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Ugandan teens dreams fulfilled
02/05/2007 17:03 - (SA)
Kampala - When fourteen-year-old Viola Naburime finished primary education, she left her dreams of becoming a lawyer at the school gates, as her mother told her she could not afford to pay for further studies.
But a recently-introduced pilot project by the Ugandan government to provide free secondary education for all has allowed Viola to return to the classroom.
Almost 180 000 children have signed up to the project in more than 1 000 pilot schools across the country with about 10 000 teachers, according to a head count released by the Ugandan government at the end of April, one month after the scheme began.
The largest enrolment was recorded in urban schools, according to Education Minister Namirembe Bitamazire.
In Saint Denis Ssebugwawo Secondary School near the capital Kampala, Viola smiled as she sat in a classroom of around fifty pupils, wearing a uniform of a white blouse and bright yellow skirt.
Lack of funding
"My mother found it extremely difficult to pay for my education because my father died," Viola said. "But now I can read on until I become a lawyer."
However, although many pupils are happy, some parents and teachers are wary of the project, citing fears that a serious lack of funding will effect its ability to function.
Uganda is the first East African country to offer free secondary school education, after 10 years of free universal primary education.
But many see the primary programme, known as the Universal Primary Education (UPE) scheme, as a failure due to under-investment.
Some primary classes hold up to 100 students and teachers complain that low wages force them to seek second jobs in order to earn enough to live, therefore devoting less time to the classroom.
The average salary of a state school teacher is around $234 per month.
Success story?
The government says the primary school programme was a success because it increased pupil numbers from around 2.5 million to more than seven million, but critics say it produced poor standards of education.
Many fear that this is likely to be a problem in the secondary education programme
too.
"I'd rather fork out the money and pay the school fees instead of subjecting my child to that programme that may end up like the Universal Primary Education scheme," said Justus Kisembo, parent of a pupil at a private secondary school.
"UPE suffered so badly that some schools failed to even buy simple things like chalk," said teacher Josephine Mugerwa.
The deputy head teacher at Saint Denis, Francis Ssali, admitted that the funding per child in his secondary school was very low.
"Only 27 thousand shillings (around US$16) is allocated per child per term, which is very small," Ssali said.
Government provision
But the government has promised to provide textbooks and other teaching materials, as well as to build more classrooms, he said, adding that his school has yet to benefit.
"We are trying to see that problems that were faced under the UPE are not replicated, the Education Minister said.
Uganda's education budget is around 17% of the national budget of $2.4bn, with 41% financed by donor countries, according to Aggry Kibenge, the spokesperson of the education ministry.
Meanwhile some say the government should also provide lunches and uniforms for poor pupils at the free secondary schools.
"Many cannot afford lunch and spend the whole day on empty stomach," said Jacob Mukasa, a teacher in a pilot school. "The majority are very poor and some are not in uniforms but we cannot send them back."
Others, like Viola's mother Lilian Wani, see the new programme, set to expand in the coming years, as a "godsend".
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