benefit from the budding Skilling Uganda programme in the education ministry. The unfulfilled dreams of the likes of Nabitende were on the minds of skills development experts from Uganda, Ghana, Rwanda and Namibia, who recently met at Nakawa Vocational Training Institute to discuss how to equip learners for the labour market.

The experts observed that although Uganda had made great strides in vocational training, more effort was needed from both government and the private sector to set up more functional skills development centres.

Albert Nsenginyumva, Rwanda’s former state minister for Technical Vocational Education and Training (TVET), advised entrepreneurs to get involved in promoting skills development, as their businesses needed skilled employees. He observed that many private ventures lacked skilled workers and emerging sectors like tourism and oil and gas would face the same challenge if skills shortage wasn’t resolved. 

“Skills development is expensive and, therefore, we require alternative sources of funding particularly from the private sector as the main beneficiaries. They need to get qualified people who are trained based on their [private sector] needs,” Nsengiyunva said.

Other experts argued that if private businesses supported failed institutions like Nabitende, vocational training would get a vital boost. This they argued was vital since acceptable skills development training requires expensive sophisticated equipment. Many of the existing vocational institutions have benefitted from donations from development partners like Belgium and Japan.

Alex Kakooza, the education ministry’s permanent secretary, acknowledged that globally, the private sector is a key driver in providing labour market information that assists in planning and ensuring that training programmes are demand-driven. In the labour market, skills mismatch is the biggest contributor to unemployment in Uganda with many employees being laid off, as they lack the skills to complete tasks. 

The National Labour Force and Child Activities Survey carried out in 2013, found that about 12.6 million people) were youths aged 18 to 30, who were suffering the brunt of unemployment. 

Kakooza revealed that, the ministry had embarked on ensuring that every priority sector highlighted in the National Development Plan (NDP) gets a planning council. The administrative unit would review and define the skills expected from TVET graduates to serve the respective industries and sectors.

Comprising successful entrepreneurs, the councils would also generate information on specific sector labour demands, propose solutions to skills shortages and establish occupational standards and qualifications. Funding, another key aspect of skills development, would be handled by the private sector in partnership with government. 

“We want the reforms to be demand-driven and the employers to participate in defining the kinds of qualifications they expect us to produce. They have a role to provide labour market information that assists in establishing educational standards and ensuring that training programmes address their needs,” Kakooza said.

His comments came as he presided over a meeting with the Belgian Development Cooperation-Uganda (BTC Uganda), over skills development in the country.

The dialogue was held under the theme of South to South exchange on best practises for private-led change towards sustainable financing and coordination of skills development.

UNEMPLOYMENT RELIEF

As a bridging mechanism between the institutes and the workplace, the Private Sector Foundation Uganda (PSFU) recently obtained Shs 360bn from the World Bank under the Skills Development Facility (SDF). The fund provides non-repayable funding to vocational training schools.

Under the SDF, duly registered institutions receive funding to provide labour market relevant trainings, monitoring and evaluations of the trainees. The programme is divided into clusters with some catering for skills shortages in the formal sector (medium and large firms), including increased access to internships.

The fund also caters for skill shortages in the informal sector (Jua-Kalis) like master craftsmen, micro and small enterprises, and members of cooperatives, associations, NGOs, CBOs and trade unions. Already, Rwanda and Ghana have initiatives and Funds aimed at boosting skills.

In her address, education minister Janet Museveni revealed that a Presidential Initiative on Youth Employment would soon be launched. She noted that this was reached at after it was discovered that although highly trained, many youths lacked the skills and thus ended up unemployed.

The first lady reassured the experts that government had a clearly laid out BTVET strategic plan whose theme was to skill Ugandans. The strategy was launched in 2012 and it is to run until 2021.

Ms Museveni urged the private sector to embrace students who wish to do internships there, saying: “I urge the private sector to take keen interest to call interns even though they say they are overwhelmed,” she said. “We understand [being overwhelmed] but sometimes we should be willing to make some sacrifices as we lay a foundation for take-off.”

The Belgian envoy to Uganda, Hugo Verbist, and his Japanese counterpart Kazuaki Kameda both vowed more support for vocational skilling in Uganda. Verbist, in particular, said Uganda had to move past conservative ideas and the lack of imagination to develop the nation’s skills for the youth.

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