Africa Region Human DevelopmentWorking Paper Series

Uganda Post-primary EducationSector Report

Africa RegionThe World Bank

Xiaoyan Liang

© September 2002Human Development SectorAfrica RegionThe World Bank

The views expressed within are those of the authors anddo not necessarily reflect the opinions of the WorldBank or any of its affiliated organizations.

Foreword

S ince the mid 1980s, Uganda has become oneof Africa’s success stories. Reform measuresintroduced by the current government have

been largely implemented, and the country is on aroad toward steady economic recovery.

Progress is particularly prominent in the educa-tion sector, and especially in primary education. Thepresident’s decision in 1996 to eliminate primaryschool fees for up to four children per family re-moved what had been an important economic im-pediment for families to enroll and maintain theirchildren at school. This decision also sent a strongsignal that basic education is a high priority. By 2001,the gross enrollment ratio for primary educationstood at more than 120 percent.

Post-primary education, on the other hand, has re-ceived less attention. This is particularly the casefor the different types of secondary education, whichis the focus of this report. At about 19 percent in2000, the gross enrollment ratio for the full six-gradecycle of general secondary education is well belowthe Sub-Saharan average of almost 30 percent. Inaddition to low coverage, access rates differ consid-erably by gender, parental income, and area of resi-dence. Moreover, internal efficiency and studentachievement is low. The quality and coverage ofvocational and technical education and training is alsolow, comparatively costly, and ill adapted to labormarket needs.

While Uganda is right in giving top priority toachieving universal primary education, secondary

education now requires urgent attention as well.The recent rapid enrollment growth in primary edu-cation is causing a sharp increase in the demand foreducation beyond the primary level. Furthermore,there is a wide international consensus on the criti-cal role played by good quality secondary educa-tion in enabling countries to train the manpowerrequired to benefit from the ICT and knowledgerevolution, and to compete successfully in the newglobalized, knowledge-based economy. Secondaryeducation also yields considerable private returns,and provides opportunities to acquire attitudes,skills, and competencies that enhance the ability ofyoung people to participate fully in society, takecontrol of their lives, and continue learning at thepost-secondary level.

However, similar to other Sub-Saharan Africancountries, Uganda faces enormous challenges inmaintaining the drive towards good quality univer-sal primary education while, at the same time, re-sponding to the increasing social and economic de-mand for rapid expansion of secondary educationas well. In considering their options for expandingaccess to secondary education, governments haveto decide on difficult trade-offs between the role ofpublic financing in supporting different levels(lower and upper secondary education), and typesof secondary education (general, technical, voca-tional), as well as in ensuring equity in provisionbetween different population groups (e.g., boys andgirls, urban/rural, poor and more well-off groups).

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This report was prepared by Xiaoyan Liang, task team leader, under the supervision of Paud Murphy,lead education specialist, AFTH1, and Dzingai B. Mutubmuka, sector manager, AFTH1. Teams mem-bers Harriet Nannyonjo and Debbie Peterson, AFTH1, provided support, and background paperswere supplied by Paul Bennell, Charles Byaruhanga, Jack Keating,Victor Levine, Keith Lewin,TonyRead, the Uganda National Education Bureau, International Development Consultants Ltd., andImpact Associates in association with Monarch Consulting Company.

In Uganda, the author worked in collaboration with the Ministry of Education and Sports, Uganda,the Department of Secondary Education, the Department of Business, Technical, and Vocational Edu-cation and Training. Peer reviewers Jacob Bregman, David Court, Toby Linden, Peter Moock, andAdriaan M. Verspoor offered valuable comments and feedback. Additional written comments werereceived from Amit Dar, Bruce N. Jones, Soren Nellemann, and Michael Ward (DFID Uganda).

Final editing and formatting of the report were done by Lawrence Mastri.

This study is designed to help the governmentclarify these trade-offs. The study represents a com-prehensive review of Uganda’s secondary educa-tion sector. It is based on new data gathered specifi-cally to examine the cost, quality, and demand forsuch education. The analysis also draws on a wealthof existing data and studies. Findings from all pre-vious studies of post-primary education are synthe-sized to produce a comprehensive picture. For eachaspect of access, equity, quality, management andfinancing, the study discusses the achievements todate, the challenges ahead, and broad options forreform.

This study was developed in consultation withthe Ugandan Ministry of Education and Sports. Italso represents a collaborative effort between theWorld Bank and other development partners in theEducation Funding Agency Group in Uganda. TheNorwegian Education Trust Fund supported it fi-nancially. We hope the study will contribute to thenational consultative process that is currently un-derway and serve as a platform on which to build asustainable Post-primary Education Strategic Plan forUganda.

Birger FredriksenSenior Education AdvisorAfrica Region. The World Bank

Contents

Foreword ..................................................................................................................................................................... iiiAcronyms ..................................................................................................................................................................xiii

Executive Summary ................................................................................................................................................... ix

1. Introduction ............................................................................................................. 11.1The importance of post-primary education ................................................................................................ 11.2 Purposes of the study .................................................................................................................................... 21.3 Sector report development process ............................................................................................................. 31.4 Data sources .................................................................................................................................................... 51.5 Definition of post-primary education ......................................................................................................... 51.6 Organization of the sector report ................................................................................................................ 6

2. Demographic, Social and Economic Context .................................................... 7

3. Education Sector Overview .................................................................................. 93.1 Structure of the education system ............................................................................................................... 93.2 Size of the education sector .......................................................................................................................... 93.3 Selected basic indicators of the education system in Uganda ............................................................... 103.4 Government expenditure on education .................................................................................................... 11

4. Uganda Post-Primary Education ........................................................................ 144.1 Policy, objectives, structure, admission, and size ..................................................................................... 144.2 System performance .................................................................................................................................... 184.3 System inputs ................................................................................................................................................ 354.4 Cost and financing of post-primary education and training ................................................................. 444.5 Business, technical and vocational education .......................................................................................... 514.6. Private provision of post-primary education and training ................................................................... 564.7. Cost effectiveness of various PPET institutions ..................................................................................... 60

5. PPET Enrollment and Transition Rates Projections ...................................... 63

6. Conclusions............................................................................................................ 66

7. Policy Options ....................................................................................................... 68A. Short-term focus on increasing efficiency of the current system: Expanding and improving qualityB. Medium-term focus on more equitable distribution of public financing to improve coverage,equity, and quality of PPET (within 5–10 years) ........................................................................................... 69C. Long-term focus on structure, curriculum, and teacher reform to improve the quality and relevanceof PPET education .............................................................................................................................................. 71

References ............................................................................................................... 74

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Annex 1.Determinants of Secondary Enrollment Using Multiple Regression Method .......................................... 75

Annex 2. Analyzing Private Direct and Opportunity Costs of PPET ......................................................................... 77

Annex 3. Projected Cost of Adopting Short-term Efficiency Measures..................................................................... 83

Tables

Table 1 World Bank lending to Uganda .................................................................................................................. 5Table 2 Poverty and social indicators ....................................................................................................................... 9Table 3 Population projections from 2000 (estimated) to 2025, Uganda ............................................................ 9Table 4 Schools, enrollments, and teachers by type ............................................................................................ 11Table 5 Enrollment (and number of schools) by ownership .............................................................................. 11Table 6 Total education expenditure as a % of GNP and as a % of total expenditure .................................... 13Table 7 Recurrent budget allocation in billions of Uganda Shilling, 1998–2004 (estimated) ........................ 13Table 8 Structure of education system by world region ..................................................................................... 17Table 9 Overview of the general secondary education system (2000) ............................................................. 19Table 10 Age-specific enrollment ratio for secondary school in 1999/2000 ..................................................... 19Table 11 Secondary gross enrollment ratio ........................................................................................................... 19Table 12 Secondary gross and net enrollment ratios by gender ........................................................................ 21Table 13 Secondary enrollment rates by quintile, 1992, 1997, and 2000 ........................................................... 21Table 14 Transition rates from P7 to S1 (in %) ...................................................................................................... 25Table 15 Primary to secondary transition rates (in %) ........................................................................................ 25Table 16 Transition rates from S4 to S5 for selected years .................................................................................. 25Table 17 Dropout rates by type of school and location, 2001 ............................................................................ 27Table 18a UCE candidates and pass rates by subject (2000) for main subjects ............................................... 29Table 18b UCE candidates and fail rates for Math and English ......................................................................... 29Table 19 UACE candidates and pass rates by subject (2000) .............................................................................. 29Table 20 Quality Study Failure Rates I .................................................................................................................. 29Table 21 Quality Study Failure Rates II ................................................................................................................. 31Table 22 The Ugandan labor force .......................................................................................................................... 31Table 23 Probability of being in paid employment by educational attainment (Individuals age 15-69, not

in school) ............................................................................................................................................................. 31Table 24 Wage premiums ......................................................................................................................................... 31Table 25 Growth of outputs 1990–99 ..................................................................................................................... 35Table 26 Teacher education by gender and degree .............................................................................................. 39Table 27 Current ‘O’-level curriculum based on the 1982 subject guidelines ................................................. 43Table 28 Buildings at secondary schools, 2000 ..................................................................................................... 43Table 29 The Information Age ................................................................................................................................ 45Table 30 Secondary education expenditure as a % of all levels ......................................................................... 47Table 31 2001/02 Planned budget for secondary recurrent expenditure........................................................... 47Table 32 Expenditure per secondary student as a percent of per capita GNI .................................................. 47Table 33 Public expenditure per pupil by district (including both government and private enrollment) .. 49Table 34 Cumulative percent of public subsidy by population cohorts .......................................................... 49Table 35 Opportunity cost of PPET ........................................................................................................................ 51Table 36 Institutional profile of BTVET and enrollment capacity ..................................................................... 51Table 37 Average expenditure per student per year ............................................................................................ 53Table 38 Technical and O-level secondary failure rates ...................................................................................... 53Table 39 The proposed comprehensive and vocational secondary school curriculum .................................. 55

viiPOST-PRIMARY EDUCATION IN UGANDA

Table 40 Percent of private enrollment in general secondary schools .............................................................. 57Table 41 Percent enrollment in private secondary schools by district, 2000 .................................................... 57Table 42 Correlation of private provision and NER ............................................................................................ 59Table 43 Unit costs per pupil in public and private PPET ................................................................................... 59Table 44 Math and English failure rates in government and private schools .................................................. 59Table 45 Breakdown of use-attributable cost per pupil ...................................................................................... 61Table 46 Failure rates by school type ..................................................................................................................... 61Table 47 Regression results: Predicting the probability of secondary enrollment among 13-25 year-olds

completing primary school .............................................................................................................................. 77Table 48 Education Expenditure UNHS 1999/2000 .............................................................................................. 79Table 49 Regression analysis of household education expenditure—UNHS ................................................. 79Table 50 Summary of household expenditure on education by category ........................................................ 79Table 51 Average earnings of P7 completers by age ........................................................................................... 79Table 52 Household enterprise production function .......................................................................................... 81Table 53 Estimated “shadow wage” of P7 completers ........................................................................................ 81Table 54 Opportunity cost of PPET ........................................................................................................................ 81Table 55 Consolidated reforms and activities in the baseline model with incremental reforms ................. 84Table 56 Activities for baseline model ................................................................................................................... 85

Figures

Figure 1 GNP per capita and secondary gross enrollment ratio ......................................................................... 3Figure2 Uganda education structure ....................................................................................................................... 9Figure 3 Percentage completing primary and three years of secondary education from 1953 to 1993 ....... 11Figure 4 Enrollment by age (from HH survey, all ages) .................................................................................... 13Figure 5 Number of Secondary Schools, 1970–2000 ............................................................................................ 17Figure 6 Secondary Enrollment Trends, 1970–2000 ............................................................................................. 17Figure 7 Age-specific enrollment ratio .................................................................................................................. 19Figure 8 Comparison of secondary enrollment for males and females by age .............................................. 21Figure 9 Comparison, by quintile, of secondary enrollment by age ................................................................ 21Figure 10 Reasons for not attending school for children of secondary age group ......................................... 23Figure 11 Reasons for dropping out of school ..................................................................................................... 23Figure 12 Comparison, among quintiles, of percentage of children working ................................................ 23Figure 13 Dropouts by grade and gender ............................................................................................................. 25Figure 14 Repeaters by grade and gender ............................................................................................................ 27Figure 15 Yearly return to education ..................................................................................................................... 33Figure 16 Pupil-teacher ratio by region ................................................................................................................ 37Figure 17 Accumulated subsidy by population cohorts ..................................................................................... 49Figure 18 Costs of PPET ........................................................................................................................................... 51Figure 19 Distribution of expenditure—public and private .............................................................................. 59Figure 20 Primary enrollment in P7 and PLE passes ........................................................................................... 65Figure 21 Total enrollment government and private .......................................................................................... 65Figure 22 Nominal transition rates P7–S1 ............................................................................................................ 65

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Acronyms and Abbreviations

BoG Board of GovernorsBTVET Business, Technical, and Vocational Education and TrainingCP Community PolytechnicDBVTET Department of BTVETEFAG Education Funding Agency GroupEMIS Education Management Information SystemESA Education Standards AgencyESIP Education Strategic Investment PlanGER Gross Enrollment RatioGoU Government of UgandaMOES Ministry of Education and SportsNCDC National Curriculum Development CenterNER Net Enrollment RatioPAF Poverty Action FundPPET Post-primary Education and TrainingPTA Parent-Teacher AssociationPTR Pupil:Teacher RatioSED Secondary Education DepartmentUACE Uganda Advanced Certificate of EducationUCE Uganda Certificate of EducationUPE Universal Primary Education

Executive Summary

n recent years, Uganda has made impressiveprogress in primary education. The president’s de-cision in 1996 to eliminate fees for up to four chil-

dren per family removed what had been an impor-tant financial impediment, and also sent a strongsignal that education is a high priority. An additional2.3 million children (1.1 m girls and 1.2 m boys) re-sponded immediately, bringing the total primaryenrollment up to 5.7 million in 1997. By 2001, totalenrollment had reached 6.9 million, and the grossenrollment ratio stood at more than 120 percent.

However, the post-primary education and trainingsector (PPET),1 has received little attention.Uganda’s secondary education (including all gradesof S1–S6) gross enrollment ratio of 19 percent andnet enrollment ratio of 13 percent in 2000 were lowcompared to international or regional standards, andwell below the average among countries of similarGNP per capita income. Yet, evidence shows thatsecondary education contributes significantly toeconomic, social, and cultural development. Evenwithin the education system, secondary educationis important for training the teachers and adminis-trators that staff the primary school system. In fact,by training mid-level technicians and preparing fu-ture professionals, post-primary education plays asimilar role in other areas that are key to economicdevelopment.

The Government of Uganda has become increas-ingly aware of the importance of post-primary edu-cation, especially with the expected increase in post-

I primary demand after the implementation of Uni-versal Primary Education (UPE). In fact, the gov-ernment is so eager to expand and improve the sys-tem that President Museveni announced during the2001 election that he would pursue “Free SecondaryEducation.”

The Ministry of Education and Sports (MOES) hassince begun to assess the implications of such apolicy. And with support from the Education Fund-ing Agency Group, the Ministry of Education com-missioned a series of interrelated studies on post-primary education. It was expected that these stud-ies would fill important knowledge gaps aboutUgandan post-primary education.

This report synthesizes findings from the com-missioned studies and presents a frank picture ofUgandan post-primary education—its achieve-ments to date, the challenges ahead, and broad op-tions for reform. The report also presents two costedpolicy options for the ministry’s immediate consid-eration, based on the work by Professor Keith Lewinof the University of Sussex. The report and the op-tions have been discussed with the governmentduring the April 2002 Education Sector Review, andcomments from the review have been incorporated.

Together, the report and the options will providethe basis for a wide consultation leading to aUganda Post-primary Education Strategic Frame-work to be presented at the next Education SectorReview. The Government of Uganda is leading thisprocess.

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System diagnosis

Multifaceted nature

The PPET system in Uganda is by no means mono-lithic. The system is a mixture of a small proportionof elite, high-quality government and religiouslyfounded schools, which are well resourced and af-fordable only to the rich, and a majority of poorlyperforming private and community schools estab-lished mainly for poorer families.

Low priority

The PPET sub-sector of the education system is nota high priority area. Over the last few years, theaverage share of recurrent secondary budget out oftotal education recurrent has been around 15 per-cent, and the share of technical and vocational edu-cation around 3 percent, compared to 65 percent forprimary education. The government has now prom-ised to provide at least 65 percent of the educationsector budget for primary education and, becauseof education reforms, increase the budget for ter-tiary education. Given these commitments, the PPETsector can best hope that the currents levels will bemaintained for the medium term.

Multiple objectives

As is the case in most countries, post-primary edu-cation in Uganda has multiple objectives, includingthe transmission of general knowledge, skills, citi-zenship, and other values. It has perhaps the con-tradictory task of providing qualified students tothe higher school levels while preparing studentsfor the job world. It is important to ask how theeducation system should be organized to meet itsobjectives. This report’s position is that the scarcePPET resources (at least the public sector) must fo-cus on instilling basic literacy, numeracy, and prob-lem-solving skills. A focus on the basics will ulti-mately serve all purposes well.

Unclear policy directions

The long-term national education policies comemainly from documents and policy statements ex-ternal to the Ministry of Education and Sports, someof the recent important ones include:• Free Secondary Education• Creating a National Network of Community Poly-

technics• Steady Vocationalization of Secondary Education

by Creating Comprehensive Schools and Voca-tional Schools

• Relaxing Current Controls, Restraints, and Qual-ity Assurance Checks on Private education in or-der to Encourage the Rapid Growth of Private sec-ondary schools.

However, the Ministry of Education and Sportshas not translated these broad policy directions intopolicies and guidelines. And, these statements gen-erally do not take into account the resource impli-cations. This lack of a coherent policy framework,the absence of implementation guidelines, and thelack of consideration for resource constraints havebecome major obstacles to improving the sector.

Poor system performance

• Low coverage and extreme inequity. Coverage at thesecondary level is very low: GER for S1–S4 (the mainfocus of PPET) is 35 percent; overall GER for S1–S6is only 19 percent. Therefore, at least two thirds ofthe age group population is without access to PPET,and overall about 80 percent of the population hasno access to secondary education. In addition, ineq-uity in the Ugandan secondary system is much morewidespread than at the primary level, with the rich-est 20 percent of the households occupying 63 per-cent of total secondary spaces.

• Gender disparity. There is a gender disparity insecondary coverage. Only 41 percent of secondaryenrollment is females, and female enrollment ratiosfall below those for males, especially after age sev-enteen. Gender disparity is worst in the NorthernRegion, perhaps due to social norms. Nationwide,

xiPOST-PRIMARY EDUCATION IN UGANDA

girls do significantly worse in mathematics than doboys, but boys and girls’ performance in Englishwas similar. The gender disparity needs to be ad-dressed as a priority, given the Millennium Devel-opment Goals, to which the Uganda Governmenthas committed itself.

• Low internal efficiency. The PPET system overallhas low repetition but significant dropout rates.Dropout rates tend to be higher in rural and non-government schools. And a bottleneck occurs at thetransition from primary to secondary (between 40–50 percent, including both public and private) andfrom Ordinary level to A-level (26 percent). How-ever, given the projected increase in primary gradu-ates, the transition rate will fall if no action is takento expand and improve the PPET system.

• Poor student achievement, especially in math, En-glish, and sciences. A recent School Quality Studyfound that, nationwide, 40 percent of Form 1 stu-dents and half of Form 3 students failed math tests.Results of the English tests are only slightly better:one-quarter of students fail English tests. These ex-ams were designed to test the basic concepts andskills in math and English and can be seen as tests ofminimum requirements. Such high failure rates in-dicate that a substantial proportion of secondarystudents are coming away without the skills andcompetencies they need.

Labor market analysis

• Returns are high. Despite the average poor perfor-mance, the labor market analysis show that PPETstudents are not only more likely to be employedby the formal wage sector, but once employed, re-turns to secondary education—and especially tolower secondary—are high. For every additional yearof lower secondary education, there is an associ-ated wage increase of more than 20 percent. Andthere is evidence that PPET graduates are more pro-ductive, even in the informal sector, than those whohave not attended secondary schools.

• Differential demand for PPET graduates. The FirmDemand Study shows that, despite the advocacyfor vocationalization, it is generic skills and knowl-edge, in addition to positive work attitudes, that

employers value most. In addition, the increasinglydiversified and dynamic formal industry sectormakes it difficult to predict which practical skillswill be in demand. Therefore, schools are better offfocusing on basic knowledge and skills so that stu-dents are flexible enough to adapt to various workenvironments.

• Evolving structure of Uganda’s economy. Thoughpredominantly an agriculture-based economy, thereis every reason to believe that the structure of theeconomy is becoming increasingly industrializedand service-oriented. Data show that while agri-culture grew on average 3.7 percent in the 1990s, itsrate of growth fell far behind that of industry, espe-cially the manufacturing and service sectors, whichgrew at average rates of 12.7 percent, 14.2 percent,and 8.1 percent respectively. Economists expect thatthese sectors will continue to grow at similar rates.This means that the economy needs or will needmiddle-level skills urgently. A focus on science, tech-nology, and engineering will coincide with the gen-eral trend of the economy and can bring Ugandamore in line with successful international examplesof PPET.

Insufficient inputs

The poor system performance is mainly because ofpoor quality inputs or lack of inputs in the follow-ing areas:

• Weak management capacity. Post-primary Educa-tion and Training (PPET) is the primary responsibil-ity of two departments in the MOES: the SecondaryEducation Department (SED) and the Departmentof Business, Technical and Vocational Education andTraining (DBTVET). DBTVET is in charge of institu-tions ranging from secondary technical and farmschools to tertiary institutions that are actually gov-erned by the Higher Education Act. The institutionalarrangement for PPET must be streamlined. And atthe central level inadequate staffing and a lack ofrelevant management training are weakening man-agement capacity. The same is true at the schoollevel. Schools are rarely inspected, headmastershave little training in effective management, andaccountability is low.

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• Overloaded curriculum. There are at least fourteensubjects for S1 and S2, and nine subjects for S3 andS4 being taught. Because of so many subjects, stu-dents spend an average of fifty periods (each pe-riod is 45–50 minutes) in classes each week, leavinglittle time for play and extracurricular activities. Thetight schedule also severely restricts efficient use ofresources.

• Characteristics of teachers- Teaching load. Secondary teachers in Uganda are

not being optimally utilized. The overall pupil:teacher ratio in secondary is only 17, well belowthe African average ratio of 25:1 in secondaryschools. The average teaching load is about 22.5periods per week, less than half of the 50 pe-riods provided to students weekly. There ismuch variation in teacher use by subject andlocation, and thus considerable room for im-proving efficiency.

- Teacher salary. Compared to the GDP per capitaof US$320, secondary teachers in Uganda arefairly well paid. Average salary cost in 2001 wasUsh2.86 million (US$1,787), not to mention theshorter hours of work and summer vacation thatteachers enjoy. In addition, teachers in manyelite government schools have salary supple-ments from the school PTA funds. Teachers inprivate schools, who are paid entirely out of PTAfunds, generally receive much less that thosefully paid by the government. Furthermore, thepay disparity between a graduate and Grade Vteachers starting salaries (Ush300,000 vs.Ush135,000) may be too large to be justified.

- But, teacher working conditions are generally poorbecause of a lack of (a) basic teaching and learn-ing materials, libraries, and labs at the schoollevel; (b) a coherent incentive and career struc-ture for teachers; and (c) professional develop-ment. Apart from the qualification upgradingof the Grade V teachers, teachers generally re-ceive little in-service training. The Teacher Uti-lization Study found that the average teacherhad attended only 1.8 refresher courses since1993!

