By Okello E. Moses,
KAMPALA
As schools prepare to open for a new academic year, the government has been urged to consider increasing capitation grants to primary and secondary schools.
Currently, government allocates Shs. 20,000/- per pupil in Primary school. But, the Uganda Peoples Congress (UPC) says this money is too little for learners and proposed an increase of at least Shs. 50,000/- per pupil.
Sharon Oyat Arach, the Party’s spokesperson says the current figure cannot make any significant impact on addressing issues affecting the learner.
She said this compromises the quality of education in this country.
A capitation grant is money government allocates for every learner especially in primary and secondary schools. This money is meant for textbook, and other learning materials.
Arach called for government to make use of the Uganda Gazette printer or the government printer services at Entebbe – to mitigate the costs of providing text books and other scholastic materials to learners.
She also decried the alarming rate of poor performance of students in the traditional secondary schools and called for urgent actions to reform the education system in the country.
Additionally, UPC advocates for better infrastructure, well trained and paid teachers besides increasing the capitation grants to primary and secondary schools.
“This will keep the children in school and also provide them with an opportunity to better their lives,” Arach said.
“Our graduates cannot compete favourably in the globally. When they go abroad they have to retrain to fit in,” Arach stressed. “Foreign institutions seem to know more about our programs than we ourselves. Our human resource is being wasted. “