• Textbooks and other inputs. Clearly, the availabil-ity of textbooks and other learning materials have apositive impact on student learning. In Uganda, text-books and other inputs are mostly financed out ofthe capitation grants or fees collected from parents,so schools tend to spend very little on textbooksand other inputs. Critical non-wage, non-boardinginputs are lacking, especially in rural schools. Over-all, the student:book ratio stands at about 6:1 in sec-ondary schools, while the student:classroom ratiois 46:1. There is also a shortage of library, lab facili-ties, computers, and Internet access.

Inefficient and inequitable public financing

• High costs of PPET to the government and households- Government subsidies only target government

or grant-aided schools in the form of teachersalaries and capitation grants. Public expendi-ture per enrolled student is Ush.236,994(US$148), which is high compared to per capitaGDP (US$320) and compared to expenditure perprimary student (about US$22). Since capitationgrants are fixed on a per student basis (regard-less of his or her family background), the majorsource of variation in public expenditure perstudent stems from the pupil:teacher ratio andthe proportion of graduate teachers (more quali-fied and better paid) on the government payroll.

- The cost of going to secondary school is pro-hibitive for many families, especially poor ones.This is not only because of the direct costs asso-ciated with secondary enrollment (estimated tobe Ush.238,000, per child enrolled, in both pub-lic and private schools), but also because thevalue of the child’s time in the labor force ismuch higher at the secondary level (estimatedto be Ush.265,000). Forty-seven percent of Ugan-dan households have annual incomes at or be-low Ush.620,050, and there is little room for in-creases in private contributions to public second-ary education or to private secondary education.

xiiiPOST-PRIMARY EDUCATION IN UGANDA

- Average school expenditure per pupil (poolingboth public and private expenditures) is high-est in boarding schools, because of the high costsof boarding facilities and the higher proportionof graduate teachers employed. Per-pupil expen-ditures at the technical schools are also high:almost twice as high as those in O-level sec-ondary schools. Government schools on aver-age have higher costs than private schools.

• PPET public expenditure is highly inequitable. Thereare two sources of inequity in the financing of PPET.First, most poor children do not go to secondaryschools (only 3.8 percent of the poorest 20 percentof the population are enrolled in secondary schools);therefore, they do not benefit from governmentsubsidies to secondary schools. Second, most poorchildren opt for cheaper private or communityschools, which do not receive government subsi-dies. Children from wealthier families, however,generally go to schools that are better resourced interms of teachers (paid by the government) andother inputs. As a result, public expenditure on sec-ondary education is regressive—that is, thewealthier population is benefiting disproportion-ately from public subsidies in secondary education.The poorest 20 percent of the population are onlyreceiving 13 percent of government subsidy,whereas the richest 20 percent of the population areenjoying 34 percent.

If PPET coverage is to be improved, unit costs must fallby increasing the efficiency of public financing. The gov-ernment has a financial commitment to provide atleast 65 percent of its education budget to primaryeducation to ensure that the enrollment gainsachieved through UPE are maintained and the qual-ity of primary education is improved. Perhaps thebest scenario is that the share of secondary be main-tained at about 15 percent and the share for BTVETat 3 percent, which means that in nominal termspublic resources available for PPET will grow at 5percent (equivalent to projected GDP growth). Ifpopulation grows at 3 percent, the PPET can only

grow at 2 percent at most without altering signifi-cantly its current production methods. Neither uni-versal secondary education nor the ESIP targets ofreaching the gross secondary enrollment of 58 per-cent by 2010, with 68 percent of the enrollment inprivate schools, are attainable within this resourceenvelope.

Therefore, to improve access, unit costs must fallby increasing the efficiency of public financing.Worldwide, countries that achieve a high gross sec-ondary enrollment ratio tend to have a low cost ra-tio between secondary and primary (about 2:1). InUganda, the ratio is as high as 7:1. So, if access is tobe equitable, the equity of public financing mustimprove.

Private provision of PPET is already high. If we defineprivate schools as schools not receiving governmentsubsidy, the proportion of private enrollment forPPET was at about 57 percent of total secondaryenrollment in 2000. This proportion of private en-rollment is extremely high compared to the samestatistics from other countries (South America has26 percent of enrollment in private schools comparedto 22 percent for Africa, 15 percent for Asia, and 12percent for Europe). There is also evidence that, inmost countries, the proportion of secondary enroll-ment in private schools has decreased since 1990.Hence, there may be little room for increasing theproportion of private provision. Although there area few elite private schools established by religiousbodies, most private secondary schools in Ugandacater mainly to poor families. Expanding the PPETcoverage by increasing the proportion of privateprovision (without government support) will havea negative impact on equity. And, given the resourceconstraints, government will not likely be able toprovide subsidy to private schools in the short term.

Community polytechnics and vocationalization of sec-ondary education through comprehensive and vocationalschools. The government is seriously consideringadopting community polytechnics as central to itsstrategy for secondary expansion. The idea is to erectnew or convert existing structures in every sub-country that will cater to primary graduates not at-

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tending secondary schools and to secondary schooldropouts. The curriculum will have a heavy dose ofvocational subjects, and the community is expectedto shoulder most, if not all, of the costs of runningthe schools. Although the last medium-term bud-get framework included development costs for com-munity polytechnics, the government has not yetestablished any.

The government is also proposing tovocationalize secondary education through compre-hensive and vocational schools. The curriculum forthe new comprehensive and vocational schools wasproposed during the Fifth Education Sector Reviewlast April. Both comprehensive and vocationalschools are a movement to steadily vocationalizethe secondary curriculum. The proposed compre-hensive/vocational curriculum increased the num-ber of subjects for S1–S2 from a minimum of four-teen (Table 25) to fifteen; for S3–S4 from a minimumof nine to ten subjects. More importantly, in the newcomprehensive schools, the number of vocationalsubjects will increase from at least three to six forS1–S2, and from at least one to two for S3–S4. In thenew vocational schools, the number of vocationalsubjects for S3–S4 will be further increased to foursubjects.

This report is concerned about the governmentproposal of (a) creating a national network of com-munity polytechnics and (b) steadyvocationalization of secondary education by creat-ing comprehensive and vocational schools. The rea-sons are (a) affordability and sustainability—tech-nical education is at least twice as expensive as aregular O-level school; (b) equity—most of the tar-get population, namely the P7 leavers and S1–S4dropouts, will be from the poorest section of thepopulation and will be unable to fund programs intheir communities; and most importantly (c) desir-ability—there is evidence that technical and voca-tional students are not mastering the basic compe-tencies that employers value most in the formal sec-tor (over two-thirds of technical students fail themath and English tests), and a heavier dose of voca-tional subjects will further reduce teaching and

learning in core subjects. Moreover, there does notseem to be much demand for this kind of trainingfrom parents and employers. Finally, it is estimatedthat 400 firms now have in-house training programsand prefer to do their own training.

We argue that the best vocational education (evenfor those leaving school at the end of secondaryeducation and entering the job world) gives stu-dents strong generic skills in basic literacy,numeracy, and problem-solving skills, and the abil-ity to work in teams, and that lower secondary edu-cation (at least the public sector) should teach stu-dents how to learn. The recent World Bank study,Vocational Skills Development in Sub-Saharan Africa:Phase I Synthesis, emphasized this position, conclud-ing that basic education is critical for productivityand economic growth.

Strategic plan and process of working for PPET

The ministry must, through a consultative process,develop a policy framework and strategies for thePPET sector, with clear and realistic goals. There mustalso be targets and indicators in coverage, quality,and efficiency over the next ten years. The strategicplan should also articulate the means for reachingthose goals. These proposed options can be evalu-ated in terms of anticipated cost and incorporatedinto a strategic plan. To the extent possible, the PPETsub-sector should emulate the primary sector anduse the medium-term budget framework to priori-tize activities and adopt the semi-annual EducationSector Review as a major monitoring tool.

At the same time, there has to be a quick decisionon key issues such as community polytechnics andmaking the current system more efficient. The gov-ernment is already committing itself to plans it can-not afford—for example, the current budget planincluded community polytechnics, and there hasbeen pressure to hire more secondary teachers. It isurgent that these key issues be resolved.

xvPOST-PRIMARY EDUCATION IN UGANDA

Broad policy options

This report offers nine broad policy recommenda-tions for the ministry to incorporate into a strategicplan. The options are not prescriptive, but rather amenu of possible strategies for meeting the chal-lenges discussed. Policy options are clustered intothree areas: (a) short-term focus on making betteruse of current resources as a means for expansion;(b) medium-term focus on equitable distribution ofpublic financing, and reducing cost burdens, espe-cially on poor and disadvantaged households; and(c) long- term focus on structural and curriculumreforms.

These options need to correlate with the contin-ued emphasis on improving the quality of educa-tion, reducing the age of first enrollment, andachieving greater internal efficiency at the primarylevel. However, policy-makers often ignore suchcritical linkage between primary and secondaryeducation. Quality improvement measures at theprimary level are central to improving coverage,equity, and quality of secondary education.

The options also must be linked to improvingschool-level management. Many of the innovationsin teaching, learning, and managing resources hap-pen at the school level. The “Study of the Provisionof Instructional Materials” discovered that manyheadmasters are scheduling classes so that everystudent has access to a textbook during the classsession. Such energy at the school level should beexploited. However, the capacity of school-levelmanagement needs to be further strengthenedthrough capacity building and other motivationalincentives.

In discussing the proposed policy options, it isimportant to remember that large differences existbetween regions, districts, and even within districts.The policy options will have to be tailored to thelocal context.

A. Short-term focus on making the current systemmore efficient as a means for expansion andquality improvement (within the next 5 years).

The short-term measures are ways to improve thesecondary coverage without significant changes inresource allocation patterns. However, if imple-mented successfully, the proposed reform measuresmay bring gains in efficiency, although it may re-quire extra funding during the transition period. Thisis where the EFAG may offer assistance, based onsound and agreed upon policy decisions.

Requiring all secondary teachers to teach at least twosubjectsAbout 45 percent of secondary teachers teach onlyone subject area—even though all teachers havebeen trained to teach two subjects. Without increas-ing the number of subjects teacher teach, it will bealmost impossible to increase the overallpupil:teacher ratio without altering the curriculum.But revising the curriculum is a medium- to long-term undertaking.

Increasing pupil:teacher ratioThis is a core strategy for improving the efficiencyof the system. For example, increasing the overallpupil:teacher ratio from the current level of 17 to 30will increase the enrollment by more than 150 per-cent without incurring additional costs. The increaseof PTR does not mean drastic measures, such as fir-ing teachers; instead, it can be achieved by reducingthe hiring rate and restricting hiring to teachers ofsubjects in demand, such as math, English, and sci-ences. However, the burden of such an increaseshould not fall on the crowded schools. And the pro-cess has to be linked to the rationalization of cur-riculum, teacher workloads, and deployment.

xvi AFRICA REGION HUMAN DEVELOPMENT WORKING PAPER SERIES

Distinguishing the secondary (O-level) versus post-secondary (post-O level) institutions both conceptuallyand administratively

• Create an integrated secondary school system to in-clude general O-level and secondary technical and farmschools under a single system of administration, gover-nance, finance, and curriculum focus. As discussed ear-lier, technical and vocational education at the O-level is expensive, ineffective in transmitting basiccompetencies as compared to general secondary, andnot generally a preferred option for families. Thegovernment should consider converting theseschools into regular O-level day secondary schools.

This means that the government will not en-gage in massive construction of community poly-technics. At most, the community polytechnicsshould only be piloted in selected districts with acheaper design that can later be easily convertedinto regular day O-level secondary schools.

• Re-organize post-secondary BTVET institutions intoa single system of further education institutions of viablesize, and invest in improving quality and efficiency, ei-ther through larger multi-faculty colleges or larger singlefield of study institutions. A strategic review is neededof post-school provision to re-energize, rationalize,and increase value for money in this sector. There isroom to (a) adopt more demand-led approaches toenrollment planning and institutional development,(b) provide incentives and flexibility to allow col-leges to increase participation using cost recovery,and (c) generate a dynamic, post school, occupation-ally and professionally orientated education andtraining system.

B. Medium-term focus on equitable distributionof public financing as a major strategy for improv-ing the coverage, equity, and quality of PPET(within the next 5–10 years)

Broaden the concept and forms of capitation grants toschools• Capitation grant for non-wage expenses. To protectexpenditures on essential teaching and learningmaterials and equipment, the existing capitationgrant should be revised so that it can only be used

for non-wage and non-boarding expenditures. Thecurrent practice uses the capitation grant to subsidizeteacher salaries or to hire additional private teachers.Variations of the formula can be introduced to addressthe inequity in public financing. For example:

- To improve the equity of public financing, it ispossible to formulate the capitation grant to al-low higher allocations on a per capita basis forschools serving predominantly poor students.

- More radically, the government may stop pay-ing capitation grants to elite boarding schoolsserving predominantly wealthy families.

- Or, the government could still provide capita-tion grants to the elite boarding schools, butbased on the enrollment of poor and day stu-dents in those schools.

- The government could support the private sec-tor by approving the same grant for privateschools—and there is no reason why such agrant should not be provided to private andcommunity schools. Of course, given resourceconstraints, the government will not be in aposition to provide support immediately. Thepriority is still to reform public financing to pub-lic schools.

• Formula-based teacher salary grant. Much of thevariation in per student expenditure lies in the pro-portion of graduate teachers in the school. Thisvariation is also the major source of inequity of pub-lic financing because rich students usually attendschools that have more of these teachers. To correctthis, the ministry might provide a formula-basedcapitation grant to schools earmarked only forteacher salaries. The schools will then be able todecide how to use this grant and determine the num-ber of teachers, proportion of graduate teachers tobe hired, and salaries of the teachers. The Ministryof Education will determine the value of the grant,sufficient to cover a certain number of teachers. Thisoption is not as drastic as it sounds, since secondaryschools already have a large degree of freedom inhiring teachers and in reallocating resources. Such agrant can eventually be extended to private and

xviiPOST-PRIMARY EDUCATION IN UGANDA

community schools. However, teacher unions mayresist since the strategy implies a change in theterms of teacher contracts. Attention also needs tobe paid that the system does not exploit teachers.

Increase average secondary school size to reap economiesof scale and gradually reduce the number of schools withenrollments less than 250This can be accomplished through merging smallsecondary schools. There is a long-standing concernthat enrollments are too low at many secondaryschools in Uganda to allow economies of scale tobe reaped. This is important because the delivery ofsecondary curriculum usually requires libraries,workshops, and other expensive equipment. TheUnit Cost Study found that, taking into account perstudent expenditure and manageability, the opti-mal school size is between 500 and 750 students.Seventy percent of private rural schools have lessthan 250 students. The corresponding figures forprivate peri-urban and urban private schools are 53percent and 44 percent. About 23 percent of the gov-ernment schools in rural areas have enrollmentssmaller than 250; the corresponding figures for gov-ernment peri-urban and urban schools are 6 percentand 7 percent. Sparsely populated areas deserve spe-cial attention, where secondary schools have smallcatchment areas. This is especially important if theUganda Government decides to provide the O-leveleducation or at least two to three years of O-leveleducation for free as part of the basic educationmovement—in which case, basic education becomesa right.

Expand the existing scholarship scheme to cover needystudents, including AIDS-orphansThe PPET system faces the challenges of efficiency,access, quality and equity. But equity cannot be ex-pected to improve without government interven-tion. Bursary schemes remain an effective strategy.An important policy implication of the analysis isthat the bursaries should target the poor and otherdisadvantaged students. However, it is not clear towhat extent the current bursary scheme is benefit-ing students with real needs; therefore, the current

scheme should be carefully studied before expand-ing the bursary scheme. Bursaries could targetschools that meet certain performance criteria andthat charge fees below certain levels (as the richperhaps will not be opting for such cheap schools).Or bursaries could be used for day students attend-ing boarding schools, while special provisionsshould be made to include orphans.

C. Long-term focus on structure, curriculum, andteacher reform to improve the quality and rel-evance of PPET education

Structure and curriculum reformIn the long term, Uganda needs to examine criti-cally its structure and curriculum focus for PPET, inthe context of cultural, social, and economic devel-opment as well as in the context of regional andinternational integration. It needs to ask what corecompetencies and skills are expected of a secondarygraduate and then determine the structure of theeducation system, the teaching method, and curricu-lum that will deliver such outputs. The country alsoneeds to decide whether it will adopt a basic educa-tion cycle that covers primary and selected years oflower secondary education—with a curriculum fo-cus on literacy, numeracy, and problem-solvingskills—and an enriched curriculum for higher sec-ondary education, with more focus on science andtechnology.

Reform teacher education and teacher incentiveBoth pre-service and in-service of teachers need tobe reviewed. Very little is known about what hap-pens at the teacher training colleges; however, thereis evidence that teacher education would benefitfrom improved efficiency and relevance at the col-leges. Teaching and learning at the colleges tend tobe content-driven—with little attention to devel-oping professional skills and attitudes—and heavilyteacher-centered. Reduce salary differentials be-tween graduates and non-graduates doing the samejobs, and link bonuses to workloads to improve pro-ductivity and performance.

xviii AFRICA REGION HUMAN DEVELOPMENT WORKING PAPER SERIES

Reform the secondary examination and assessmentsystemSecondary teaching and learning in Uganda areheavily influenced by two examinations—theUganda Certificate of Education at the end of O-level, and the Uganda Advanced Certificate of Edu-cation at the end of A-level. Both examinations aredesigned mainly to select students for the next level,and, inevitably, teachers and students will teach andlearn to the examinations if spaces in PPET are lim-ited. With the gradual expansion in coverage, it maybe possible to introduce other forms of assessment,such as continuous assessment or national assess-ment of student aptitudes. These will provide morevaluable insights into the teaching and learning pro-cess in the classrooms and help inform the curriculumreview.

Increase the resource allocation for PPET• Intra-sectoral shifts. At present, 65 percent of theeducation budget is earmarked for primary educa-tion. In fact, the government is committed to guar-anteeing 65 percent of its education budget to pri-mary education over the next few years. It is pos-sible that after a few years, when the primary situa-tion is more stabilized and most of the overage stu-dents will have been absorbed into the system, pri-mary budget may not need to consume 65 percent.In addition, while reforms in higher education maybring higher public finance in the short term, ifimplemented well, they may result in autonomoushigher education institutions and hence will not re-quire a large share of the ministry’s long-term bud-get. This will be a national decision.

• Inter-sectoral shifts. If PPET were to become a highpriority area, there may be a further commitment offunds from some other sectors to the education sec-tor. This decision must be made at the national level,with consultation and concurrence by the Ministryof Finance and the Cabinet. The share of Uganda’sbudget now going to education is already extremelyhigh by international standards.

The projected cost of adopting short-termefficiency measures

The proposed policy options center on the increaseof pupil:teacher ratio by creating core subject clus-ters and by having teachers teach at least two sub-jects. The cost projections assume that the initialcosts of curriculum adaptation are minimum or canbe shouldered by the EFAG, and that the ministry isonly concerned with development costs (for pilot-ing community polytechnics and building regularday secondary schools) and the recurrent costs ofwages and capitation grants.

Two scenarios have been costed. Both scenarioscenter on increasing system efficiency by increas-ing the pupil:teacher ratio, although at a differentrate. The baseline model includes a modest agendaof reform that anticipates a gentle rise in the pupilteacher ratio. It would allow about 200 new schoolsto be built by 2006 and 470 by 2011. The latter issufficient to ensure all sub-counties have a second-ary school by 2011. It would also allow the second-ary GER to climb towards 50 percent, the level atwhich gender parity is likely to become real. Andfinally, it only requires about 20–22 percent of over-all MOE budget to be devoted to secondary andBTVET. The report regards the baseline model to bemore politically feasible as compared to the radicalmodel, which will require a much faster increase ofPTR. Therefore, the report recommends that thebaseline model be adopted for implementation. Aprocess of further national and regional consulta-tion on these options was agreed to during the April2002 Education Sector Review. And the final actionplan will be presented to the October 2002 Reviewand incorporated into the medium-term budgetframework.

1 We define post-primary education as lower secondary educa-tion (grades S1, S2, S3, and S4), upper secondary (grades S5and S6), which immediately follows the seven years of pri-mary education, and a parallel technical and vocationaleducation system that consists of technical and farm schoolsimmediately following the primary cycle. Emphasis is givento grades S1–S4, the O-level segment of secondary educa-tion as opposed to grades S5–S6, the A-level.

xixPOST-PRIMARY EDUCATION IN UGANDA

Short term(within the next 2–3 years)

Medium term(within the next 3–5 years)

Long term(beyond the next 5 years)

Efficiency(Focus on curriculum andteacher rationalization)

Require all secondary teachers toteach at least two subjects. Forty-five percent of teachers now teachonly one subject.

Increase the pupil:teacher ratiogradually from 20 to 30

Continue to increase PTR so that itreaches a sustainable national averagedesired by the country

Maintain the average nationalPTR taking into considerationreasonable deviations due tocertain geographic anddemographic conditions

Increase the average secondary schoolsize to reap economies of scale wherefeasible

Maintain a sustainableaverage school size,recognizing the special needsof certain remote areas

Coverage and equityFocus on financing reformand targeted assistance toneedy students

Revise the current capitation grantscheme so that only the non-wageexpenses are covered; in addition,introduce variations of the formula toaddress the inequity in public financing:

- A higher capitation grant toschools serving predominantlypoor or other disadvantagedchildren

- Stop capitation grant to eliteboarding schools, or only paycapitation grant based on thenumber of poor studentsenrolled in those schools

- Consider providing such grantto private schools

Continue, revise, andimplement the capitationgrants to maximize equity andquality

Pilot formula-based salary grant in orderthat schools can decide the number andqualifications of teachers hired

Implement formula-basedsalary grants

Expand and revise the existing bursaryscheme so that more poor and otherdisadvantaged children can benefit fromthe bursaries

Institutionalize the bursaryscheme

Quality and relevanceFocus on structure,curriculum, teaching reform

Review the structure andcurriculum focus according tonational needs andinternational benchmarks;establish a basic educationcycle with a core curriculumfocusing on basic literacy,numeracy, and problem-solving skillsReform teacher education andteacher incentive structure

Reform secondaryexamination and assessment

Increase the share of budgetallocated to secondary(subject to national debate)

Management andgovernance

Create an integrated secondaryschool system: convert the existingsecondary-level technical schoolsto regular O level day secondary;

Re-organize and re-energize thepost secondary BTVET*

Capacity building at district and schoollevels

Continue strengtheningschool-level management

* It is not clear administratively which department is responsible for the management of the post-secondary BTVET institutions as theseinstitutions currently cut across both secondary and tertiary education.

Broad policy options forimproving the efficiency, coverage and equity, and quality and relevance of post-primary education

1

Introduction

P

1

1.1 The importance of post-primary education

ost-primary education—the transitional edu-cation sub-sector between the primary andtertiary education sub-sectors—is less well

studied and understood than the primary educationsub-sector, particularly in developing countries. Tra-ditionally in the developing world, higher rates ofreturn to primary than to higher levels of educationhave justified expanding and improving primaryeducation. The emphasis on primary education wassimply because literacy is fundamental to a mini-mally educated labor force and an informed elector-ate. Meanwhile, equity-based arguments justifiedbroader primary rather than post-primary and ter-tiary coverage.

But the past two decades have shown that, de-spite the justifications for the primacy of primaryeducation in development strategies, secondary andtertiary education cannot be ignored. Recent em-pirical work has demonstrated that post-primaryenrollment has a positive relationship with real percapita GDP and a negative relationship with fertil-ity (Brist & Caplan, 2000). Figure 1 illustrates cross-sectional data from the 2000 World Education Re-port that show a positive trend line between GNPper capita and gross secondary enrollment (GER)ratio among African countries, indicating that GNPper capita increases in the GER.

A great deal of literature testifying to the impor-tance of secondary education already exists; there-fore, this paper will focus on the contribution ofsecondary education within the context of Uganda’seconomic, social, and cultural development. We willalso argue that, even within the education system,higher levels of education are important for train-ing the teachers and administrators that staff theprimary school system. In fact, by training mid-leveltechnicians and preparing future professionals, post-primary education plays a similar role in other areasthat are key to economic development. In short, post-primary education is the fundamental link betweenprimary and higher education, as well as a determi-nant of the future path of tertiary students, and thusof much of the potential for economic developmentin a country.

Finally, because children of this age are generallysexually active, secondary education can be an ef-fective vehicle for intensive school-based HIV/AIDSeducation and prevention programs.

Millennium Development Goals

PPET’s importance is further underlined by the Mil-lennium Development Goals, to which the Ugandagovernment has signed on. Specifically, the MDGgoals for Uganda education are (a) ensure that, by2015, all children will be able to complete a fullcourse of primary schooling; and (b) eliminate gen-der disparity in primary and secondary education,

2 INTRODUCTION

Figure 1GNP per capita and secondary gross enrollment ratio

0

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40

50

60

70

80

90

100

0 500 1000 1500 2000 2500 3000

GNP Per Capita 1997

GE

R S

eco

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ary

Uganda

Trend Line

preferably by 2005, and in all levels of education nolater than 2015. The goal of eliminating gender dis-parity is especially relevant to secondary education.

1.2 Purposes of the study

This study focuses on post-primary education inUganda, discussing issues of access, equity, effi-ciency, management and financing, and makesbroad recommendations for moving ahead. As of1997 the Ugandan overall secondary gross enroll-ment ratio of 12 percent was well below the aver-age (22 percent) among countries of similar GNPper capita income (as indicated by the trend line inFigure 1) even at that time. Many countries that havea per capita income similar or lower than that ofUganda have a much higher secondary GER. Forexample, Nigeria in 1997 had a GER of more than 30percent, whereas its income per capita was onlyUS$280. Egypt, on the other hand, achieved a sec-ondary GER of 70 percent with a per capita incomeof US$1200.

The system is not operating at the optimal level—that is, it could achieve higher GER based on its in-

come level. Although policy-making should not be based onsuch crude comparative statis-tics, we can still say that, givencurrent economic conditions,Uganda should theoreticallyexpect the overall secondaryGER to reach a minimum of 22percent of the secondary agegroup and adjust this expecta-tion upwards as the economycontinues to grow.

In Uganda, the introductionof the Universal Primary Edu-cation (UPE) in 1996 has had ahuge impact on primary educa-tion. At the beginning of the1990s, the gross primary enroll-ment ratio was only 87 percent,

basic inputs were lacking, and households werepaying too much for primary education. Thepresident’s decision in 1996 to remove fees for fourchildren per family sent a signal to people that edu-cation is important. An additional 2.2 million chil-dren (1.1 m girls and 1.1 m boys) responded imme-diately, bringing the total primary enrollment to 5.3million in 1997. By 2001, total enrollment hadreached 6.9 million. The increased primary enroll-ment will inevitably have an effect on PPET. In fact,the first cohort of UPE students is entering the PPETnext year. In anticipation of the increase in post-primary enrollment that should result in the after-math of Universal Primary Education (UPE), theGovernment of Uganda is becoming more aware ofpost-primary education’s importance, and is con-sidering expanding and improving the system. Infact, President Museveni announced during the lastelection in 2001 that he intends to pursue “Free Sec-ondary Education.”

While this intention is a step in the right direc-tion, the final implications of this policy have notyet been considered. Still, the ministry felt moti-vated by the government’s political will and, with

3UGANDA POST-PRIMARY EDUCATION SECTOR REPORT

support from donors, started a process of policy-making for the PPET sector.

However, critical information on coverage, equity,efficiency, management, and financing of the cur-rent system is needed to help the policy-makingprocess. Despite recent reforms, especially in pri-mary education, little is known about post-primaryeducation in Uganda, and this shortage of informa-tion has, in turn, affected the amount and quality ofresearch available. Apart from the ministry’s annualschool survey, there is very little data on post-pri-mary education in Uganda, and even the ministry’sdata cannot be relied upon because of the variationin the response rate from year to year. In addition,Uganda’s post-primary education needs to be ex-amined in a larger international context to deter-mine where it now stands and what might be viableoptions for improving the efficiency and sustainablyexpanding the system.

Adding to these challenges, the post-primarysubsector differs from the primary subsector in anumber of ways that are significant for policy de-sign. First, whereas in primary schools parents arethe sole decision-makers, children of post-primaryschool age participate in the decision-making aboutschool attendance. Second, because of the interfacewith the labor market, the opportunity cost of post-primary education, and that of upper secondary edu-cation in particular, is significantly higher than inprimary education. In developing countries, mostchildren qualifying to attend post-primary schoolare also able to obtain remunerated employmentoutside the home. In addition, older daughters be-come valuable substitutes for maternal chores, andteenaged boys can be entrusted with the family herdas experienced and productive agricultural work-ers. From the parental point of view, the immedi-ately visible returns from child labor in the familymay outweigh the potential future benefits of post-primary schooling.

In addition, there is a great deal of controversyabout the purpose of post-primary education—asopposed to the purpose of primary or tertiary edu-

cation—and, therefore, disagreement about theform it should take. Should post-primary educationbe a general preparatory stepping-stone to the aca-demic rigors of tertiary education? Or should it fo-cus more on practical vocational skills that are di-rectly applicable in the workplace upon graduation?These, and other issues—such as resources use, cur-riculum design, teacher training, physical infrastruc-ture, as well as who should finance secondary edu-cation—are primary points of contention and, as such,have made developing the post-primary education sys-tem in Uganda a difficult but important task.

1.3 Sector report development process

Despite a lack of any explicit policy framework forPPET, the MOES policy to cope with the projectedenrollment growth, as reflected in forward budgetsand described by senior policy makers, seems to bethe following:• Creating a national network of community poly-

technics• Steady vocationalization of secondary education

by creating comprehensive schools• Creating “seed” secondary schools in districts and

locations where there are no or few secondaryschools

• Relaxing current controls, restraints, and qualityassurance checks on private education in order toencourage the rapid growth of private secondaryschools.

These policy proposals from the ministry, thoughnot explicit, have prompted a dialogue between theEducation Funding Agency Group (EFAG) and theministry on PPET. EFAG members were concernedthat the proposed options are not coherent, may befinancially unsustainable, and may not serve thelong-term purposes of PPET. This dialogue impelledthe ministry to begin carrying out these studies,with technical and financial support from EFAG.

4 INTRODUCTION

In order to clarify many of the issues linked toreforming the post-primary education subsector, theministry initiated policy dialogues with the EFAGin late 2000. They agreed then that the ministrywould not immediately implement the polices andinstead that the EFAG would help the ministry pre-pare a PPET policy framework and strategies, fol-lowed by an implementation plan for approximatelythe next ten years. They also agreed that the minis-try would prepare terms of reference (with supportfrom EFAG members) for a series of inter-relatedstudies on the PPET to diagnose the current state ofPPET provision. In addition, EFAG members wouldprovide financial and technical support to the studies.

At the same time, a consultation process was ten-tatively agreed upon that included having a con-sultant prepare the final policy framework and strat-egies for the PPET sector, consulting with key stake-holders, and presenting the policy framework andstrategies during one of the Education Sector Re-view meetings. In fact, while this report was beingprepared, the ministry had also begun preparationof the policy framework and the consultation pro-cess, with support from EFAG.

With support from the Education Funding AgencyGroup, including the World Bank, DFID, and theEuropean Union, the following studies were con-ducted between September 2000 and February 2002:• Teacher Utilization• Coverage, Equity, and Efficiency• Management and Internal Efficiency• Firm Demand Analysis• PPET Quality Study• PPET Unit Cost Study• Financing Options for PPET• Study on Instructional Materials.

It was expected that these studies would fill inknowledge gaps about the post-primary educationsubsector in Uganda and that, together, they wouldbe the basis for a consultative process that wouldlead to a Ugandan post-primary education policy

framework and strategies over a ten-year horizon.In particular, the studies examine the financial,sustainability, and equity implications of the policypromises, including the establishment of commu-nity polytechnics and the vocationalization of thesecondary curriculum.

The role of the World Bank in education and PPET

The World Bank has supported the education sectorin Uganda since the 1960s. Table 1 indicates that theamount of financial support in education peakedduring the period 1990–1999, when the World Bankprovided US$133 million for the education sector.During recent years, the Bank’s support for educa-tion has taken a different approach, mainly througha Poverty Reduction Strategy Credit, which involvesall sectors including education; however the educa-tion sector is the major beneficiary.

The World Bank also provides support to policydevelopment in various sectors. The need for thissupport is made more acute by the sector-wide in-vestment approach that Uganda has adopted. In thePPET area, of the eight studies mentioned, the WorldBank provided financial support to six:• Teacher Utilization• Coverage, Equity, and Efficiency• Firm Demand Analysis• PPET Quality Study• PPET Unit Cost Study• Financing Options for PPET.

In addition, the World Bank gave technical sup-port to all eight studies at every stage, includingdeveloping TORs, selecting consultants, offeringcomments on each draft and final report, and par-ticipating in the overall dialogue on PPET relatedissues. The World Bank’s financial support camefrom a variety of sources, namely, the NorwegianTrust Fund, the PHRD Grant, and the Bank Budget.

This sector report combines all commissionedPPET studies, including those financed by otherdonors, and aims to be a background paper to the

5UGANDA POST-PRIMARY EDUCATION SECTOR REPORT

consultative process now going on. It strives to syn-thesize the studies and present a comprehensive pic-ture of Ugandan post-primary education, itsachievements to date, the challenges ahead, andbroad options for reform.

1.4 Data sources

The study used data from both primary and second-ary sources. Primary data sources include readilyavailable information from the Ministry of Educa-tion and Sports, the Ministry of Finance, and theUganda Bureau of Statistics, and data collected inthe areas of unit cost, teacher utilization, and stu-dent achievement. Secondary data refer to data andanalysis contained in the consultant reports and anyother research done on Ugandan education.1

1.5 Definition of post-primary education

We define post-primary education as lower second-ary education (grades S1, S2, S3, and S4), upper sec-ondary (grades S5 and S6), which immediately fol-

lows the seven years of primary education, and aparallel technical and vocational education systemthat consists of technical and farm schools immedi-ately following the primary cycle. Technical insti-tutes that follow the completion of secondary edu-cation are considered tertiary and are therefore notpart of the study. More emphasis is given to thegrades S1–S4, O-level segment of the sector as com-pared to grades S5–S6, the A-level of general sec-ondary education. Information is limited on techni-cal and vocational education; however, wheneverdata permit, we include the analysis of technical andfarm schools at the post-primary level.

1.6 Organization of the sector report

Chapter 2 summarizes the major demographic andsocioeconomic indicators to place the subsequentanalysis of Ugandan post-primary education intocontext. Chapter 3 gives an overview of the Ugan-dan education sector, emphasizing its overall struc-ture, size, and basic education indicators. Chapter 4,the main section of the report, discusses the contextof PPET, its performance, inputs, cost, and financ-

Uganda Total IBRD/IDA (millions of current)

1963–69

1970–79

1980-89

1990–99

All sectors 22 23 832 1,838 Human development 10 7 97 290 Education 10 7 54 133 Number of operations

All sectors 4 3 27 36 Human development 1 1 3 6 Education 1 1 2 2 Education sector share (percent)

Of total lending amount 46.3 31.2 6.5 7.2 Of total number of projects 25 33.3 7.4 5.6 Of lending amount for human development 100 100 56 45.8 Of number of human development projects 100 100 66.7 33.3

Table 1World Bank lending to Uganda

6 INTRODUCTION

ing. Wherever possible, the Ugandan experience ismeasured against international experiences. Chap-ter 4 also discusses technical and vocational educa-tion and the private provision of PPET. Chapter 5 isthe PPET enrollment projection from 2001 to 2012.Chapter 6 presents conclusions, and Chapter 7 sug-gests directions for policy design.

1 There has been controversy on the accuracy of theministry’s annual school census because of possible issuesrelated to under-reporting, definition, and analysis. A fewconsultants had tried to use their own analysis to derive en-rollment and other estimates. This study primarily relies onthe ministry’s data since they are the only officially pub-lished data owned by the ministry. At the time of preparingthis report, the 2001 data had not become officially available;hence, most of the data pertains to the year 2000.

7

Demographic, Social and Economic Context2

Uganda is a member of the Commonwealth ofNations. It is bounded to the North by Sudan,to the East by Kenya, to the South by Tanza-

nia and Rwanda, and to the West by Zaire. The coun-try comprises an area of more than 230,000 squarekilometers. Its territory includes Lakes George andKyoga and part of Lakes Victoria, Edward andAlbert; and the River Nile from its source at LakeVictoria to Nimule on the Sudanese border.

In 2000, Uganda had a total estimated populationof 22 million. The population growth rate is nowstable at about 2.7 percent. It has substantial natu-ral resources, including fertile soils, regular rainfall,and sizable mineral deposits of copper and cobalt.However, during the turbulent years of Idi Amin’sregime Uganda became one of the poorest coun-tries in the world. In 1987, the new government, ledby President Museveni, embarked on an economicrecovery program aimed at reducing poverty by re-storing fiscal discipline and monetary stability andrehabilitating infrastructure (economic, social, andinstitutional). The recovery program further encom-passed civil service reform, revised investment andincentive structures, and made a rapid move to amarket-determined exchange rate.

The impact of the combination of government-led reform and development assistance has beenimpressive, as reflected by sustained real GDPgrowth and a 21 percent drop in poverty (headcountindex) to 44 percent in the five-year period since1992 (World Bank).

Table 2 indicates that, by 2000, Uganda had a GNPper capita of US$320, which was still low comparedto the average of US$500 for Sub-Saharan Africa andUS$410 for low-income countries. Uganda is pre-dominantly a rural country—only 13 percent of thepopulation lives in urban areas. Life expectancy atbirth is forty-two years old, which is low comparedto the Sub-Saharan average of fifty. Twenty-six per-cent of children under five are malnourished, andaccess to improved water sources is only about 41percent, which is low when compared with 43 per-cent for Sub-Saharan Africa and 64 percent for alllow-income countries.

Table 3 presents Uganda’s projected populationsup to 2025. In 2000, about 7.6 million (35 percent) ofthe total population were of primary and secondaryschool age (ages 6–12 for primary and ages 13–18for secondary). This proportion is projected to in-crease to slightly less than 39 percent by 2025, whenthe projected school-age population will reachabout 12.2 million.

Finally, the HIV/AIDS epidemic continues to af-fect Uganda. Despite the fact that HIV/AIDS preva-lence rate has dropped from more than 20 percent inthe early 1990s to only 8 percent in 1999, many ofthose who were affected started to die, resulting inhigh attrition of the labor force and a large numberof orphans. The low life expectancy can be partiallyattributed to the HIV/AIDS epidemic. It is estimatedthat on average one out of every nine primary

8 DEMOGRAPHIC, SOCIAL, AND ECONOMIC CONTEXT

Table 2Poverty and social indicators

Source: World Bank Development Indicators, 2001.

2000 Uganda Sub-Saharan Africa

Low-income countries

Population 22.1 642 2,417 GNP per capita 320 500 410 Population growth rate 2.7 2.6 1.9 Labor force growth rate 2.7 2.6 2.3 Urban population 14 34 31 Life expectancy at birth 42 50 60 Infant mortality (per 1000 live births) 83 92 77 Child malnutrition (percent of children under 5) 26 32 43 Access to improved water source (percent of population) 50 43 64

Table 3Population projections from 2000 (estimated) to 2025, Uganda

2000 2005 2010 2015 2020 2025

All ages 22063 23687 25401 27312 29370 31303

Ages 6-12 4630 5381 5717 6070 6543 6963

Ages13-18 3061 3600 4274 4673 4939 5346

Source: Edstats, World Bank.

schools in SSA can expect to have an AIDS-relateddeath each year. In addition, according to a recentstudy (Bennell et al., 2002), 20 percent of the popu-lation below age fifteen are orphans, one-third ofwhich are AIDS-orphans. The implication of the epi-

demic is therefore particularly serious for the edu-cation sector in terms of its teaching force, the edu-cation and care of the orphans, and the school-basedHIV/AIDS prevention programs.

9

3Education Sector Overview

3.1 Structure of the education system

he Ugandan education system follows a 7-4-2-4 pattern: seven years of primary education,followed by four years of lower secondary or

“Ordinary” level, two years of upper secondary or“Advanced” level, and four more years of tertiaryeducation. There is a parallel technical and voca-tional track. This includes three-year technical andfarm programs that follow immediately after pri-mary education, and three- or four-year post-sec-ondary technical programs.

Figure 2 illustrates this structure. Selection andcertification occur at the end of the primary educa-tion level, at the Ordinary level of secondary, and atthe Advanced level of secondary by means of na-tional examinations. These include the PrimarySchool Leaving Exam, the Uganda Certificate ofEducation, and the Uganda Advanced Certificate ofEducation. Alternative technical certificates alsoexist for students choosing the technical track, in-cluding the Uganda Junior Technical Certificate,which is taken at the end of three-year post-pri-mary technical and farm programs, and the UgandaAdvanced Technical Certificate, which is taken atthe end of post-secondary technical programs.

The official age of entry is six for primary educa-tion. However, as in many countries, most childrenenter at a later age—around nine years.

There is no legally imposed age of entry for post-primary education. The official, or “target,” age ofentry is age thirteen. However, since most childrenenter primary school late, the de facto post-primarystarting age is much higher than thirteen, startingat about age fifteen.

3.2 Size of the education sector

By African standards, the Uganda education sys-tem is large. According to the officially publishedEducation Statistical Abstract, the system comprisesmore than 6.5 million primary students, about 0.6million secondary and technical vocational students,and about 55,000 tertiary students. The teaching

TFigure2Uganda education structure

Primary education (official ages 6-12)

Technical and farm schools Lower secondary

education

Upper secondary education

University Technical

10 EDUCATION SECTOR OVERVIEW

force is also large, with almost 150,000 teachersteaching at all levels of the formal education sys-tem. There are about 14,000 formal educational in-stitutions at all levels.

At both the primary and secondary levels, schoolscan be classified by ownership into government,community, or private schools. The government paysteachers and provides capitation grants to govern-ment schools only. Neither community nor otherprivate schools receive government subsidies.However, the distinction between communityschool and private school is not always clear. Com-munity schools are mostly located in rural areas,and usually hope to be converted into governmentschools.

Except for a few private schools established byreligious bodies, which offer high quality educa-tion, most private and community schools are notwell resourced and provide relatively low qualityeducation. Government schools, on the other hand,

tend to be better resourced and provide better qual-ity education.

3.3 Selected basic indicators of the educationsystem in Uganda

Like the rest of the Ugandan economy, the educa-tion system suffered under Idi Amin’s regime. Pri-mary and secondary coverage remained stagnantthroughout the 1970s, and the educational qualitydeteriorated substantially.

However, since the establishment of the new gov-ernment, there have been significant improvements.The most notable achievement has been the Uni-versal Primary Education policy initiated in 1994,which, in effect, abolished primary school fees forup to four children per family. By 1999/2000, totalprimary enrollment was 6 million, more than doublewhat it had been in 1994. Gross primary enrollmentreached 124 percent, and net primary enrollmentreached 93 percent (1999/2000 Household Survey).The quality of education aside, this level of primarycoverage (near universal) almost compares to themore developed regions of North America, Asia, andEurope.

Education stock indicators have also shown sig-nificant improvement. As of 1999, UNESCO reportsthat 38 percent of Ugandans age fifteen and aboveare illiterate. This is consistent with household sur-vey estimates, which indicate that 32 percent of thepopulation age fifteen and above cannot read and

Table 4Schools, enrollments, and teachers by type

Primary Secondary Technical and farm Tertiary *

Number of schools 11,578 1,892 29 40 Enrollment 656,559,013 518,931 7,019 55,000 Number of teachers 110,336 30,384 2600

* Statistics for tertiary are rough estimates only, including twelve major universities, ten National TeacherTraining Colleges, Colleges of Commerce and Technology, and other tertiary institutions.Source: Education Statistical Abstract 2000, MOES.

Table 5Enrollment (and number of schools)by ownership

Primary Secondary

Government 5,351,099 (8,074)

216,292 (490)

Community 839,008 (2,169)

178,510 (811)

Private 309,200 (1,228)

120,885 (579)

11UGANDA POST-PRIMARY EDUCATION SECTOR REPORT

write. Compared to the UNESCO estimate of 42percent adult illiteracy for Sub-Saharan Africa in 1997(World Education Report 2000), Uganda seems tobe performing better. However, because of low in-come and life expectancy, UNDP’s Human Devel-opment Index—combining indicators of life expect-ancy, educational attainment and income—stillranked Uganda 158th out of 174 countries. The HDIof 0.40 is low compared to the Sub-Saharan averageof 0.46 in 1998.

Further insights can be drawn from cross-sec-tional data that can simulate changes in educationalattainment over time. By looking at the educationalattainment of the 1999/2000 sample by the five-yearage cohort, it is possible to extrapolate average at-tainment from 1953 up to 1993 in five-year inter-vals.1 Figure 3 shows that primary school comple-tion increased dramatically over the last forty yearsof the twentieth century. The percentage of thepopulation completing primary school climbed fromless than 10 percent in 1953 to more than 40 percentby the mid 1990s. Improvement in attainment atthe secondary level has been more modest than atthe primary level, but the percentage of the popula-

tion completing three years of secondary educationincreased from less than 5 percent in 1953 to about15 percent in 1993.

Figure 4 provides a snapshot of the current edu-cation system. The proportion of children enrolled(total enrollment, primary enrollment, and second-ary enrollment) is plotted against age. We can seethat most children (more than 90 percent) are en-rolled in primary school between the ages of nineand twelve years old. Secondary coverage is sub-stantially lower. The peak secondary enrollmentoccurs at age seventeen when 22 percent of chil-dren are enrolled in secondary schools.

3.4 Government expenditure on education

Government education expenditure as a wholeplummeted from 4.1 percent of GDP in the 1970s toonly 1.2 percent in 1980s. The 1980s and 1990s haveseen a slow but steady recovery. By 1996, total gov-ernment expenditure had reached 2.6 percent ofGDP. By 1999/2000, the education budget as a shareof GNP was about 4 percent (323 Ush billion includ-

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

40

45

1948 1953 1958 1963 1968 1973 1978 1983 1988 1993Year

Perc

enta

ge

% COMPLETEDPRIMARY

% ATTAINED 3 YRSSECONDARY

Figure 3Percentage completing primary and three years of secondary education from1953 to 1993

12 EDUCATION SECTOR OVERVIEW

ing development budget). This level of investmentis high compared to other low- and even middle-income countries (Table 6).

Age-specific enrollment ratio

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

100

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 Age

% E

nrol

led

Total

Primary

Secondary

Figure 4Enrollment by age (from HH survey, all ages)

A more telling indicator of the Government ofUganda’s (GoU) commitment to education is theshare of government expenditure devoted to edu-cation. Education’s share of total government ex-

Table 6Total education expenditure as a % of GNP and as a % of total expenditure

% of GNP % of government spending

1970 1980 1990 1995 1970 1980 1990 1995 Low & middle-income 2.4 3 3.1 3.3 10 11.6 13.2 13 East Asia & Pacific 1.6 2.4 2.3 2.3 6.3 9.7 12.8 10.7 Europe & Central Asia 4 3.7 4.3 5 17.5 16.2 17.1 18.1 Latin America & Caribbean 3 3.8 3 4.6 14.5 17.8 13.6 18.1 Middle East & North Africa 5 6.1 4.7 4.9 15.9 16.2 21.1 17 South Asia 2.5 2.7 3.5 3.3 10 10.2 11.9 11 Sub-Saharan Africa 3.8 4 3.4 3.4 16 15.5 12.8 15.2 World 3 11.5 3.4 3.4 12.1 12.2 13.2 13 High-income 5.4 5.8 4.9 5 19.3 17.3 13.4 11.4 Uganda 4.1 1.2 1.5 2.6 17.7 11.3 11.5 21.4

13UGANDA POST-PRIMARY EDUCATION SECTOR REPORT

penditure decreased from 17.7 percent to 11.3 per-cent during the 1980s; however, education expendi-ture rose steadily to occupy about 21.4 percent oftotal government expenditure by 1995. Subse-quently, it kept rising and stood at more than 26percent between 1997 and 2000. And, in 2000/2001,the education budget reached 32 percent of the totalgovernment recurrent budget.

Within the education sector, in 2000/01, about 15.8percent of the recurrent budget was allocated tosecondary education, 2 percent to BTVET, which islow compared to the 67 percent allocated to pri-mary and 12 percent allocated to tertiary education.

Table 7Recurrent budget allocation in billions of Uganda Shilling, 1998–2004 (estimated)

Sub-sector 1998/99 1999/00 2000/01 2001/02 2002/03 2003/04 Primary 142.7 161.8 194.3 228.5 254.6 281.6 Secondary 41.5 41.6 45.6 56.6 61.2 65.6 TVET 9.6 8.4 6.5 10.8 14.1 15.4 Tertiary 29.5 36.6 33.7 45.6 56.1 65.8 Other 8.3 9.8 8.2 10.1 10.9 11.9 Total 231.4 258.2 288.3 351.5 396.8 440.2

Primary share 0.62 0.63 0.67 0.65 0.64 0.64 Secondary share 0.18 0.16 0.16 0.16 0.15 0.15 TVET share 0.04 0.03 0.02 0.03 0.04 0.03 Tertiary share 0.13 0.14 0.12 0.13 0.14 0.15 Other 0.04 0.04 0.03 0.03 0.03 0.03

Notes: Figures in italics are planned expenditures.Source: Medium Term Budget Framework.

Per student subsidy from the government variessubstantially by education level. The governmentsubsidy per primary student averaged about US$22,as compared to US$148 per secondary student (seesection on cost and financing) and US$860 per uni-versity student in public universities. This results ina ratio of 1:7:39.

1 Cohorts are defined over five years to overcome sample sizeproblems. They are identified with the year when the thirdyoungest group within each cohort would have beenthrough secondary school.

14

4Uganda Post-Primary Education

4.1 Policy, objectives, structure, admission, andsize

Policy context for post-primary educationThe long-term national policies for education stemfrom documents and policy statements external tothe Ministry of Education and Sports (MOES). Theseinclude:• Vision 2025: A Strategic Framework for National

Development, 1999• White Paper on Education, 1992• Education Bill 2001, 4th Draft• The Local Governments Act 1997 and the Local

Governments Act Amendments 1997• Education Strategic Investment Plan (ESIP).

The Ministry of Finance prepared the Vision 2025document, which in Chapter 7 states that the edu-cation sector’s goal is to “ provide free and compul-sory universal primary and secondary education.”This goal was reinforced in the manifesto of the rul-ing party during the 2001 presidential election.

The White Paper on Education identifies the cur-riculum and institutional structure. In general, cur-rent MOES policies include incremental expansionof government funding, movement towards a com-prehensive curriculum, and the expansion of BTVETvia community polytechnics.

As demonstrated by the 1997 Local GovernmentsAct, the government’s policy is to decentralize the

control of education to districts through the DEOs.Implementation of decentralization is more ad-vanced at the primary level. Secondary educationremains the prime responsibility of the Commis-sioners for Secondary Education and the Commis-sion for Technical, Vocational, Business, and Com-mercial Education.

However, these policy directions have not beenimplemented because their implications have neverbeen studied, and therefore the Ministry of Educa-tion and Sports has not translated them into con-crete policies and guidelines. The 1992 White Paperon Education proposed a number of reforms thatwere never implemented because there was neithera strategy nor any consideration of budget con-straints. Senior managers in MOES are preoccupiedwith the day-to-day management of the secondaryschool system and have little time or capacity todeal with policy, planning, and quality control.Within MOES, policy takes the form of administra-tive circulars regulating critical areas of secondaryeducation. As already mentioned, this study wasinspired by the lack of a coherent policy frameworkand the policy pronouncements that failed to con-sider resources and impact.

Objectives of secondary educationThe 1992 Government White Paper on Educationstates the aims and objectives of secondary educa-tion as:

15UGANDA POST-PRIMARY EDUCATION SECTOR REPORT

• Installing and promoting national unity and anunderstanding of social and civic responsibilities;strong love and care for others and respect forpublic property, as well as an appreciation of in-ternational relations and beneficial internationalcooperation;

• Promoting an appreciation and understanding ofcultural heritage of Uganda, including its lan-guages;

• Imparting and promoting a sense of self-disci-pline, ethical and spiritual values, and both per-sonal and collective responsibility and initiative;

• Enabling individuals to acquire and developknowledge and an understanding of the emerg-ing needs of society and the economy;

• Providing up-to-date and comprehensive knowl-edge in theoretical and practical aspects of inno-vative production and modern management meth-ods in the fields of commerce and industry, andtheir application in the context of the socioeco-nomic development of Uganda;

• Enabling individuals to develop basic scientifictechnological, technical, agricultural, and commer-cial skills required for self-employment;

• Enabling individuals to develop skills of problem-solving, information gathering and interpretation,independent reading and writing, and self-im-provement through learning and the developmentof social, physical, and leadership skills, such asthose obtained through games, sports, and clubs;

• Laying the foundation for further education;• Enabling the individual to apply acquired skills in

solving community problems and to develop inhim a strong sense of constructive and beneficialbelonging to that community; and

• Instilling positive attitudes towards work and astrong respect for the dignity of labor and thosewho engage in productive labor activities.

As in many other developing countries, post-pri-mary education in Uganda has multiple objectives.It must provide the higher levels of schools with

qualified students and prepare students for the jobmarket.

But what should the education system do toachieve these objectives? Should all schools trainall students with these two broad aims—or shoulda division of labor take place? If there should be adivision of labor, then there is an equity issue: whoshould be prepared for higher levels of schoolingand who should be trained to go to work? If allschools prepare all students with both aims, thenwhat and how should students be prepared to con-tinue their education or go to work? What should acore PPET curriculum be? The answer is that scarcePPET resources (at least the public sector) must befocused on instilling basic literacy, numeracy, andproblem-solving skills at the lower secondary level.A focus on the basics will ultimately serve all pur-poses.

StructureSecondary education in Uganda immediately fol-lows a seven-year primary education. General sec-ondary education consists of two O-levels: lowersecondary education (grades S1, S2, S3, and S4), andupper secondary (grades S5 and S6). In addition, aparallel technical and vocational education system,consisting of three years of technical and farmschools, immediately follows the primary cycle.

This structure of thirteen years of primary andsecondary education is unusual. Recent UNESCOdata indicate that most of the world now follows a6-3-3 structure for primary and secondary educa-tion (Table 8). There is also an international trendthat a basic or compulsory education cycle be de-fined to ensure minimum years of schooling for allchildren, where basic literacy, numeracy, and prob-lem-solving skills are taught. Most countries havenow defined that compulsory time period to beeight or nine years of education, or up to a certainage, and covering the entire primary cycle and partof the secondary cycle. Such a definition is still miss-ing in Uganda.

16 UGANDA POST-PRIMARY EDUCATION

There is no officially defined age of entry intosecondary education. Ideally, if a child enters pri-mary at age six and completes the seven-year pri-mary cycle, he or she would be thirteen years old bythe time he or she enters a secondary school. How-ever, the combination of late entry into primary andrepetition at the primary cycle means that most chil-dren enter secondary school much later than agethirteen.

Admission and examinations

At the end of the seven years of pri-mary education, pupils sit for PrimaryLeaving Examination (PLE), whichtests them in four subject areas: En-glish, mathematics, social studies, andbasic science and health education.The results are then graded on a nine-point scale and the performance ar-ranged in order of merit.

Performance in the PLE determinesselection in post-primary and train-

ing. Although pupils choose favored schools for sec-ondary education, it happens that the best perform-ing secondary schools receive the highest appli-cants. From these, the best gain admission to theschools, in most cases those with total aggregate 4(i.e., a distinction 1 in each of the four subjects, thusaggregate 4). The rest of the schools then share theremaining applicants, but the hierarchy is main-tained—the best schools getting the best candidates.Cutoff points for elite secondary schools are gener-ally below six points.

Table 8Structure of education system by world region

Primary Lower secondary

Upper secondary

Compulsory

Africa 6 3 3 7 North America 6 3 3 9 South America 6 3 3 8 Asia 6 4 3 8 Europe 5 4 3 9 Oceania 6 4 2 8 Uganda 7 4 2 Not defined

Source: UNESCO World Education Report 2000.

Number of Secondary Schools

0

200

400

600

800

1000

1200

1400

1600

1800

2000

1970 1975 1980 1985 1990 1995 2000

Year

Nu

mb

er

of

Sc

ho

ols

Figure 5Number of Secondary Schools, 1970–2000

17UGANDA POST-PRIMARY EDUCATION SECTOR REPORT

Approximately 40 percent of all the pupils whosit for PLE have the opportunity for post primaryeducation and/or training. Most of the students en-rolled in technical vocational schools are those with-out a place in secondary school. Technical vocationalschools therefore recruit from a lower performingcategory of the primary school leavers.

Admission to private schools varies by school.Most private schools admit students who can paythe fees.

Sector sizeDuring the last three decades, secondary schoolshave expanded significantly, although unevenly.Between 1970 and 2000, the number of secondaryschools in Uganda increased from 73 to 1,892, andenrollment increased from about 50,000 to almost600,000, a more than tenfold increase.

The total number of secondary schools and en-rollment was relatively flat during the 1970s, risingin the early 1980s, and then leveling out again untilthe mid-1990s. Pronounced growth in the numberof institutions resumed in 1998.

But these figures must be treated with caution,since the MOES school census data, upon which thisanalysis is based, are not completely reliable. More-over, prior to the year 2000 data collection, privateschools were probably seriously under-reported. Itis also unclear whether the dramatic increase in to-tal enrollment between 1999 and 2000 reflects ac-tual growth or is due to improvements in MOESdata collection and analysis.

As Table 9 shows, the post-primary education sys-tem is now composed of 1,892 general secondaryschools, and 29 technical and farm schools. The to-tal enrollment in general secondary schools was518,931 students in 2000 and about 8,000 in techni-cal and farm schools. An unknown number of privatesecondary and/or technical schools may have not re-sponded to the ministry’s annual school survey; hence,they would not be included in these statistics.

Of the schools that responded, approximately 26percent are government-owned, 31 percent are pri-vately owned, and 43 percent are community-owned. In terms of enrollment, only 41 percent oftotal enrollment is in government schools; the re-

Figure 6Secondary Enrollment Trends, 1970–2000

Secondary Enrolment Trends

0

100,000

200,000

300,000

400,000

500,000

600,000

1970 1975 1980 1985 1990 1995 2000

Year

To

tal

En

rolm

en

t

1999

2000

Source: Educational Statistical Abstract 2000, Ministry of Education and Sports, Uganda.

18 UGANDA POST-PRIMARY EDUCATION

maining 60 percent are in private andcommunity schools. Female enrollmentis on average about 45 percent through-out the system.

4.2 System performance

4.2.1 Coverage

The 1999/2000 Household Survey indi-cates that the gross and net secondary enrollment(secondary including all grades of S1 to S6) ratioswere, respectively, 19 percent and 13 percent in 1999.When broken down by age, the enrollment ratioranges from 2 percent of thirteen-year olds to thepeak of 22 percent of seventeen-year olds. So, al-though secondary education should officially startat age thirteen, only 2 percent of the thirteen-yearolds enter secondary school. Most children enterbetween the ages of fourteen and seventeen.

A visual way to illustrate the coverage is by plot-ting the age-specific enrollment ratios against age.Figure 7 plots the age-specific enrollment ratio for

both primary and secondary education. In an idealsituation, when all children start secondary schoolat age thirteen and graduate at age eighteen, andthe coverage is 100 percent, we would expect to seea flat horizontal line at the value of 100 percent,starting from age thirteen and ending at age eigh-teen. Instead, due to less than 100 percent coverage, aswell as underage and overage enrollment, we see acurve starting around age thirteen and ending afterage twenty-five, but never reaching 100 percent.

Clearly, overage enrollment is also a problem forsecondary education. Thirty-three percent of those

Table 9Overview of the general secondary education system (2000)

School ownership # of schools Total enrollment % Female enroll. Pupil: teacher ratioGovernment 490 216,292 41 National average:Private 579 120,885 47 Community 811 178,510 46 Unknown 12 3,244 n/a Total 1,892 518,931 n/a 17

Source: Annual school census 2000.

Age-specific enrollment ratio

0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90

100

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 Age

% E

nrol

led

Total Primary Secondary

Figure 7Age-specific enrollment ratio

19UGANDA POST-PRIMARY EDUCATION SECTOR REPORT

who enroll in secondary school are beyond the offi-cial target age range of 13–18. This implies at leastas great a shortfall in the secondary net enrollmentratio. This is one reason why secondary coverage ofthe official secondary-age target population (13–18) is so low, at only 13 percent.1 Such selectivitymakes the PPET system elitist.

The PPET sub-sector is more concerned with thelower grades of S1 to S4. Looking only at the gradesof S1–S4, the gross enrollment ratio is higher andestimated to be at 35 percent. However, even thisfigure of 35 percent is low compared to internationalstandards. Table 11 indicates that, worldwide, second-ary GER stood at 64 percent, and the average GER fordeveloping countries was 51.2 percent in 1996.

Of course, policy-making should not be based oncrude comparative statistics. But given the currenteconomic conditions, Uganda should at least aimfor the overall secondary GER to reach a minimumof 22 percent of the secondary age group, which isthe average ratio for countries with similar economicdevelopment as Uganda. And the S1–S4 GER ratioshould aim to increase to 50 percent.

4.2.2 Coverage for the poor and otherdisadvantaged

By gender

In 2000, only 44 percent of general secondary en-rollments were female. However, the overall gen-der balance has improved in recent years—from 40percent in 1996 to 44 percent in 2000. Figure 8 plotsthe age-specific enrollment ratio by gender andshows that the pattern of gender disparity variesby age. Girls have higher secondary enrollment ra-tios than boys from ages thirteen to sixteen. By ageseventeen, boys and girls have similar secondaryenrollment ratios of about 22 percent. After age sev-

Age Age-specific enrollment

ratio for secondary school13 0.0214 0.0815 0.1516 0.1917 0.2218 0.2019 0.1620 0.1121 0.0822 0.0723 0.0324 0.0225 0.01NER 0.13GER 0.19

Table 10Age-specific enrollment ratio forsecondary school in 1999/2000

Secondary gross enrollment ratio

(1996) MF M F WORLD TOTAL 64.4 65.2 64 High income 105.2 105.5 110 Middle income 67.3 67 68.2 Low income 39.4 42.2 34 OECD 108 106.6 109.4 Sub-Saharan Africa 30.4 33.2 27.7 Arab States 58.5 60.4 56.4 Latin America and Caribbean 59.7 51.8 56.6 Eastern Asia and Pacific 61.5 61.9 63 of which: China 68.9 72.5 65.1 Southern Asia 57 62.2 51.3 of which: India 49.4 58.8 39.3 Developing 51.2 49.7 47.2 Least developed 24.7 29 20.4 Average for countries with GDP per capita $320 22

Uganda 12 15 9

Table 11Secondary gross enrollment ratio

Sources: UNESCO Education Indicators Database; World Bank Development Indicators 2000.

20 UGANDA POST-PRIMARY EDUCATION

enteen, however, boys start to have higher enroll-ment ratios than girls, and the disparity can be sub-stantial. For example, at age twenty, more than 20percent of boys are in secondary school, comparedto less than 5 percent for girls.

Looking at the overall gross and net secondaryenrollment ratios, boys have a slightly higher grossenrollment ratio than do girls. However, the netenrollment ratios are almost identical, with femaleshaving a slight advantage over males.

This finding indicates that the female disadvan-tage in secondary enrollment has been reduced sig-nificantly and occurs mainly after age seventeen,when girls start to have higher dropout rates thanboys (see section 4.2.4). In fact, examining the pro-portion of girls enrolled by grade, we find that byForm 6, girls represent less than 40 percent of totalenrollment.

There are also significant differences by region—specifically, schools in the Central region have sig-nificantly higher female participation, and schoolsin the Northern region consistently have the low-est female participation, generally less than one-third of total enrollment in Forms 5 and 6.

There have to be efforts to bring more girls intothe secondary schools early in order that they finishbefore reaching age seventeen—after this, the like-lihood of them dropping out is very high. Socialnorms may also determine gender parity, especiallyin the Northern Region.

By expenditure quintile

Households are grouped into five quintiles by thelevel of total household expenditure. Quintile 1 (Q1)is the poorest group and has the lowest level of ex-penditure; Quintile 5 (Q5) is the wealthiest groupand has the highest level of expenditure. Figure 9shows total enrollments for the top two quintiles(Q4 and Q5) and the bottom quintile (Q1).

Extreme income-based inequality shows up at thislevel. Q5 households have the highest enrollmentratio at all ages. In contrast, the Q1 households havethe lowest enrollment ratios up to age twenty-four.

Secondary enrollment by gender

0

10

20

30

0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20 22 24

Age

Perc

enta

ge e

nrol

led

MALES(SECONDARY)

FEMALES(SECONDARY)

Figure 8Comparison of secondary enrollment for males and females by age

Table 12Secondary gross and net enrollment ratiosby gender

Male Female Gross enrollment ratio 20% 16% Net enrollment ratio 12.7% 12.4%

21UGANDA POST-PRIMARY EDUCATION SECTOR REPORT

For example, at age seventeen, fewer than 4 percentof the Q1 children are enrolled in secondary schools,whereas 42 percent of the Q5 children are enrolled.The richest 20 percent of the households occupy 63percent of total secondary spaces. Therefore, the in-equality in secondary schools is more widespreadthan in primary schools, in the sense that more chil-dren are disadvantaged in relation to the richest 20percent of the households.

There is also evidence that, not only is there grossinequity in secondary enrollment, but also that theinequity may have worsened over the last decade.Using the Household Surveys of 1992, 1997, and2000, Deininger (2001) examined the net secondaryenrollment rates by quintile for 1992, 1997, and 2000.

His findings confirmed that poverty induced in-equality in secondary enrollment and, more impor-tantly, that the inequity had actually worsened since1992 for secondary schools. In 1992, the ratio of en-rollment of the richest to the poorest students wasslightly more than 2 (10 over 4.9), whereas in 2000this ratio increased to more than 4 (12.9 over 3.6).The Ugandan Government cannot neglect equitygoals while focusing on expanding the system. Infact, there should be specific policies aimed at help-ing the poor segments of the population to accesssecondary education. Orphans, including HIV/AIDSorphans, must also be given special consideration.

Figure 9Comparison, by quintile, of secondary enrollment by age

Age-specific enrollment ratio for secondary

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

40

45

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25

Age

% E

nrol

led

Q1

Q4

Q5

Table 13Secondary enrollment rates by quintile, 1992, 1997, and 2000

1992 1997 2000

All Girls Boys All Girls Boys All Girls Boys Poorest 4.9 3.2 6.3 3.8 3 4.3 3.8 3.6 3.9 Q2 8.3 8.5 8 7.1 6 8.2 7.7 7.5 7.9 Q3 9.8 7 12.6 11 12.5 9.5 12.4 11.7 13.1 Q4 11.2 11 11.5 21.5 19.7 23.1 17.2 18.4 16 Richest 17.4 16.1 19.4 34.1 32.3 37 28.3 27.9 28.8 Uganda 10 9 11 11.1 11.2 11 12.4 12.9 12

22 UGANDA POST-PRIMARY EDUCATION

4.2.3 Determinants of secondary enrollment

Further analysis using multiple regression method(see details in Annex 1) confirms that poverty islinked to secondary enrollment. Children from bet-ter-off households are more likely to be enrolled orto have benefited from secondary education thantheir poor counterparts.

In addition, being a head or spouse of the house-hold lowers the probability of secondary attendance.The age of the youngest child in the family also low-ers the probability of enrollment for the target child,especially the girl. Finally, the father’s education isanother significant factor. The more years of educa-tion the father has received, the more likely the tar-get child is to enroll or to have enrolled in second-ary school.

Earlier, we said that girls have a lower age-spe-cific secondary enrollment after age seventeen. Theregression results show that—only controlling forhousehold economic factors but without control-ling for family structural characteristics—girls arestill less likely to enroll than boys. However, oncewe take into account whether the target child is thehead or spouse of the household and the age of theyoungest child in the household, girls do not differfrom boys in enrollment probability. This means

that a girl is less likely to enroll in secondary schoolsafter age seventeen because she is entering intomarry and becoming the spouse or head of a newhousehold, or taking care of the youngest child inthe household, whether or not the child is hers. Start-ing girls’ schooling earlier is likely to lead to higherattainment for girls, in addition to helping more girlsinto secondary school.

The 1999/2000 survey also asked the reasons fornot attending school or for dropping out. Thoughnot precise, it gives us an opportunity to crosscheckour findings from the statistical analysis. Apart from“indifference,”2 the most important reason for notattending is cost. Cost is also the most importantreason for dropping out (more than 70 percent).These findings are consistent with our findings fromthe regressions that poverty is the most significantfactor for not enrolling in secondary schools.

A small proportion also cited “need for work” as areason for not attending or dropping out of school.However, this does not mean that only a small pro-portion of children are working. Because of pov-erty, many poor children need to work. A small sec-tion on labor income in the 1999 survey enables usto examine the proportion of children working byexpenditure quintile. Figure 12 shows that between

Figure 10Reasons for not attending school for children of secondary age group

Reasons for not attending

00.05

0.10.15

0.20.25

0.30.35

0.40.45

0.5

Sickdisabled

Indifferent Need towork

Cost School toofar

Orphaned Insecurity Others

23UGANDA POST-PRIMARY EDUCATION SECTOR REPORT

2 percent and 22 percent of children and youngadults ages 11 to 25 are already participating in thelabor force. This is probably an underestimate ofthe proportion of children productively engaged outof school, since many children also contribute todomestic work or are working in the informal sec-tor. The figure also shows that, at all ages, children

from the lowest expenditure group are much morelikely to be working than those from the high ex-penditure group at all ages, helping to explain whyenrollment rates in secondary education are so low,especially for the poor.

If roughly 20 percent of the age group 16–20 isenrolled in school and about 20 percent is engaged

Figure 11Reasons for dropping out of school

Reasons for dropping out

0

0.1

0.2

0.3

0.4

0.5

0.6

0.7

0.8

Need towork

Domesticwork

Cost Transport Schoolquality

Sickness Pregnancy others

Figure 12Comparison, among quintiles, of percentage of children working

% of children working by consumption quintile

0

5

10

15

20

25

Ages 11-15 Ages 16-20 Ages 21-25

% W

orkin

g

Q1Q2Q3Q4Q5

24 UGANDA POST-PRIMARY EDUCATION

working in the formal sector, this means that morethan 60 percent of the age group is idle or engagedin domestic and other informal activities. In the longterm, we hope this proportion will decrease as thePPET system is further expanded. In the short term,the Government of Uganda needs to be concernedabout the very large numbers of young people whoseem not to have any work skills. Alternative deliv-ery mechanisms, such as distance education, mayhelp provide a minimum set of skills to these people.This must be an explicit part of the government’sstrategy.

4.2.4 Internal efficiency: transition, repetition, anddropout rates

Transition rates

PRIMARY TO SECONDARY TRANSITION. We know thatUganda has very low coverage at the secondarylevel. We also know that the low secondary cover-age is because of a low transition rate from primaryto secondary, or a high dropout rate at secondarygrades, or a combination of both.

We use the ministry’s MIS data to estimate thetransition rates in public schools. Although the re-sponse rate varies from year to year, student flowinformation can still be estimated within a singleyear, since the same number of schools report en-rollment for all grades. According to the ministry’sofficial statistics, transition from P7 to S1 has rangedfrom 22 percent to almost 50 percent in publicschools since 1993 (Table 14). In the last three years,the transition fluctuated between 30–50 percent. Thefluctuation may have more to do with the captur-ing of private schools in the school census, rather

than the rapid expansion in the sector. This meansthat less than half of the P7 graduates enrolled insecondary schools. Therefore, any attempts to ex-pand the secondary education system must take intoaccount that at least half of the P7 graduates havedropped out of the education system entirely.

The level of transition from primary to secondaryschool is slightly lower compared to the Africanaverage of 60 percent (Table 15). More importantly,given the increased number of P7 graduates becauseof UPE, the transition rate is likely to fall in the nextfew years. The extent of decrease will depend onthe rate of secondary enrollment growth, which isfurther determined by the size of the governmentbudget allocated to secondary education. (See sec-tion 5 on enrollment and transition rates projections.)

Table 14Transition rates from P7 to S1 (in %)

Year 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 2000 2001 Transition rate 22 31 42 40 36 31 40 50

Table 15Primary to secondary transition rates (in %)

Transition rates from primary to secondary education (1994)

WORLD 79.8 South America .. of which: Chile 53.5 Costa Rica 68.3 Guyana 96.8 North America .. Europe 89.5 Oceania .. of which: New Zealand 101.7 Arab states .. of which: Kuwait 106.4 Palestine 81.7 Qatar 96.9 Asia .. of which: China 87.6 Hong Kong 99.2 Mongolia 95.1 Africa 60.6 Uganda (2001) 50

Sources: UNESCO online database; Uganda MOES.

25UGANDA POST-PRIMARY EDUCATION SECTOR REPORT

TRANSITION FROM S4 TO S5. Transition from S4 to S5is low. Upon completing S4, students sit for theUganda Certificate of Education exam. Most stu-dents exit the education system at this point. In 2000,only about 26 percent of the S4 graduates proceededto enroll in S5. The system is designed to be veryselective at this stage.

Dropouts and repeaters

DROPOUTS. Table 17 shows that for the year 2001 theoverall average dropout rates for secondary educa-tion in Uganda were approximately 8.2 percent formales and 9.2 percent for females. The S2 and S3grade years seem to have had the highest dropoutrates. For males, these rates were 10.1 percent and

9.6 percent, while for females these rates were about11 percent for both S2 and S3. Although we are notsure why dropout rates are higher at S2 and S3, it ispossible that students may feel or have been toldthat they have no hope of doing well (passing theUCE) and then drop out. Total dropout rates forgrade S6 were the lowest, indicating that if a stu-dent decided to stay in school long enough to beginthe sixth year, he or she would most likely finish.Dropout rates for all six grades were slightly higherfor females than for males. The overall dropout ratein Uganda is relatively low compared to most otherlow-income countries.

Dropout rates also vary by type and location ofschool. Generally, the dropout rates are higher innongovernment-aided schools as compared to gov-ernment-aided schools (12.8 percent versus 10.2 per-cent overall). Schools located in rural areas also tendto have higher dropout rates than those located inperi-urban or urban areas. Female students in ruralnon-government-aided schools have the highestdropout rate of 16.9 percent, and male students ingovernment-aided schools have the lowest aver-age dropout rate of 3.9 percent.

Table 16Transition rates from S4 to S5for selected years

Year 1995 1997 1998 2000 Transition rate 28 35 44 26

Figure 13Dropouts by grade and gender

Source: Annual school census 2000.

Dropouts by grade and gender

0

2

4

6

8

10

12

S1 S2 S3 S4 S5 S6 TOTAL

Grade

Drop

out r

ates

(per

cent

)

% MALE DROPOUTS

% FEMALE DROPOUTS

26 UGANDA POST-PRIMARY EDUCATION

REPETITION. Repetition rates of secondary schoolgrades were much less pronounced than those fordropouts. The overall repetition rates were similarfor males and females, at about 2 percent. Second-ary school repetition rates are much higher in otherlow-income countries. The low repetition rates maybe because Uganda actually has an automatic pro-motion policy for secondary schools. However, thispolicy is not strictly implemented, as one can inferfrom the non-zero repetition rate.

4.2.5 Examinations, assessment, and studentlearning achievement

Secondary school students sit for the UgandaCertificate of Education at the end of O-level(UCE) and the Uganda Advanced Certificate ofEducation at the end of A-level education(UACE). These are national-level, curriculum-based examinations designed for certificationand selection. There have not been any nationalassessments of student achievement at this levelof education other than the two tests. Becauseonly about 40 percent of the primary graduates

can find a place in PPET, incentives are strong forteachers to teach and students to learn to the re-quirements of UCE and UACE rather than of thecurriculum.

As part of the study on PPET—and to better un-derstand how much students in secondary schoolsare learning—criteria-based English and mathemat-ics tests were designed for Form 1 and Form 3 stu-dents to test basic competencies. They measure how

Figure 14Repeaters by grade and gender

Source: Annual school census 2000.

Repetition rates by grade and Gender

0

0.5

1

1.5

2

2.5

3

S1 S2 S3 S4 S5 S6 TOTAL

Grade

Repe

titio

n ra

tes

(per

cent

)

% MALE REPEATERS

% FEMALE REPEATERS

Government-aided Nongovernment-aided

Rural Female 12.8 16.9 Male 10.1 14.9 All 11.5 15.5 Peri-urban Female 9.8 11.5 Male 9.4 10.9 All 9.9 11.0 Urban Female 5.4 9.4 Male 3.9 8.8 All 4.7 9.0 All Female 11.1 13.8 Male 9.0 12.4 All 10.2 12.8

Table 17Dropout rates by type of school and location, 2001

27UGANDA POST-PRIMARY EDUCATION SECTOR REPORT

much Ugandan students have achieved against aset of minimum competencies appropriate for Form1 and Form 3 students. This section presents the re-sults from UCE, UACE, and new competency testsin math and English.

Uganda Certificate of Education (UCE)

In most subjects, the numbers of candidates takingthe examination increased by over 23 percent between1998 and 2000, but candidates for physics and chemis-try only increased by 18 percent and 17 percent, re-spectively, from what were already low numbers.

Overall performance on the UCE was particularlylow for mathematics and science. In 2000, of almost90,000 students who sat for the UCE, the pass ratewas only 47.5 percent for mathematics. The pass ratewas also comparatively low for physics (71 percent),chemistry (54 percent), and biology (64 percent).There were similarly low percentages of candidatesachieving grades 1 and 2 (distinction) passes inmathematics and science, compared to humanitiesand social sciences. Thus, 17 percent of studentsgained distinction in history, 13 percent in political

education, 6.8 percent in Christian religious educa-tion and 5 percent in English, but only 2.8 percent inphysics, 2.2 percent in chemistry, 1.6 percent in math,and 1.3 percent in biology.

The poor performance in math UCE is not a newphenomenon. Since 1996, more than half of thosewho took math tests have failed.

Uganda Advanced Certificate of Education (UACE)

There are a growing number of candidates for allsubjects, but numbers in mathematics and scienceremain low. Comparative pass rates for mathemat-ics, economics, and chemistry are also low, althoughmathematics has a higher percentage (6.5 percent)of candidates passing at grades 1 and 2 than in mostsubjects.

The 2000 UCE and UACE results indicate that:• Science subjects and mathematics are not popular

and will not be selected by many students if madeoptional.

• Physics and chemistry candidates at UCE level areapproximately only one-third of the number ofcandidates taking humanities and social sciences

Repetition rates by grade and Gender

0

0.5

1

1.5

2

2.5

3

S1 S2 S3 S4 S5 S6 TOTAL

Grade

Repe

titio

n ra

tes

(per

cent

)

% MALE REPEATERS

% FEMALE REPEATERS

Figure 14Repeaters by grade and gender

28 UGANDA POST-PRIMARY EDUCATION

subjects. At the UACE level, candidates sit-ting for math and the three science subjectsare only 20 percent or fewer of the candi-dates taking humanities and social sciences.Performance in mathematics exams is par-ticularly poor.• Performance in most of the science sub-jects is significantly worse than for humani-ties and social science subjects. Low candi-date numbers and poor results are blamedon poor or nonexistent laboratory facilities,scarcity of essential consumables, and a lackof textbooks and qualified teachers in mostUgandan secondary schools.• Those subjects related to business (com-merce and principles of accounting in UCEand economics in UACE) all have low passrates compared to other subjects.• The study of literature in either English or

in a local language has seriously declined. This isreportedly a consequence of the scarcity of litera-ture books in the classroom.

A study of school quality of secondary schools orequivalent grades in technical/vocational schools

Although reflecting the extent to which studentsmaster the curriculum materials, the UCE and UACEare heavily driven by selection. To understand how

students are mastering the basic core competen-cies (assuming there are minimum competenciesfor PPET students, regardless of which track theyare enrolled in), the ministry commissioned a Sec-ondary School Quality study through the UgandaNational Examination Board. With support froman international test expert, mathematics and En-glish tests were designed and administered toselected samples of Form 1 and Form 3 studentsin 120 randomly selected schools nationwide.

Results from the School Quality Study indicatethat the quality of PPET is poor, as reflected bytest scores, especially for mathematics. Nation-wide, more than 40 percent of Form 1 students

Table 18aUCE candidates and pass rates by subject (2000) for mainsubjects

Subject No of candidates % Pass rate (grades 1-8)

% Distinction (grades 1&2)

English language 87,564 89.0% 5.0% Math 87,509 47.5% 1.6% Geography 87,488 87.0% 2.6% Biology 83,090 64.0% 1.3% Commerce 79,584 60.0% 1.7% History 78,617 91.4% 17.0% Christian RE 65,765 86.0% 6.8% Agriculture 40,518 74.0% 1.8% Chemistry 29,873 54.0% 2.2% Physics 28,487 71.0% 2.8% Art 18,758 99.0% 0.5% Political education 17,176 72.0% 13.2% Health science 13,210 75.0% 1.0% Luganda 12.030 76.0% 3.7% Principles of accounting 11,010 65.0% 2.5%

Source: UCE Examinations Results Statistics Summary 1998-2000,provided by UNEB.

Table 18bUCE candidates and fail rates for Math and English

Year Candidates % fail Math % fail English 1996 61,706 58 23 1997 67,569 62 42 1998 75,318 58 29 1999 84,803 59 14 2000 91,666 52 11 2001 105,768 51 28

Table 19UACE candidates and pass rates by subject (2000)

Subject No of candidates % Pass rate (grades 1-8)

% Distinction (grades 1&2)

General paper 39,041 87.0% 7.0% Economics 32,385 71.0% 1.4% History 25,619 86.0% 2.8% Geography 21,469 84.0% 0.2% Christian RE 20,772 94.0% 2.0% Art 9,474 99.0% 0.2% Physics 6,349 82.0% 0.6% Mathematics 5,140 66.0% 6.5% Chemistry 4,949 76.0% 1.0% Biology 4,338 84.0% 1.0%

Source: UACE Examinations Results Statistics Summary 1998-2000,provided by UNEB.

29UGANDA POST-PRIMARY EDUCATION SECTOR REPORT

and half of Form 3 students failed the math tests.Results of the English tests are slightly better: 25percent of both Form 1 and Form 3 students failedthe English tests. The results on math are largelyconsistent with the UCE results, both of which in-dicate that half the students fail math. The resultson English from the Quality Study (25 percent fail-ure rate) are worse than the UCE English results,which indicate that only 11 percent of students failed(89 percent passed).

The high rates of failure in Form 1 mathematicsand English tests point more to the poor quality ofprimary education than of secondary. The truth isthat students are graduating from primary schoolwithout mastering basic skills. This means that theeducation system as a whole, and what secondaryeducation can achieve, must be examined.

However, the equally low or even worse achieve-ment in Form 3 indicates that secondary educationis equally guilty of not providing quality educationto its students.

Although designed for different purposes, the re-sults from UCE, UACE, and competency tests sug-gest that secondary students in Uganda are notlearning as much as they should, especially in math-ematics. Many students are graduating from thesystem without mastering basic skills and compe-tencies, regardless of whether they are continuingto higher levels of education or going to work. Theproblem may become more acute as the countryexpands it PPET system with limited resources.

The poor performance in math and sciencesshould be of special concern for policy-makers inPPET—advances in science and technology are key

to economic development. For example, Germany,Japan, and Korea consciously programmed theireconomic development to include science and en-gineering education as centerpieces of three verysuccessful economic development strategies.

4.2.6 Learning achievement of the poor and otherdisadvantaged

Another sobering finding from the School QualityStudy is the great disparity in student achievement.

Table 21 indicates that nationwide, sec-ondary girls do significantly worse inmathematics than boys. Forty-six percentof the girls failed the Form 1 math testcompared to 36 percent of the boys. Morethan 54 percent of the girls failed the Form3 math test compared to only 47 percentof the boys. However, achievement in

English does not seem to show any significant gen-der difference.

Although we cannot make a perfect correlationbetween test scores and student socioeconomicbackground, there is evidence that children frompoor families have higher failure rates in math andEnglish tests than do those from better-off fami-lies. Two observations support this: (a) there is ahigher concentration of poor and disadvantagedstudents in rural, private/community, and day and/or mixed, and smaller secondary schools comparedto urban, private/religious, government, boarding,and larger secondary schools; and (b) the SchoolQuality Study found that students from urban, gov-ernment, private/religious, boarding, and largerschools have significantly higher achievement(lower failure rates) than those rural, private/com-munity, day and/or mixed, and smaller secondaryschools. In fact, private community schools fare theworst. Fifty-nine percent of students in private com-munity schools failed Math 1; 77 percent failedmath; 3; 38 percent failed English 1; and 32 percentfailed English 3.

It was also found that students from schools withenrollments of more than 600 do significantly bet-

Table 20Quality Study Failure Rates I

Form 1 Math Form 3 Math Form 1 English Form 3 English Male 37.5% 47% 27% 23.3% Female 46% 54% 23% 22.1% Overall 40.5% 50% 25% 22.7%

30 UGANDA POST-PRIMARY EDUCATION

ter than smaller schools. In fact, there may be a posi-tive relationship between school size and studentachievement. This may be because larger schoolsusually charge higher fees and thus can afford bet-ter teachers and learning resources. Thus, there maybe an argument for larger schools.

This finding is tragic. It means that, compared totheir wealthier counterparts, children from poorhouseholds, in addition to having fewer chances ofenrolling in secondary school, are more likely to goto a lower quality school if they do enroll. And sinceeducation is a powerful instrument for upwardmobility—social and economic—the poor, lackingthe opportunity to go to a quality school, will al-ways remain behind.

4.2.7 Labor market outcomes

Education increases the productivity of an indi-vidual. The performance of the education system istherefore reflected in the labor market outcomes ofits graduates. There are at least three important ele-ments to the labor market outcomes: (a) the prob-ability of being employed in the formal sector, (b)the salary scale once employed, and (c) the “pro-ductivity” if engaged in the informal sector.

The 1999/2000 UNHS data include information onthe Ugandan labor force. Table 22 shows that Ugandahas a small proportion of the population in the la-bor force (46 percent). Only 12 percent of the laborforce is engaged in the formal sector, and the re-maining 86 percent is in the informal sector. Onequarter of the formal sector labor force is employedby the public sector, and two-thirds are employedby the private sector. The unemployment rate is 7.3percent.

Education and employment in the formal sector

The analysis shows that higher levels of educationare linked with a higher probability of being em-ployed in the formal sector. For example, Table 23

Table 21Quality Study Failure Rates II

Form 1 Math Form 3 Math Form 1 English Form 3 English Rural 40% 50% 33% 31% Urban 40% 49% 15% 13% O-level 40% 47% 23% 17% A-level 24% 44% 7% 5% Government 35% 43% 27% 29% Private – religious 36% 45% 18% 17% Private – community 59% 77% 38% 32% Day 51% 66% 32% 29% Mixed 49% 60% 32% 36% Boarding 27% 33% 16% 11% Small school (less than 200 students 57% 68% 47% 35% Medium school (201 – 600 students) 54% 68% 37% 40% Large school (more than 600 students) 24% 32% 7% 8%

Table 22The Ugandan labor force

% of population in the labor force 46.1% % of the labor force in the formal sector 12% % of the formal labor force in the public sector 24.4% % of the formal labor force in the private sector 66.7% % of the formal labor force unemployed 7.3%

31UGANDA POST-PRIMARY EDUCATION SECTOR REPORT

shows that an S4 graduate is about twice as likelyto be in paid employment as a P7 graduate. An indi-vidual with higher education (diploma or degree) isfive times as likely as a P7 graduate to be in paidemployment. The probability of being in paid em-ployment, by education level is shown in Table 23.

Wage premiums associated with post-primary education

Higher levels of education usually mean higher paylevels in the formal sector. To calculate the wagepremiums associated with higher levels of educa-tion, we used the 1999 Household Survey data andrestricted the sample to only about 16.7 percent ofthe Ugandan labor force who are between the ages15–65, not in school, and working in the formal wagesector. Looking only at the yearly pecuniary earn-

ings, we estimated a standard Mincer (1976) equa-tion as follows: Ln(wage) = B + B1*(years ofeducation)+B2(experience)+B3(experience squared).

The results indicate that the wage premium for anadditional year of education is high in Uganda. Table24 lists the coefficients and standard errors associ-ated with the predictors. On average, for every ad-ditional year of education, the wage increases bymore than 17 percent (B1). It has been argued thatthe wage premium may differ by level of education.In a separate model (not reported) that looked atyearly returns to different levels of education, wefound that yearly returns are highest at the lowersecondary level: 24 percent, compared to 16 percentfor primary and 15 percent for upper secondary (Fig-ure 15). This implies that, for every additional yearof lower secondary education, earnings increase by24 percent.3 Therefore, the case for investing in sec-ondary education, and particularly lower second-ary education, is very strong.

Apart from the returns associated with education,wages in the Central and Western regions are sig-nificantly higher than in the Northern and Easternregions. For a given level of education and experi-ence, people in the Central region (includingKampala) have higher wages than those residing inother regions. In addition, women with the samelevel of education and experience, and working inthe same location, still earn about 18 percent lessthan their male counterparts do.

Table 23Probability of being in paid employment byeducational attainment(Individuals age 15-69, not in school)

Source: Analysis of 1999/2000 UNHS Data Source:Analysis of 1999/2000.

Education Sample Employed Probability None 18,285 547 3.0% Drop P1 303 32 10.6% P1 571 77 13.5% P2 1,223 176 14.4% P3 1,680 213 12.7% P4 1,863 237 12.7% P5 1,922 287 14.9% P6 2,340 319 13.6% P7 2,639 407 15.4% J1 108 21 19.4% J2 133 25 18.8% J3 86 16 18.6% S1 532 106 19.9% S2 565 106 18.8% S3 437 88 20.1% S4 841 254 30.2% S5 84 16 19.0% S6 173 59 34.1% Spec-certif 777 452 58.2% Diploma 536 399 74.4% Degree+ 130 93 71.5% Unknown 116 24 20.7% Total 35,344 3,954 11.2%

Table 24 Wage premiums

Variables B (S.E) Experience 0.12***(0.00) Experience squared -0.0002***(0.000) Years of education 0.17***(0.004) Western region (compared to Northern) 0.25***(0.06) Central region (compared to Northern) 0.44***(0.05) Eastern region (compared to Northern) 0.09(0.05) Female -0.18***(0.04)

32 UGANDA POST-PRIMARY EDUCATION

These private rates of return to education are rela-tively high compared to other countries, which usu-ally have returns to each additional year of educa-tion of around 10–12 percent. This may be partlybecause there are still few educated people inUganda.

“Productivity” in the informal sector

More than 80 percent of the Ugandan labor force isengaged in informal sector activities. The analysesof opportunity cost in section 4.4.2 and in Annex 2show a strong pattern of productivity increasingwith education. This suggests that formal educationsignificantly increases productivity, not only in theformal sector, but also in household production.

These results demonstrate that returns to second-ary education materialize both in the form of accessto formal employment and in the form of remunera-tion. Wage premiums, and especially those corre-sponding to completion of lower secondary educa-tion, are high. Returns to technical education alsoseem to be high, although we know that costs aresubstantially higher for technical education.

The case for expanding secondary education, andespecially lower secondary education, can be madenot only on the ground of coverage and equity, butalso from the point of view of societal investment,as returns are very high regardless of who shouldfinance such an expansion.

Demand for post-primary graduates

A separate study of 400 firms in the formal sectorconfirms that there is a high demand for post-pri-mary graduates from the formal private industrysector. Employers generally trust the traditionalqualifications of O- and A- level certificates (seeBox 1). This demand has been more than able tocompensate for the decline in the demand from thepublic sector as civil service is reformed. The con-cern that the O-level certificate may be obsolete isnot justified. The requirement for entry into the for-mal sector will increase as more of the populationobtains O-level education.

Justification for the expansion of secondary edu-cation is also based upon evidence of skill short-ages. Employers support increased work and indus-try relevance within the curriculum, which they fre-

Figure 15Yearly return to education

Yearly return to education

0

0.05

0.1

0.15

0.2

0.25

0.3

Primary Lowersecondary

Uppersecondary

Tertiary

33UGANDA POST-PRIMARY EDUCATION SECTOR REPORT

quently express as vocationalism; but, based on sur-vey evidence (Box 1), as well as international expe-rience, this should not include specific job or occu-pational training. Instead, they include general oraland written communication, knowledge of thework process, and the capacity to respond to newwork situations. In addition, employers value goodbehavioral traits, including trustworthiness, reliabil-ity, and punctuality.

In short, despite the advocacy for vocationaliza-tion, employers often place more value on genericskills and knowledge, plus positive work attitudes.In fact, this is reflected in the choice that P7 stu-dents make about applying to a general secondary,or to a technical, school. In 2001, of about 400,000 P7graduates, only slightly more than 3,000 applied toenroll at the technical and farm schools, and evi-dence shows that the technical and farm schools areseriously under enrolled/utilized.

Considering what skills are in demand, an expan-sion of secondary education, as compared to tech-nical training, is more justified. The increasingly di-versified and dynamic formal industry sector alsomakes it difficult for schools to guess which practi-cal skill is in demand; therefore schools are betteroff transmitting basic foundational skills so that stu-dents learn to adapt to different work environments.

The evolving structure of the Ugandan economy

Designers of PPET education policy should also beaware of the evolving structure of the economy.Uganda has recently been applauded as a high eco-nomic performer in the region. Gross domestic prod-uct maintained an average growth rate of 7.2 per-cent from 1990 to 1999, compared to the world aver-ages of 3.5 percent for middle-income countries, and2.3 percent for high-income countries.

The vast majority of firms rate oral and writtencommunication, numeracy, initiative, and problemsolving skills as “very important” or “important.”The highest ranking was given to oral communi-cation, followed by problem-solving ability andinitiative.

Over 80 percent of firms rate as “very impor-tant” punctuality, honesty, enthusiasm, friendliness,politeness, and reliability as “very important.” Thehighest frequencies are for punctuality, honesty,and reliability.

But there is little evidence of a high demandfor occupationally specific skills, except for thehigh importance attached to industry experience.Firms are seeking trustworthy, responsible em-ployees, with good work habits and communi-cation skills, who can learn quickly.

Over 80 percent of forms rated as “very good”or “good” the following skills of general second-ary school graduates: verbal ability, the ability tofollow verbal and written instructions, oral communi-cation, numeracy skills, and communication skills.These results are consistent with the high degreeof trust in post-primary qualifications that firmshave demonstrated elsewhere in the survey.

Based on these responses, the cognitive devel-opment in Ugandan secondary education sohighly regarded by employers can be supple-mented with the development of more generalskills of problem solving, production, or project work.The habits of punctuality and reliability, completionof work on time and to a high standard can be builtinto schoolwork routines. Means of demonstrat-ing these skills and attributes to employersthrough school reports can also be developed.

Box 1Skills and attributes valued by employers: Findings from the Firm Demand Survey—Uganda

34 UGANDA POST-PRIMARY EDUCATION

Fortunately, Uganda can benefit from the experi-ences of dozens of countries that have already navi-gated this juncture, and a pattern has emerged fromthis collective experience. With income growth, per-formance varies by sector. This is mostly becausehigher income fuels faster growth in demand forurban-based industrial and service sector outputs.Labor therefore migrates to these urban sectors, re-sponding to their call for more workers voicedthrough higher urban wages. As they leave the coun-tryside, self-subsistence agriculture is rapidly dis-placed by large-scale production. The remainingrural inhabitants must learn to feed not only them-selves, but also the growing cities. The urban sectorproduces for itself, for its rural countrymen, and forexport to foreign consumers. All of this structuraltransformation requires higher productivity. Afterall, income per person can only rise if output perperson rises.

This is where the link to the PPET and higher edu-cation comes in. Increases in output per worker areachieved through efficiency improvements andhigher capital-labor ratios. At the workplace, thismeans carefully planning the production process,as well as using more expensive and more complexequipment for all workers. Whether it involves ro-botics on the shop floor or computerized reserva-tions at the hotel, people must learn about sophisti-cated tools. The people who use and maintain themneed more basic skills and on-the-job training. Thepeople who design the tools and manage the sys-tems that employ them need higher education.

This pattern is emerging in Uganda, though slowly.While agriculture grew an average of 3.7 percent inthe 1990s, its rate of growth fell far behind that ofindustry, especially the manufacturing and servicesectors, which grew at average rates of 12.7 percent,14.2 percent, and 8.1 percent respectively. Econo-mists have every expectation that these sectors will

Table 25Growth of outputs 1990–99

Gross domestic product

Agriculture Industry Manufacturing Services

1980-90 1990-99 1980-90 1990-99 1980-90 1990-99 1980-90 1990-99 1980-90 1990-99 Low-income

4.7 3.2 3 2.5 5.4 2.8 7.7 2.7 5.6 4.7

Middle-income

3.3 3.5 3.6 2 3.7 4.3 4.6 6.3 3.6 3.7

High-income

3.4 2.3 1.4

Low & middle-income

East Asia & Pacific

8 7.5 4.4 3.3 9.5 9.3 10.4 10.2 8.8 6.5

Europe & Central Asia

-2.3 -2.9 -3.2 0.8

Latin America & Caribbean

1.7 3.4 2.3 2.3 1.4 3.4 1.3 2.6 1.8 3.5

MidEast & N Africa

2 3 3.2 3.4 6.8 6.5 7.1 7 6.5 6.9

South Asia

5.6 5.6 3.2 3.4 6.8 6.5 7.1 7 6.5 6.9

Sub-Saharan Africa

1.7 2.2 2.3 2.7 1.2 1.5 1.7 1.6 2.4 2.4

Uganda 2.9 7.2 2.1 3.7 5 12.7 3.7 14.2 2.8 8.1

Source: World Development Indicators 2001.

35UGANDA POST-PRIMARY EDUCATION SECTOR REPORT

continue to grow at similar rates. This means thatthe economy urgently needs or will need middle-level skills. A focus on science, technology, and en-gineering will coincide with the general trend ofthe economy and can bring Uganda in line with suc-cessful international examples of PPET in the ser-vice of economic development. The so-calledmiddle-level skills and a focus on science and tech-nology is still within the basic secondary literacy,numeracy, and problem-solving skills.

4.3 System inputs

4.3.1 Governance and management

Two departments in the MOES share primary re-sponsibility for post-primary education and train-ing: the Secondary Education Department (SED) andthe Department of Business, Technical and Voca-tional Education and Training (DBTVET). A com-missioner, who reports directly to the permanentsecretary, heads both departments. The PPET sys-tem as a whole has no organization and governancearrangement, and capacity for both SED andDBTVET is limited. Staffing is inadequate in bothdepartments, with only ten professional staff postedat the SED ministry headquarters and only four atthe DBTVET.

Article 176(2) of the Constitution clearly articu-lates the principal of decentralization. The LocalGovernments Act of 1997 stipulates that districtcouncils should have responsibility for both primaryand secondary education. While the managementof the primary education system has been decen-tralized to district councils and district educationoffices, MOES retains formal control over second-ary education. Most senior managers interviewedat MOES headquarters believe that it will be sometime before the district level builds enough capac-ity for there to be full decentralization.

Therefore, both SED and DBTVET have overallresponsibility for all areas of policy for secondaryeducation and BTVET, respectively, although otherdepartments and units in the ministry (includingthe Policy Analysis Unit and the Education Plan-ning Department) provide some assistance. In prac-tice, however, senior managers in both SED andDBTVET are preoccupied with the day-to-day man-agement of the secondary school system and haverelatively little time or capacity to deal with theirmain functional areas of responsibility, namelypolicy, planning, and quality control.

School-level management and de facto decentralization

At the school level, the Board of Governors (BoG),Parent Teacher Association (PTA), and headteachersare all involved in the management of secondaryschools.

The 1992 Education Act empowers Boards of Gov-ernors to take full responsibility for all aspects ofschool management. The BoGs are composed of rep-resentatives from school and the founding body,which selects the chair of the BoG. Members areselected at the school level but are subject to theministry’s approval. However, most BoG membershave not received the training to fulfill their duties,and, especially in rural areas, most have poor edu-cational backgrounds.

With parents now funding a substantial propor-tion of expenditures in most government-aided sec-ondary schools, PTAs have become increasinglyimportant in the management of schools, often re-sulting in the twin control of schools by BoGs andPTAs, which often has serious consequences for ef-ficient management.

Most private, for-profit schools and training cen-ters do not have BoGs. But the new education billstates that all PPET institutions will be required tohave BoGs. Once the bill is enacted, institutionalarrangements for school management will be stan-dardized. The bill does not, however, clarify thePTA’s role and its relationship with the BoG. Inter-

36 UGANDA POST-PRIMARY EDUCATION

estingly, founding bodies are to be given an evengreater say in the selection of BoGs.

Finally, the limited supervision by the MOES (forlack of resources and capacity) has meant that inpractice the system is very decentralized—second-ary schools have a high degree of organizational,management, and financial autonomy. The weak-ness of many BoGs and, more generally, the increas-ing complexity of school governance arrangementson the ground have enhanced the position of theheadteacher who has become a separate power. Sec-ondary headteachers are not accountable and mini-mally supervised, and are not subject to any con-crete performance incentives.

Management information

Since the mid 1990s, Uganda, with support from theAcademy of Education Development, has developeda comprehensive Education Management Informa-tion System (EMIS). The EMIS system provides up-to-date information on student enrollments andeducational attainment (repetition and dropouts),as well as physical, financial, and human resourcesinformation for each type of educational institution.However, because of technical and organizationalshortfalls, the EMIS has not yet been fully integratedinto the planning and management processes at thenational and district levels.

The current EMIS also has not developed a stan-dard categorization for the various PPET institu-tions. This can be illustrated by the different cat-egories of schools in the 2000 statistics as comparedto 2001. This is especially relevant for PPET sincethe organization of the sub-sector is very complex.The data for the BTVET is not comprehensive orreliable. Despite significant improvements duringthe last two to three years, many private schoolsand other training centers are still not included inthe EMIS, and the quality of some data (particularlyincome and expenditure)4 is still poor. The EMISsoftware is not user-friendly and, even with assis-tance from EPD programmers, the annual data sets

are difficult to analyze. Capacity at the district levelto collect and verify school data is also limited.

Unlike the primary sub-sector, there is a lack ofmacro incentive for developing reliable data forPPET. The priority nature of the primary sector hasallowed it to utilize the Medium Term ExpenditureFramework, and progress (hence funding) is mea-sured by the achievement of a set of previously iden-tified indicators. This creates a huge macro incen-tive for the EMIS to produce timely and reliable datafor primary education. Such a context is still lackingfor PPET.

Inspection

Secondary schools in Uganda are rarely inspected.The situation is worse for private and communityschools. Quality control of secondary schools is sup-posed to be the responsibility of the Inspectorate,but the rapid growth in secondary schools has faroutstripped the limited capacity of the Inspectorate,which is based in MOES headquarters.

In order to redress this situation, the governmenthas recently approved the establishment of an Edu-cation Standard Agency (ESA) as an autonomousbody responsible for quality control of education atall levels. This coincides with the recommendationin the White Paper of 1992 to strengthen the Inspec-torate by making it an autonomous body. The chiefexecutive of the ESA will report to the ministerthrough the permanent secretary. According to thenew (2001) education bill, the minister will be ulti-mately accountable to Parliament for all ESA activi-ties. It has been recommended that the ESA have athree-tier structure, comprising the central, divi-sional, and sub-divisional teams. Secondary schoolswill fall under the responsibility of the ESA divi-sional teams, each of which will cover an educa-tional region. It is expected that the registration ofprivate schools will be an important source of in-come. ESA staff will make regular inspections ofprivate schools.

37UGANDA POST-PRIMARY EDUCATION SECTOR REPORT

4.3.2 Teachers

Pupil:teacher ratio

The World Education Report 2000 reports that thepupil:teacher ratio (PTR) in secondary schools inUganda has been steady since 1990–96 (18:1). Ac-cording to the 1998 official MIS data, there are 16,206teachers at the secondary level, which is equivalentto a pupil:teacher ratio of 23:1. However, data fromthe Annual School Census for 2000 indicate that thenational average for the pupil:teacher ratio in 2000has decreased to 17 (30,384 teachers over an enroll-ment of 518,931). This ratio is well below the aver-age African pupil:teacher ratio of 25 in secondaryschools.

The pupil:teacher ratio varied considerably fromdistrict to district. Kalangala was ranked lowest,with a ratio of 12, while Moyo and Kotido rankedhighest, with ratios of 30. The mode ratio was 18.This suggests that there is considerable room forimproving efficiency, especially in districts whereratios are below the national average.

However, improved efficiency should not dimin-ish the quality of education. There may be a case forlow pupil:teacher ratios in sparsely populated ar-eas. Also, the deployment of teachers cannot be sepa-rated from the curriculum requirements. It will bedifficult to increase the pupil:teacher ratio if manysubjects need to be taught and teachers teach onlyone subject.

Teacher qualification

Secondary school teachers in Uganda are relativelywell qualified. The Annual School Census 2000 dataindicate that 29 percent of the faculty at secondaryschools in Uganda had at least a first graduate de-gree, with less than 2 percent having postgraduatedegrees of some kind. Teachers who have at least afirst graduate degree are called “graduate” teachers.Of the remaining 71 percent, about 96 percent hadsecondary education. This means that the majorityof secondary school teachers (95 percent) had at leastsecondary education themselves. The most commondegree/certification level was that of A-level edu-

Figure 16Pupil-teacher ratio by region

Pupil-teacher ratio by region

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

Kalanga

laNebb

iMoro

toKiba

ale Mpigi

Ntugam

o

Kampal

aMasi

ndi Gulu

Kabarole Mbal

eSoro

tiKum

i

Kapch

orwa

Kotido

Regions

Pupi

l-tea

cher

ratio

P:T

Source: Annual School Census 2000.

38 UGANDA POST-PRIMARY EDUCATION

cation, with a certificate or diploma in Education.Over 50 percent of the teachers fell into this cat-egory, that is, “Grade V” teachers. Less than 5 per-cent have a below A-level education.

Teaching load

Teachers, especially teachers of optional subjects incertain schools and districts, are seriously under-utilized. The Teacher Utilization Study surveyedninety-two secondary schools in mid-2001. Teach-ers at these schools taught an average of 22.5 peri-ods per week, which were broken down as follows:UCE teachers: 22.5, UACE: 20, and UCE and UACE:25. Given that the average secondary school has afifty-period week (see section 4.3.3, Curriculum),teacher workloads represent less than half of theweekly requirements.

The report defines “optimally utilized” UCE andUACE teachers as teaching between 22–26 periodsand 16–20, respectively. Based on these MOES staff-ing norms, 34 percent of teachers are under-utilized,27 percent over-utilized, and 39 percent optimally

utilized. Most of the under-utilized teachers teachonly one subject. (One subject: 20.9 periods; twosubjects: 23.1 periods; and three subjects: 25.8 peri-ods). Forty-five percent of teachers teach only onesubject, although all teachers have been trained toteach two.

There are large district-level variations in teach-ing loads. Teachers in twenty-five out of the forty-five districts have average teaching loads of morethan twenty periods a week. In five districts, how-ever, teaching loads average less than fifteen peri-ods (Apac, Bushenyi, Gulu, Kampala, andSembabule).

Teaching workloads also seem to vary consider-ably by the subject. They are generally highest forscience, English, and math teachers (25–30 periods)and lowest for teachers in subjects (such as agricul-ture) taken as options in S3 and S4.

The teaching load norm at BTVET institutionsseems to be even lower than that of general O- andA-level schools at about 10 to 14 hours per week.

There is therefore considerable room for improv-ing efficiency, especially in technical and vocationalinstitutions. However, the picture is complex, sincethere are also teachers who appear to be over-uti-lized, especially those who teach science, English,and mathematics, and those who teach two or moresubjects.

Teacher specialization and major subject taught

Only 10 percent of the secondary teachers were spe-cialized in math or technical subjects, although thisnumber jumps to 31 percent when the sciences areadded. Non-technical subjects, such as arts andcrafts, social studies, foreign languages, local lan-guages, religious studies, and English accounted for48 percent of teachers’ specializations. Commercialsubjects and economics also made up a small fraction.

From the number of instructors teaching in eachsubject area, it was obvious that not all were teach-ing classes within their specialization. The numberof teachers teaching math, science, and technical

Table 26Teacher education by gender and degree

Education Male Female Total % Female %Total

Doctorate 13 1 14 7.14 0.05 Masters 321 108 429 25.17 1.14 Post grad diploma 862 203 1,065 19.06 3.51 Graduate (first degree) 5,893 1,634 7527 21.71 24.77 A-level + Cert./Dip. 12,077 3,142 15,219 20.65 50 A-level 3,804 636 4,440 14.32 15 O-level + Cert./Dip. 609 115 724 15.88 2 O-level 65 8 73 10.96 0 Primary + Cert./Dip. 74 17 91 18.68 0 Primary 66 7 73 9.59 0 Unknown 604 125 729 17.15 2 Total 24,388 5,996 30,384 19.73 100

Source: Annual School Census 2000.

39UGANDA POST-PRIMARY EDUCATION SECTOR REPORT

subjects, as well as social studies, local languages,foreign languages, commercial subjects, and Englishare more than the number of teachers specializingin these areas. However, the number of teachersteaching religious studies, arts and crafts, and non-specified subjects is actually fewer than the num-ber of teachers specializing in these areas. The in-crease in the number of teachers teaching math, sci-ence, and technical subjects may indicate a demandfor those subjects beyond the number of trainedpersonnel in those areas.

The higher demand for math and science teach-ers, coupled with the poor performance of Ugandasecondary students in these subjects as comparedto others, provides convincing evidence that UgandaPPET reforms, whichever format they take, shouldnot neglect math and science subjects.

Teacher management and performance

SELECTION AND RECRUITMENT. To date, teacher recruit-ment has been decentralized. Teachers seek out jobopportunities by visiting schools. Once a school hasselected a teacher, official approval is then soughtfrom the MOES head office. Because the MOES of-ten has had inadequate information about the staff-ing situation in each school, the ministry has notbeen able to ensure that recruitment decisions aresound.

There is also a great deal of inefficiency in theappointment (start receiving payment) and deploy-ment of teachers (start teaching). The Teacher Utili-zation Survey found that teachers in about 30 per-cent of districts had been appointed yet remainedundeployed for more than a year. In half of the dis-tricts, teachers had been deployed but had waitedfor more than a year before they were formally ap-pointed. The report notes that “delayed deploymentafter appointment is likely to cause anxiety, under-mine morale, and is a waste of financial resources.”Delayed appointments leads to government exploi-tation of the teacher since the teacher is workingwhile not yet on the payroll. The ministry must cor-rect this situation.

The results from the ESC pilot validation exercisein four districts during 2001 are also revealing. Ofthe 1,217 teaching staff interviewed, 13.8 percentwere on the payroll but not appointed; 44.1 percentwere on the payroll but not confirmed; 3.5 percentwere receiving the wrong salary; and 5.3 percentwere illegally employed. No support staff had beenappointed.

Since 1996, there has been a public sector recruit-ment freeze (except for primary teachers), whichaffects the hiring of secondary teachers. Individualschools have done most recruiting and paid theseteachers from PTA funds. Around one quarter of theteachers sampled for the Teacher Utilization Surveywere still on probation because of the recruitmentfreeze.

CAREER STRUCTURE AND REMUNERATION. There arethree basic grades for trained secondary schoolteachers on the public sector payroll: graduateteacher (U5a–3), Grade V diploma teacher (U5c–b),and Grade III teacher (U7–6). Once appointed toeach grade, the only avenue for real career progres-sion is by promotion to deputy headteacher andheadteacher, or by qualification upgrading (fromdiploma to degree). The headteacher of an O-levelschool is on Grade U2, and Grade U1 at an O/A levelschool. The Teacher Utilization Study concludes thatthe “lack of career progression has resulted in frus-tration among teachers, inducing many to leaveteaching or seek administrative offices somewhereelse.”

Starting salaries in 2001 for graduate and Grade Vteachers were Ush.300,000 and Ush.135,000 permonth, respectively. Annual salary increments aretoo small (typically around Ush.2,000) to sustain orimprove teacher motivation. A new grade and sal-ary structure was introduced in 1994. Salaries wereroughly doubled, but the salary differential betweengraduate and diploma teachers also increased sig-nificantly (from 89 percent to 60 percent). Such alarge differential is inequitable, since it does not re-flect actual differences in the productivity and teach-ing performance between the two groups of teach-

40 UGANDA POST-PRIMARY EDUCATION

ers (there is no performance evaluation systemwhatsoever). Paying teachers for diploma ratherthan at least the level they teach does not seem wiseeither. With graduate teachers heavily concentratedin urban schools, these schools have also benefiteddisproportionately.

Annual unit salary costs have increased fromUsh.0.53 million in 1994 to Ush.2.86 million in 2001(equivalent to US$1,787). In real terms, this is anincrease of over 330 percent and, compared to theGNP per capita of US$320, public secondary teach-ers in Uganda seem on average to be well paid. Inaddition, most schools supplement teacher salaries;typically, about half of PTA funds are allocated forthis purpose. However, the level of salary supple-mentation varies considerably from school toschool. While well-resourced, high-fee schools candouble basic salaries, most secondary schools pro-vide an additional Ush.100,000–50,000 per month.Various housing and responsibility allowances arealso paid.

Teachers in private schools or teachers who arepaid entirely out of PTA funds in government schoolsgenerally receive much less than those fully paid bythe government.

Informally appointed teachers are paid entirelyfrom PTA funds and typically receive Ush.70,000–100,000 per month. This is roughly the same as full-time teachers in private schools. Part-time teachersin private schools are paid between Ush.600–1,000per period. Given the average teaching loads in gov-ernment-aided schools, this is two-thirds less thansalary costs per period for teachers on the publicsector payroll.

Professional development.

There are two types of professional developmentactivities: qualification upgrading and regular, in-service training.

QUALIFICATION UPGRADING. With the large salary dif-ferential between graduate and diploma teachers,

grade V teachers have a strong financial incentiveto obtain a graduate teaching qualification. The SECreport notes that there were about 300 “up-grad-ers” on the payroll in 1999 “who are counted asthough they are in class,” and teachers covering theirwork were mostly paid by parents. The report rec-ommended that their numbers be kept within theceiling of the school. In late 2001, there were up-wards of 4,000 students enrolled on the B.Ed. dis-tance-learning, upgrading program offered by theDepartment of Distance Education at Makerere Uni-versity. Another 2,000 individuals were studying forthe B.Ed. degree through evening classes at MU andMbare University. Tuition costs are Ush.1.8 millionper annum.

Such a training effort is commendable—but it hasmajor implications for teacher efficiency. Studyingfor a degree (at a distance) in one’s own time is de-manding, time-consuming and, unless a teacher isseriously under-utilized, is likely to badly affectteacher productivity and overall performance. In-formation on overall completion rates still needs tobe obtained, but the evaluators met numerous teach-ers who had upgraded and evaluated the programpositively. Headteachers believe that studying forthe degree is worthwhile for improving teachercompetence and morale. The challenge then is tomake sure students are not denied learning becausetheir teacher is pursuing a degree program.

IN-SERVICE TRAINING. Secondary school teachers re-ceive virtually no systematic in-service training. TheTeacher Utilization Study found that teachers at theschools surveyed had attended 1.8 “refresher”courses since 1993.

There are Teacher Resource Centers in thirty-onedistricts intended to provide in-service training tosecondary teachers. Each center is supposed to bestaffed by a full-time co-coordinator, librarian, andan administrative assistant. However, MOES hasnot yet been able to fulfill its formal commitmentto put these staff on the payroll. They are seriouslyunder-funded and most are under-utilized.

41UGANDA POST-PRIMARY EDUCATION SECTOR REPORT

Summary on teachers

Although they are generally well qualified, there issome evidence that on average Ugandan secondaryteachers are under-utilized. Because of the great dis-parity, interventions aimed at improving the effi-ciency should be targeted only at schools with lowpupil:teacher ratio and low teaching loads. Also,very few teachers are deployed promptly upon ap-pointment. Teachers are generally well paid, al-though there are huge and perhaps unjustified dif-ferences in pay between graduate and diplomateachers.

Teachers should be encouraged to continue learn-ing once deployed, and they should receive theirqualifications in a timely fashion, if they have notalready. In a system that has little incentive forteachers to embrace teaching as a career, studentssuffer most.

On the other hand, reforms are sensitive, highlypolitical, and likely to be difficult despite good in-tentions. Commitment needs to be sought from thehighest level of government possible. Teachers andtheir unions must be brought on board as soon aspossible—and teachers should see themselves aspartners working together to achieve higher qual-ity teaching and learning for secondary school stu-dents. The PPET system cannot alienate teachers.

4.3.3 Curriculum

The National Curriculum Development Center(NCDC) is responsible for the secondary schoolcurriculum. There are subject panels, but they rarelymeet, and some subjects have combined panels. Thetransferred VET institutions continue to be largelyresponsible for their own curricula.

The secondary school curriculum has not under-gone any major revision since the early 1970s. Thecurrent O- and A-level curricula follow the subjectguidelines issued by the Inspectorate in 1982. Table27 presents the number of subjects and the numberof lessons per week prescribed in these guidelinesfor S1-S4.

The proposed O-level curriculum in the 1992 Edu-cation White Paper lists up to eight subjects for “gen-eral” secondary schools and sixteen subjects for thenew “comprehensive” secondary schools. However,this has never been implemented.

With no clear guidance and little or no supervi-sion of curriculum implementation, what is taughtat schools is strongly driven by the UNEB examina-tion guidelines. In such an exam-driven system, it isnot surprising that the upper subject limit has be-come the norm. In 1999, 80 percent of government-aided secondary schools offered 16 to 18 subjects atS1–S2. However, due mainly to lack of laboratoryfacilities, only 30 percent of all secondary schools(i.e., both government-aided and private) offer phys-ics and chemistry at the S3–4 levels.5 Instead, artssubjects are taught as a deliberate strategy to in-crease pass rates. Non-examined subjects, such asphysical education and music, were taught by lessthan 10 percent of the schools.

Following this curriculum means that most sec-ondary schools have a 50-period week.6 Periods areforty minutes in duration, but these are usually com-bined into double periods wherever possible.7 Byinternational standards, the school day seems long—typically, from 8.30 a.m. to 5 p.m., with only a half-hour morning break and one hour for lunch. Thisleaves little time for extra-curricula activities. Moststudents do not get home until early evening andstill must do homework; and for many students,poor housing and a lack of electricity make doinghomework difficult. On the other hand, it is per-haps a good thing that students spend long hours inschool where the learning environment is betterthan most homes. Still, the concern that too manysubjects are being covered is valid and should beaddressed.

4.3.4 Physical infrastructure

For many years, secondary schools have reliedlargely on their own resources for the constructionand equipping of classrooms, laboratories, and otherbuildings. Though the overall pupil:classroom ratio

42 UGANDA POST-PRIMARY EDUCATION

of 46:1 in 2000 was not bad, there is a great varia-tion: Bundibugyo and Kotido had to accommodatemore than seventy students per classroom. Accord-ing to the 2000 Education Statistical Abstract, thereare also serious shortages of other buildings, includ-ing workshops and libraries (see Table 28).

4.3.5 Learning materials

The availability of textbooks and other teaching andlearning materials has a consistently positive im-pact on student achievement in developing coun-tries. (Box 3 provides an interesting experiment on

textbooks.) Unfortunately, in Uganda there is achronic shortage of textbooks and other learningmaterials in many secondary schools. It has beenestimated that the overall student:book ratio maybe 6:1 in secondary schools. The situation variesgreatly depending on the type of school. Generally,the pupil:book ratio is better in government-aidedschools than in private schools, and better in lowerforms compared to higher forms, as well as better inKampala and other urban regions than other areas.Box 2 illustrates some findings on textbooks fromth recent study, “The Provision of Instructional Ma-terials to Secondary Institutions in Uganda.”

Table 27Current ‘O’-level curriculum based on the 1982 subject guidelines

S1 – S2 S3 – S4 No. of subjects to be

taken No. of lessons per

week No. of subjects to be

taken No. of lessons per

week Mathematics 6-7 1 (compulsory) 6-7

Physics 2-3 3-4 Chemistry 2-3 3-4 Biology 2-3 3-4 Geography 2-3 3-4 History

All 6

2-3

At least 4 Out of 5

3-4

Group 1

Sub-total 6 16 – 22 5 18 – 23 Technical subjects 3-4 or 5-7 for 4

subjects 3-4

Home Economics 3-4 3-4 or 5-6 Business Studies 2-3 for 3 subjects 4-6 Agriculture 3-4 5-6 Arts and Crafts

At least 3

3-4

at least 1

4-6

Group 2

Sub-total 3 6 – 18 1 3 – 6 English Language Compulsory 6-7 1 (compulsory) 6-7 PE Compulsory 1-2 n.a. Literature in English Not treated as

separate subject n.a. 3-4

Music 1-2 3-4 Religious Education 2-3 3-4 Political Education 2-3 3-4 French 3-4 4-5 German 3-4 4-5 Luganda 3-4 4-5 Kiswahili 3-4 4-5 Other language

Any 3

3-4

At least 1

4-5

Group 3

Sub-total 5 12 – 21 2 9 – 12 Minimum no. subjects* and total lesson

periods

14 34 – 61 9 (S3) 10 (S4) 33 – 48

Source: MOES (1999) “Setting Staff Establishment Ceilings for Post-Primary Institutions.”

43UGANDA POST-PRIMARY EDUCATION SECTOR REPORT

Funding of textbooks

The same study on instructional materials also re-vealed that, while in theory, all schools have an an-nual budget for textbooks that comes from the capi-tation grant, fee income, or any other school levelincomes, these textbooks and library budgets wererarely spent, the money being diverted to otherschool needs. In reality, textbooks account for lessthan 2 percent of total expenditure at the schoollevel. The MOES contributes less than one-third ofthis amount. Most of the capitation grant providedby the ministry has been used for other “more ur-gent” purposes, including subsidizing teacher sala-ries and other repair and maintenance needs. It maybe necessary for the ministry to restrict the use ofcapitation grants to non-wage expenditures, includ-ing materials and other operating costs, rather thanon teacher salaries.

In recent years, very few schools received anytextbooks from the Ministry of Education andSports. In cases when they do, the number of text-books provided had been small. The textbooks pro-vided were mostly ones not required by the schools,who would have instead preferred to have been al-located budgets to select the textbooks they need.

If they have the textbooks, most schools lendthem to their students. And, because of the sanc-tions imposed, the levels of loss are mostly verylow. However, most schools do not have books tolend, and therefore obtaining textbooks dependsvery much on whether students’ parents can afford

them. Parents who can purchase textbooksdo so according to book lists provided bythe school. The retail prices of most coresubject textbooks range from Ush.30–60,000. Given that most students cannotafford these books, alternative, low-cost“pamphlets” are now widely available.These are written by teachers and drawheavily on the material found in standardtexts. Most are little more than examina-tion crammers.

There is a chronic shortage of trainingmaterials at BTVET schools and institutes,

which, in the case of the VTIs, has been seriouslyaggravated by the abolition of cost recovery in 2001.Consequently, students do not have enough prac-tice in mastering basic techniques. As one instruc-tor put it, “we are just producing theoretical techni-cians.” In contrast, at the well-resourced private, not-for-profit training centers, practical training ac-counts for 70 percent of total instruction.

Table 28Buildings at secondary schools, 2000

Source: Annual School Census.

Type of building Existing Under construction Needed % Shortage Classrooms 11,216 3,026 5,387 27.4 Latrine blocks 5,186 885 2,710 30.9 Libraries 709 293 1,334 57.1 Office 3,553 517 2,288 36.0 Staff rooms 1,445 224 918 35.5 Store rooms 2,363 390 1,865 40.4 Teachers’ houses 5,496 836 13,555 68.2 Workshops 377 189 1,617 74.1 Total 30,345 6,360 29,674 44.7

A recent survey of thirty-five secondaryschools in seven districts in Uganda revealedthat:• Three “elite” schools in Kampala claimed that

all pupils at all grades had textbooks in thecore subjects.

• Most other schools in Kampala region esti-mated ratios of 1 textbook to 2 or 3 pupils inthe lower forms, rising to 1 to 10 or more forsome subjects in the higher forms.

• In Mubende District only 3 of the 6 schoolssurveyed estimated as high a ratio as 1 text-book to 5 pupils in the lower grades.

• In most of the schools surveyed in Kibale Dis-trict the textbook situation was dire. Someschools estimated that they had 1 textbookfor every 10 pupils, but in others there werefew if any textbooks in the school even forthe teacher use.

Box 2

44 UGANDA POST-PRIMARY EDUCATION

4.3.6 Access to information

The world is living in an information age, and thesuccess of PPET education is entwined with accessto information. Unfortunately, Uganda does not dowell in this regard. The World Development Indicators(World Bank, 2001) reported that only two out of1,000 people in Uganda have access to a daily news-paper, as compared to twelve for Sub-Saharan Af-rica. Taking into consideration the much higher adultliteracy rates, this circulation is low. In addition, only127 out of 1,000 people have access to radios, 28 outof 1,000 people have televisions, and 2.5 out of 1,000people have a personal computer. There were only0.7 Internet hosts for every 10,000 people, 25,000Internet users in the entire country, and one singlesecure Internet server in the country. These statis-tics show that Uganda is far below even the aver-age levels of Sub-Saharan Africa, let alone the restof the world.

4.4 Cost and financing of post-primary educationand training

4.4.1 Public expenditure

The budget process

The process follows two separate tracks, depend-ing on the nature and priority of the activity. Thehigh priority placed on the primary education sub-sector has permitted the use of enhanced budget-ary management and associated budget executionmechanisms as laid out in the government’s Pov-erty Action Fund (PAF).

But the other PPET sub-sector components oper-ate largely through incremental budget preparationand disbursement mechanisms. Consequently,while work plans, disbursements, monitoring, andaccountability arrangements for high priority pri-mary education programs are done on a quarterlybasis, are regular, and are almost 100 percent guar-

Box 3The “Book Flood” experiment in Fiji

In 1980, grade 4 and 5 classes in eight ruralschools in Fiji were inundated with a wide rangeof high-interest, illustrated storybooks in English.Each grade 4 and 5 teacher received 250 books.Half the “book flood” teachers were trained touse the “shared book” method, whereby the teach-ers spend several days discussing the book, thepictures and the title, and reading aloud while thechildren listen. The other half of the teachersmerely encouraged children to read silently forthirty minutes each day. A control group of simi-lar students were taught English using a conven-tional approach without reading any books.

Students were tested before the book flood be-gan, again after eight months of the program, andagain one year later. Both book flood groupsshowed much greater improvement than the con-trol group. In the first eight months, the share bookgroup and the silent reading group had each im-proved their reading levels by fifteen months,while the control group had shown only 6.5months’ gain. After nearly two years with the en-riched reading program, the book flood groupshad increased their growth even more, and theeffects persisted on the national examinations, inwhich the pass rate was twice as high for the bookflood students (73 percent) as for students in con-ventional rural schools (37 percent).

Source: Elley and Maugubhai (1983). From the “World Bank Policy Paper on Primary Education, 1993.”

45UGANDA POST-PRIMARY EDUCATION SECTOR REPORT

anteed, programs in the low priority PPET sub-sec-tor have seen almost no growth in real resourcesbudgeted for each year since 1994/95. Disbursementdepends on the circumstances surrounding revenueperformance and other budget operations, and is atthe discretion of officials at the central ministries.

At the school level, government subsidy comesmainly in two forms: teacher salary and capitationgrants. In so-called government or government-aided schools, the Ministry of Education, accordingto a predetermined pay schedule, directly paysteachers that it appoints. Government schools alsoreceive a block capitation grant every year for peda-gogical purposes. The level of the capitation grantis determined by the ministry and is now set atabout Ush.65 per student per day. However, the dis-bursement of capitation grants is vulnerable to over-all government resource constraints andintersectoral demands, since it is not classified as aprotected priority. The level of the capitation grantsis unpredictable from month to month, with delaysin disbursement adding another difficulty.

Additionally, the government introduced a bur-sary scheme for needy students. The budgeted bur-

sary for needy students totaled Ush.510million in2001/02, rising to Ush.1.68 billion in 2003/04. How-ever, this is only a drop in the ocean, and many sec-ondary schools do not have access to bursaries. And,the public knows very little about the bursaryscheme and the selection criteria, and thus it is likelythat children with real needs may not be benefitingfrom the current scheme. The government has toexamine this issue, especially if expanding the bur-sary scheme is to become an explicit strategy forsystem equity. It is also difficult to target bursariesby income, so it may be necessary to devise moreinnovative targeting mechanism—such as, target-ing schools that charge lower fees and that,therfore,are not the choice of wealthier families.

Share of education budget devoted to PPET

As discussed in the government financing section,the secondary share of total recurrent educationbudget has been around 15 percent, and the share ofTVET has been around 3 percent. This expenditureon secondary education is very low compared tointernational standards, as shown in Table 30. On

Table 29The Information Age

Daily newspaper

per 1000 people (1996)

Radios per 1000

people (1999)

Television per 1000

people

Personal computers per

1000 people

Internet hosts per

10,000 people

Internet users,

thousands

Internet secure server

Low-income 157 85 4.4 0.48 4,766 224 Middle-income 360 279 27.1 13.2 45,241 4,622 Low & middle-income

East Asia & Pacific 302 252 17 3.98 23,593 844 Europe & Central Asia

102 446 370 39.3 24.1 10,184 1,392

Latin America & Caribbean

71 419 272 37.7 29.6 9,687 1,946

Middle East & No. Africa

33 272 175 25.4 0.67 1,153 72

South Asia 113 71 3.2 0.31 3,034 97 Sub-Saharan Africa 12 201 43 8.4 3.1 2,357 495 Uganda 2 127 28 2,5 0.07 25 1

Source: Word Development Indicators 2001.

46 UGANDA POST-PRIMARY EDUCATION

average, Sub-Saharan African countries spend al-most 28 percent of their total education budget onsecondary education.

The nominal budgetary allocation for secondaryrecurrent was Ush.51.3 billion for the fiscal year 2000/2001, of which Ush.38 billion (78 percent of totalsecondary recurrent) was for teacher wages,Ush.5.23 billion (11 percent) was for capitationgrants to schools, Ush.5.7 billion (12 percent) wasfor other quality improvement, and Ush.0.13 billion(0.3 percent) was for ministry overhead.

Of course, in Uganda this low share in secondaryeducation expenditure as a percentage of total edu-cation expenditure reflects a high level of expendi-ture on primary education, since the introduction ofUPE in 1997 placed serious financial demands onthe government.

In addition, the government has reachedan agreement with all its development part-ners that the share of primary educationshould be fixed at about 70 percent for atleast the next five years. This is to makesure that the enrollment gains achievedthrough UPE are maintained and the qual-ity of primary education is improved. Inthe tertiary sector, the government is alsocontemplating significant system reforms,which may reduce the tertiary budgetshare in the long term. However, in theshort term, the tertiary budget is likely toincrease, which means that the tertiaryshare may also increase in the short termgiven the recent political promises made,including the establishment of two morepublic universities and the doubling of thenumber of government-sponsored stu-dents at Makerere University. In this con-text, the best we can hope for is that theshare of secondary budget allocation bemaintained at about 15 percent of the edu-cation budget, with a share for BTVET ofabout 3 percent. Therefore, any policy pro-

posals need to take into account this macro resourceconstraint.

Public expenditure per pupil 8

Based on the 2000/01 budget, and using the 2000secondary enrollment in government schools of216,292 as a data source, public expenditure per sec-ondary student amounts to a total of Ush.236,994(about US$148).

The 2000 Education Statistical Abstract also re-ported public expenditure per student by district.However, public expenditure per pupil was derivedby dividing total public expenditure by total enroll-ment instead of enrollment in government schools.Also, total expenditure did not include overheadexpenditure incurred at the central offices. There-fore, the average public expenditure per student re-

Table 30Secondary education expenditure as a % of all levels

Public education expenditure

(Secondary as % of all levels) 1985 or closest year 1995 or latest year available High-income 41.4 44.2 Middle-income 34.6 37.7 Low-income 33.6 36.4 OECD 38.1 41.4 Sub-Saharan Africa 34.1 28.3 Arab States 49.1 59.2 Latin America and Caribbean 24.5 25.4 East Asia and Pacific 33 36.6 of which: China 33.2 32.2 Southern Asia 40.2 37.4 of which: India 25.3 26.5 Developing 32.8 34.3 Least-developed 30 27.7 Uganda (91, 99) 17 15

Sources: Ugandan Ministry of Education and Sports; Human Development Report 2000.

47UGANDA POST-PRIMARY EDUCATION SECTOR REPORT

ported in the 2000 Education Statistics Abstract isonly Ush.72,252 (equivalent to US$45), which is sub-stantially lower than the Ush.236,994 reportedabove.

If we use Ush.236,994 as a measure of public ex-penditure per secondary student, the level of ex-penditure as a percent of GNP per capita amountsto 46 percent, double the world average of 22.5 per-cent and still higher than the Sub-Saharan averageof 36.5 percent (Table 32).

The government subsidy per primary student av-eraged about US$22, as compared to US$148 per

secondary student (see section on cost and financ-ing) and US$860 per university student in publicuniversities. This results in a ratio of 1:7:39. Lewinand Calloids (2001) noted, “the comparison of pub-lic unit costs between primary and secondary is strik-ing. In low gross enrollment countries, this ratioaverages 3.5:1; in high gross enrollment countries,the ratio is only 1.3:1. Part of the reason for this liesin pupil:teacher ratios.” The policy implications arethat the relative high costs of secondary educationmust be reduced if the gross enrollment ratio is togrow. Of course, one must also bear in mind that inUganda the cost of primary education is low.

Public per pupil expenditure by district

Although underestimated for the reasons men-tioned above, the per student expenditure data fromthe 2000 Education Statistical Abstract can be usedto illustrate the variation of public expenditure perpupil among districts. At the extremes, average dis-trict per pupil expenditure differed by a factor of 27.Since capitation grants remain the same for allschools, the main reasons for this are variations inthe proportions of (relatively more costly) thegraduate teachers employed, school and class size,student:teacher ratios, and teaching periods perweek. Graduate teachers are also concentrated inurban schools, which tend to be larger both in termsof overall enrollment and class size.

Table 312001/02 Planned budget for secondary recurrent expenditure

Teacher wages Capitation grants

Quality improvements

Ministry Total

Total planned 2001/02 (Ush.billion) 38.0 5.8 5.7 0.1 51.3 Per secondary student—government school only (Ush.)

175,827 26,816 26,353 583 236,994

Table 32Expenditure per secondary studentas a percent of per capita GNI

Sources: World Development Indicators 2000,World Bank online GNI data for 2000.

World 22.5

High-income 21.9 Middle-income 17.9 Low-income 29.6 OECD 21.6 Sub-Saharan Africa 36.5 Arab States 19.5 Latin America and Caribbean 9.9 East Asia and Pacific 11.7 of which: China 11.7 Southern Asia 13.8 of which: India 17.7 Developing 21.2 Least-developed 31.5

48 UGANDA POST-PRIMARY EDUCATION

Equity of public expenditure

This section briefly analyses who benefits from thegovernment subsidies to secondary education. Thestructure of the education system itself, in terms ofenrollments and subsidies, determines the equityof public education expenditure.

Using estimates of government expenditure onsecondary education by district from the year 2000Statistical Abstract and estimates of the secondaryage-eligible population from the same source, wedeveloped a table that shows the cumulative shareof total age-eligible population (in ascending orderfrom poorest to least poor) and cumulative share oftotal government expenditure on secondary educa-tion (Table 34).

Public expenditure on secondary education is re-gressive—that is, the wealthier population is ben-

efiting disproportionately from public subsidies tosecondary education. Table 34 indicates that thepoorest 20 percent of the population only receives13 percent of government subsidy, whereas the rich-est 20 percent of the population enjoys 34 percentof the subsidy. Figure 17 is the Lorenz curve, illus-trating the same issue of inequity. The estimatedGini ratio is 0.22. (In the case of perfect equality, theratio would equal to zero; in the case of perfect in-equality, it would equal to one.)

The source of inequity in PPET public financinglies in two areas. First, most poor children do not goto secondary schools, so they do not benefit fromsubsidies that government may provide to second-ary schools. Second, of those poor children who dogo to secondary schools, most opt for cheaper pri-vate/community schools that do not receive gov-ernment subsidies. Among those who go to gov-ernment secondary schools, children from wealthierfamilies tend to go to schools that are betterresourced in terms of teachers (paid by the govern-ment) and other inputs. These schools usually havemore teachers per student and more teachers withhigher qualifications. Because of the higher feescharged, normally only students from wealthierfamilies can afford these schools. So, apart from thesmaller enrollment of the poor, the deployment of

Table 33Public expenditure per pupil by district (including both government andprivate enrollment)

Source: Educational Statistical Abstract 2000, Ministry of Education and Sports, Uganda.

District Expend District Expend District Expend District Expend Adjumani 14,005 Kiboga 47,350 Moroto 68,948 Rukungiri 84,474 Bundibugyo 25,204 Busia 47,438 Hoima 69,926 Tororo 91,956 Nakasongola 30,826 Sembabule 49,500 Mpigi 70,450 Lira 94,199 Mubende 34,298 Mbale 52,114 Luwero 71,126 Kampala 94, 349 Iganga 35,655 Rakai 56,804 Nebbi 73,072 Mukono 95,039 Kisoro 37,350 Kumi 58,279 Mbarara 73,896 Ntungamo 107,055 Bugiri 38,011 Kitgum 58,458 Moyo 74,255 Apac 121,997 Pallisa 38,674 Kibaale 58,535 Kasese 78,090 Jinja 212,749 Masindi 41,751 Kabarole 59,067 Arua 78,929 Kalangala 378,238 Kamuli 43,812 Masaka 67,963 Kabale 79,091 Katakwi 46,738 Kapchorwa 67,985 Gulu 79,329 Soroti 46,772 Kotido 68,183 Bushenyi 82,183 National 72,252

Table 34Cumulative percent of public subsidyby population cohorts

Population cohorts Percent of public subsidy Q1 (poorest) 13 Q2 12 Q3 19 Q4 22 Q5 (richest) 34

49UGANDA POST-PRIMARY EDUCATION SECTOR REPORT

better qualified and better paid teachers is a majorsource of inequity in public financing of PPET.

Thus, to achieve more equity in public financingof PPET, government support for governmentschools will have to be changed. A viable option isto devise a formula-based funding earmarked forteacher salary based on student enrollment. Schoolswill have the freedom to determine how to use thisgrant in terms of how many teachers and the mix ofqualifications. Section 4.3.5 (learning materials) rec-ommends that the old capitation grant be restrictedto non-wage expenditures so that, at the schoollevel, there is some guarantee that the capitationgrant is used for teaching and learning materials.We are recommending that government providetwo forms of capitation grant to schools (bothbased on student enrollment of course): one ear-marked for teacher salary and the other for non-wage expenses.

The equity concern also has implications for pri-vate sector provision. One of the government strat-egies to increase PPET coverage is through “relax-ing current controls, restraints, and quality assur-

ance checks on private education in order to encour-age the rapid growth of private secondary schools.”Without government support to private schools,further growth of private provision will result ineven greater inequity in public financing of PPET.However, we are not advocating public support toprivate schools—for now, the constraints on thePPET resource envelop may not allow this. The pri-mary focus should be to reform the public subsidyto public schools.

4.4.2 Private expenditures

Public expenditures on PPET, although already sub-stantial as revealed by the previous analysis, are byno means the only cost to Ugandan society. House-holds also bear a significant cost, both in terms ofdirect costs and opportunity costs.

Private direct cost

We have already mentioned that the major reasonfor not attending secondary school is poverty. Whilepublic financing is well documented, much less is

0.0%

20.0%

40.0%

60.0%

80.0%

100.0%

0.0% 20.0% 40.0% 60.0% 80.0% 100.0% Cohort population

Accumulated Subsidy

Figure 17Accumulated subsidy by population cohorts

50 UGANDA POST-PRIMARY EDUCATION

known about the costs to students and families. Thisprivate cost applies both to families whose childrenare attending government schools as well as to pri-vate/communities schools, since even governmentschools charge fees.

The 1999/2000 household survey collected infor-mation on total household expenditures on educa-tion, including contributions to the Parent TeacherAssociation, boarding and lodging, uniforms, booksand supplies, and other expenses. Estimates of ex-penditure for a household member in an educationalinstitution were derived by regressing total house-hold expenditure on education on the set of vari-ables for household members enrolled at each level.The regression coefficient on the number of house-hold members enrolled can be interpreted as theadditional expenditure associated with having one addi-tional household member enrolled in that level of educa-tion. (Detailed analysis is provided in Annex 2.)

Our best estimate of the private costs of having ahousehold member in secondary school is thereforein the range of Ush.238,000 to 241,000 per year. Bearin mind that these figures only reflect householdexpenditure. To the extent that extended familymembers, or other sources, contribute to educationalexpenditure, they may be biased downward.

Total unit cost (direct)

We have estimated that the average annual directcost of providing public secondary education in-cludes costs borne by the government atUsh.236,994 and by families at Ush.241,000, suggest-ing a total average annual direct unit cost ofUsh.478,000 per student. Currently, families meetover half, on average, of the direct cost of second-ary education, even in government schools. In pri-vate and community schools, government does notprovide any subsidy; therefore, the total unit costshould be equal to the total private cost borne bythe family.

This figure is similar to the results from the UnitCost Study,9 which analyzed the school expendi-

ture patterns of 120 sampled PPET institutions na-tionwide. The study concluded that nationwide av-erage recurrent unit cost per secondary student isabout Ush.490,236. The small difference may be be-cause the Unit Cost Study aggregated all sources ofincomes at the school level, including government,households, and other donations.

Private opportunity cost

In addition to direct costs, families (and, by exten-sion, society), also incur “opportunity costs.” Theopportunity cost of a student’s time is the value ofthat time in the best alternative activity. Using the1999/2000 Household Survey and combining the

market employment and household enterprise pro-ductivity (weighted by the probability of marketemployment), we estimated that the opportunitycost for PPET is about Ush.265,007 (see Annex 2).

This figure of Ush.265,007 is slightly higher thanthe average direct cost to households, Ush.241,000.We estimated earlier that the average public expen-diture in PPET was Ush.236,994 per pupil enrolledin secondary education. The combined cost to fami-lies (direct and indirect) is Ush.506,007, represent-ing over two-thirds of the total recurrent cost ofsecondary schooling, as shown in Figure 18.

How big are the average direct and indirect coststo of Ush.241,000 and Ush.265,000 to an averagehousehold? Keep in mind that 47 percent of Ugandahouseholds have annual incomes of less thanUsh.620,500 in 2000. To those families, the averageprivate cost of Ush.241,000 represents 40 percent oftotal household income, an unaffordable propor-tion. On the other hand, if they let the child go to

Table 35Opportunity cost of PPET

Activity Percent Wage Market employment 15% 498,443 Household enterprise 85% 223,812 Weighted average 265,007

51UGANDA POST-PRIMARY EDUCATION SECTOR REPORT

work, household annual income can be augmentedby more than 40 percent. In short, there may be littleroom for increasing the private financing of educa-tion, in both the public and private sectors.

4.5 Business, technical and vocational education

4.5.1 Institutions and enrollment

Business, technical and vocational education andtraining (BTVET) is exceedingly diverse, with edu-

cation and training institutions from the busi-ness, health, agriculture, technical, and para-professional fields being recently broughtunder the purview of the MOES. Table 36 pro-files the institutions in the BTVET compo-nent, and provides enrollment capacities andactual enrollment for the years 1994/95–2000/02 as reported by the MOES.

Table 36 shows that the Uganda publicBTVET has enrollment capacity of around25,000 students in the government institu-tions. There is some indication that the facili-ties may be under-utilized. This is a relatively

small sector, around 10 percent of the total enroll-ment in general public secondary schools.

However, only a small proportion of the BTVETinstitutions—the twenty-nine technical/farmschools—are at the secondary level. Most of theBTVET admit students after O-level secondary edu-cation. Enrollment at the technical/farm schools ap-pears to have grown over time, though at a muchslower pace than the growth of general secondaryeducation. The current enrollment at these schoolsis 8,028.

Figure 18Costs of PPET

36%

32%

32%

Indirect cost Direct cost—Family Direct cost—government

Table 36Institutional profile of BTVET and enrollment capacity

Source: Ministry of Education and Sports, Uganda.

Category of institutions No of Inst Enr. Enrollment

Cap 1994/95 1995/96 1996/97 1997/98 1998/99 1999/00 2000/01 Vocational training centers–DIT 4 .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. Technical colleges 5 2500 1210 1762 2155 2200 2094 2055 2094 Technical institutes 33 8500 6414 7405 7699 7650 7781 7750 7500 Technical/farm schools 29 8000 5837 6705 6316 7050 7019 7600 8028 Commercial colleges 5 4000 2373 2319 2964 3000 3400 3400 3753 Agricultural colleges 2 400 .. .. .. .. .. .. .. Forestry colleges 1 200 .. .. .. .. .. .. .. Cooperative colleges 2 250 .. .. .. .. .. .. .. Medical schools and colleges 17 4000 .. .. .. .. .. .. .. Meteorological colleges 1 50 .. .. .. .. .. .. .. CP Instructors colleges 11 1210

52 UGANDA POST-PRIMARY EDUCATION

The following discussions on BTVET policy con-text, organizational structure, and financing mecha-nism, show that the mixing of secondary technicalschools with post-secondary institutions has madeit difficult for BTVET to formulate a coherent sub-sector strategy. It seems plausible that the first steptoward a coherent and viable BTVET strategy is toseparate the two.

Policy context for BTVET

As in many other countries, the BTVET sub-sectorsuffers from its residual role in an elite academicsystem. The system operates with a supply-drivenapproach to teaching and learning, without consid-ering the evolving demand of the labor market.However, the expectations from this component ofthe PPET have increased significantly, with the needto accommodate the oncoming UPE bulge, the needto provide employable skills to the vast majority ofthe population, and improving productivity by pro-viding skills to industry employees. The draft Na-tional Policy Framework for Vocational Educationand Training emphasizes orienting vocational educa-tion and training to employment and local markets.

A coherent strategic policy framework for BTVETmust be developed, especially for post-secondaryinstitutions. The strategic policy framework wouldhave to clarify the roles of government and the pri-vate sector. For example, under-utilization of gov-ernment vocational institutions and the existenceof about 450 private sector institutions providingtechnical and vocational education and trainingbrings into question the practicality of building 850more polytechnics in the midst of a tight resourceenvelope for PPET. There may be room for operat-ing public–private partnerships with clear mandatesfor each party. Questions about curriculum devel-opment, testing and certification, and standardiza-tion of qualification need to be addressed strategi-cally to ensure effective regulation and supervision.

Organizational arrangements

Restructuring of BTVET management is incompletesince the transfer of institutions previously underthe health, agriculture, and labor sectors. The whole-sale transfer of these institutions to the BTVET De-partment of MOES did not consider how the insti-tutions would relate in a practical manner. This isevident from the vague demarcation of operationalresponsibility between the BTVET and higher edu-cation departments of MOES. The Directorate ofIndustrial Training too was appended to the BTVETdepartment without clarifying how it would relateto the vocational education and training that hasbeen within the purview of the BTVET departmentin MOES.

Financing mechanisms

Private sector institutions are funded primarily bycharges levied on the trainees, an apprentice sys-tem, and employee training expenditures. In someinstances donor support to private sector institu-tions has been provided through equipment andother capital costs.

Financing mechanisms for government BTVETinstitutions principally follow the pattern for sec-ondary education—but in this case the governmentalso provided tutor remuneration and a capitationgrant. In year 2000/01, the Government of Ugandaspent about 3 percent of its total education budgeton TVET as a whole, Ush.6.5 billion in nominal terms.

Because the BTVET component is a low prioritynon-PAF area, resource programming and flows areunpredictable. Even within government-run insti-tutions, a large proportion of recurrent costs is fi-nanced from charges levied on students and train-ees. Funding from the government budget has beenirregular, with some institutions receiving only 25percent of budgeted expenditure.

Further complicating the situation, in early 2001the government abolished cost sharing for govern-ment BTVET institutions. As a result, the BTVET in-

53UGANDA POST-PRIMARY EDUCATION SECTOR REPORT

stitutions experienced a fall in total income. TheBTVET sub-sector must be more innovative in itsfinancing mechanisms if it is to survive and prosper.

4.5.2 Technical and farm schools

The twenty-nine technical and farm schools inUganda admit students who have just completedprimary school. Generally, primary graduates do notfavor technical and farm schools, which are viewedas being mainly for those whose low performance

at the PSLE prevents them from going to a generalO-level school. Of the 400,000 PLSE passes in 2001,only 3,000 applied for technical/farm schools, ofwhich 2,000 were admitted. The 3,000 that appliedwere the lowest passes of the 400,000 graduates.

The Unit Cost Study found that average schoolrecurrent expenditure per pupil in technical schools,Ush.623,668, is almost twice that of an average O-level secondary schools, Ush.328,972 (Table 37). Thisis mainly because of the higher delivery costs asso-ciated with BTVET and the low student enrollment.An added cost to BTVET comes from the accommo-dation and feeding that government provides atthese institutions—a policy abolished in secondaryschools in the early 1990s.

The cost for technical and farm schools is stilllikely to be underestimated because, effective in2001, the government abolished the cost-sharingpolicy for BTVET institutions; hence, schools didnot receive income from fees. The unit cost data

were collected in 2001, and the annual per pupil ex-penditure at a well run private technical center forprimary school leavers and S1–S4 dropouts isUsh.1.1million—more than three times the averageexpenditure per student at an O-level school.

However, the higher school expenditure per pu-pil at the technical and farm schools does not seemjustified in terms of student achievement, as evi-denced from the School Quality Study, which testedstudents’ basic competency in math and English.The results indicate that students at the technical

and farm schools are, on average, twice as likely tofail math and English tests as students at the O-level schools. In fact, more than two-thirds of theForm 1 and Form 3 students in technical and farmschools fail math tests and more than half of techni-cal students fail English tests. Of course, the poor

quality can not be entirely attributed to the techni-cal schools, since students admitted into the techni-cal schools are generally lower achievers in primaryschool than those admitted into general O-levelschools.

Table 37Average expenditure per student per year

Technical & farm school O-level secondary school Technical school as percent of O-level school

Personnel administration costs per pupil 56,822.6 61482.7 0.9 School expenditure on supplies per pupil 442,167.2 144,444.1 3.1 Teacher salary costs per student 124,678.9 123.045.3 1.0 Total school recurrent expenditure per pupil 623,668.7 328,972 1.9

Table 38Technical and O-level secondary failure rates

O-level secondary Technical Form 1 mathematics 33 percent 68 percent Form 3 mathematics 45 percent 75 percent Form 1 English 20 percent 55 percent Form 3 English 15 percent 64 percent

54 UGANDA POST-PRIMARY EDUCATION

International experience during the past 15–20years also indicates that these additional costs areunwarranted, using a cost-effectiveness criterion.The findings of a seminal 1985 study (Psacaropoulosand Loxey, 1985) are still considered valid. There islittle empirical evidence that the higher costs resultin increased future earnings, a better fit with mar-ket demand, decreased time for job search, or im-proved outcomes in further study. The 1991 “WorldBank Policy Paper on Vocational and Technical Edu-cation and Training” reiterates these points: “Theadditional resources used for diversified curricula,are better invested in improving learning achieve-ments in, or access to, academic secondary educa-tion” (page 31). This position is further emphasizedby the recent World Bank report, Vocational Skills De-velopment in Sub-Saharan Africa: Phase I—Synthesis,which concluded that basic education is one of themost important skills for productivity and economicgrowth (see Box 4)

This analysis shows that there seems to be lessdemand for technical and vocational education atthe PPET level from both parents and employers. Italso suggests that technical and vocational educa-tion is a more expensive but less effective methodfor delivering basic PPET competencies, and thatgovernments are better off devoting their limitedresources to general secondary education. This con-clusion also raises serious doubts to the governmentproposal of further vocationalizing general second-ary education by means of community polytech-nics, comprehensive, and vocational schools. There-fore, we recommend that the two parallel systemsexisting in PPET—O-level and technical schools—need to be integrated into a single system, with acurriculum focus on basic foundational skills andcompetencies.

4.5.3 Proposed community polytechnics andvocationalization of secondary schools throughcomprehensive and vocational schools

The Uganda Government is considering adoptingcommunity polytechnics as one of its strategies for

secondary expansion. It has also proposedvocationalizing the general secondary O-levelthrough comprehensive and vocational schools.

In fact, it proposed establishing one communitypolytechnics in each of its sub-counties, a total of850! The April 2001 “Revised Concept Paper on Com-munity Polytechnics” describes it as “multi-skillstraining centers equitably distributed throughoutthe country (i.e., one in every sub-county) in aphased manner.”

The concept of community polytechnics is stillfluid. The idea is to erect new, or convert existingstructures, in every sub-county to cater mainly to

Box 4Findings from “Vocational Skills Developmentin Sub-Saharan Africa: Phase I— Synthesis”

1. Low levels of literacy and general education(a) severely restrict labor market flexibility,(b) constrain productivity in the formal andinformal sectors, and (c) increase the amountand cost of training needed by workers, andreduce the effectiveness of that training

2. Even in informal sector training, basic educa-tion is important. There is a need for improvedliteracy and numeracy (“empowering skills”)along with livelihood skills. Those who havemore education do better at entrepreneurship.

3. It is not possible to build an efficient systemof skills formation without a solid educa-tional foundation.

4. General education makes people “trainable”and therefore flexible in the labor market.

5. The most cost-effective use of public re-sources is to improve the productivity andflexibility of the labor force through invest-ment in general education at the primary andsecondary levels (Betcherman).

6. In view of the above, governments should(continue to) give priority to building a soundbase of basic education.

55UGANDA POST-PRIMARY EDUCATION SECTOR REPORT

primary graduates who do not go to secondaryschools and to secondary school dropouts. The cur-riculum will have a heavy dose of vocational sub-jects, and training will be based on identified localeconomic activities and needs. While the govern-ment will finance the development costs, the com-munity and households are expected to shouldermost, if not all, of the costs of running the schools.Graduates from community polytechnics are ex-pected to enter the world of work either individu-ally or as groups. However, for those interested,there will be provisions for them to continue aca-demically. So far, the government has not establishedany community polytechnics.

The curriculum for the new comprehensive andvocational schools was proposed during the FifthEducation Sector Review last April (Table 39). Bothcomprehensive and vocational schools are a move-ment to steadily vocationalize the secondary cur-riculum. The proposed comprehensive/vocationalcurriculum increased the number of subjects for S1–S2 from a minimum of fourteen (Table 39) to fifteen;for S3–S4 from a minimum of nine to ten subjects.Further, in the new comprehensive schools, the num-ber of vocational subjects to be taught will increasefrom at least three to six for S1–S2; and from at leastone to two for S3–S4. In the new vocational schools,the number of vocational subjects for S3–S4 will befurther increased to four subjects.

In section 4.3.3 we stated that the curriculum atO-level is already overloaded and makes learningdifficult. More importantly, the overloaded curricu-lum makes the efficient use of resources, such asteachers, impossible. The new curriculum for com-prehensive and vocational education proposes tofurther increase the number of subjects at O-level,and to introduce more vocational subjects. The pro-posal may have major implications, unfortunatelynot positive, on system efficiency, student learning,and system equity.

In regard to efficiency, we found that technicaleducation at the secondary level (specifically tech-nical and farm schools) has been at least twice asexpensive as a regular O-level school. The higherunit costs will apply to both community polytech-nics and comprehensive schools due to the similarcurriculum focus on vocational and technical sub-jects. There is a clear but implicit trade-off betweenaverage unit costs and number of places. After care-ful analysis, the government may decide that it iswilling to incur these costs, but the trade-off of fewerplaces must be made explicit and enter into thepolicy dialogue.

From the student learning point of view, evidencesuggests that technical school students are not mas-tering the basic competencies valued by employersin the formal sector. More than two-thirds of the

Note: IRE=Islamic religious education; CRE=Christian religious education; HIST=History; ES=Entrepreneurship skills.

Proposed comprehensive curriculum Number of subjects Category of subjects Total no. of subjects S1–2 S3–4 Knowledge extension 6 All (6) All (6) Values/culture 6 5 (IRE/CRE+Hist.+any 3) Any 2 Vocational subjects 8 6 (ES+any 5) 2(ES+any1) Total 22 15 10

Proposed vocational curriculum Number of subjects Category of subjects Total no. of subjects S1–2 S3–4 Knowledge extension 6 All (6) 5 (Eng.+math.+any3) Values/culture 6 3 (IRE/CRE+any 2) Any 1 Vocational subjects 8 6 (ES+any 5) 4 (ES+any3) Total 22 15 10

Table 39The proposed comprehensive and vocational secondary school curriculum

56 UGANDA POST-PRIMARY EDUCATION

students in technical schools fail basic competencytests in math and English. A heavier dose of practi-cal subjects will mean a reduction in teaching andlearning in math and English, and will further erodetheir competitiveness in the labor market.

Regarding community polytechnics, the relation-ship between the community polytechnics and theformal institutional and qualifications structure hasnot been defined clearly. Most important, the ideathat community polytechnics will be mainly fi-nanced by community contributions further raisesthe issue of equity. Most of the target population,namely the P7 leavers and S1–S4 dropouts, will bethe poorest section of the population. Withholdingsubsidy to these schools will worsen the alreadyinequitable public financing system.

Finally, from the supply side, there is a substan-tial and growing private sector training capacity. Itis estimated that 400 firms now have in-house train-ing programs and prefer to do their own training.So, there is reason to be concerned about the viabil-ity of the proposed community polytechnic modelas a central component of the BTVET strategy. Atmost, the idea of community polytechnics and com-prehensive schools can be piloted in relatively well-off districts with reasonable demands for such aschool.

4.6. Private provision of post-primary educationand training

4.6.1 Size of the private sector in PPET

Private provision is substantial in PPET. There arethree types of secondary school ownership: gov-ernment, private, and community. However, the dis-tinction between private and community school isnot always clear, except that community schoolsmay have a better chance of being converted intogovernment schools. Since neither private nor com-munity schools receive any subsidy from the gov-ernment, both categories of schools are really pri-vate schools. A total of 579 private schools and 811

community schools were included in the 2000 schoolcensus.10 Total private and community enrollmentamounts to almost 300,000 students, about 57 per-cent of total secondary enrollment—although pri-vate enrollment is only 23 percent of total enroll-ment if we only include private “private” schools.This proportion of private enrollment is extremelyhigh compared to other countries. UNESCO datacontained in the World Education Report 2000 indi-cate that in 1996, at the general secondary level,South America had 26 percent of enrollment in pri-vate schools compared to 22 percent for Africa, 15percent for Asia, and 12 percent for Europe. There isalso an indication that the proportion of secondaryenrollment in private schools has decreased since1990 in most countries.

Thus, there may be no room for increasing the pro-portion of private enrollment in Uganda. The ESIPtarget of increasing the proportion of private en-rollment to 68 percent by 2010 may be unrealistic.

On average, there were 27.8 private secondaryschools per district; however, there is substantialvariation between districts, with the number rang-ing from zero (Kalangala and Kotido) to 145 (Mpigi).Most of the schools are in rural locations (53.8 per-cent), and the overwhelming majority (86.5 percent)

are in either rural or peri-urban areas. This, in part,reflects the demographics of Uganda—but it alsoindicates that, although there are a few religiouslyfounded elite private schools, most private schoolsare for the rural and poor.

Table 40Percent of private enrollment in generalsecondary schools

1990 1996 Africa 24 percent 22 percent North America 26 percent 18 percent South America 27 percent 26 percent Asia 20 percent 15 percent Europe 13 percent 12 percent Uganda 57 percent (2000)

57UGANDA POST-PRIMARY EDUCATION SECTOR REPORT

4.6.2 Registration and licensing of private schools

There are statutory regulations for the licensing andregistration of private schools, which are set out insections 22 to 36 of the 1970 Education Act. The pro-cedures for licensing private schools and institutionsare set out in guidance notes provided by the In-spectorate (now the ESA). Registration proceduresare slow and arduous. The actual requirements in-clude land title; tenants’ agreement; bank statementand proof of financing; original proprietor’s bio-data; headmaster’s bio-data; site and building plan;copy of the terms of contract for teachers and signedcontracts; detailed district school inspector’s report,three references; and a health inspector’s report.

Registering a private school is a two-stage pro-cess—an initial one-year ’s license followed by apermanent registration. The proposed privateschool is subject to initial inspection by the districtinspectors of schools and the district health inspec-tors, with a second education inspection at the endof the license year. In cases of doubt, there may bean additional inspection by the central inspectorate.

The MOES is currently opting for a less rigorouslicensing and registration policy to encourage thedevelopment of private secondary education. How-ever, the relaxed regulations may result in a lack of

genuine quality and operational control. In an at-tempt to prevent new school openings in mid-year,the MOES’ Education Standard Agency will confinelicensing and registration activity for privateschools to the period June to December for newschool openings in January of the following year

The licensing and registering of “private” schoolsare now free of charge. There is no mechanism forthe receipt of fees by the MOES. However, the min-istry is planning to start collecting nominal feesthrough the ESA. In fact, it is expected that the feeswill finance the operational costs of ESA.

4.6.3 Private provision and coverage

Growth in the provision of private education inUganda seems to be driven by the unmet societaldemand for PPET places. Private secondary schoolsin Uganda can be further categorized into twotypes: a small proportion of elite private schools,which offer high quality education and cater to chil-dren from wealthy families, and a majority of lowquality private schools located in rural areas, whichcater to the needs of poor and disadvantaged stu-dents who cannot afford the more expensive gov-ernment schools.

District % private

District % private

District % private

District % private

District % private

Kalangala 0.0 Kabarole 8.9 Luwero 17.6 Mukono 27.1 Masindi 36.5 Kotido 0.0 Kabale 10.0 Adjumani 18.0 Mbara 27.1 Bundibugyo 39.3 Moroto 0.0 Rukungiri 10.1 Soroti 18.6 Sembabule 29.8 Busia 40.2 Moyo 0.0 Bugir 11.4 Kasese 18.6 Kibaale 30.2 Hoima 40.4 Apac 0.7 Arua 11.9 Mbale 19.8 Kitgum 30.4 Mpigi 42.2 Kumi 2.5 Nakasongo 12.5 Gulu 21.3 Kamuli 31.2 Nebbi 3.8 Pallisa 12.7 Bushenyi 22.4 Tororo 31.3 Kapchorwa 3.9 Rakai 13.6 Mubende 22.8 Kampala 33.2 National 23.4 Lira 8.4 Masaka 15.3 Iganga 24.4 Ntungamo 34.2 Kisoro 8.9 Katakwi 17.1 Jinja 24.7 Kiboga 34.6

Source: Educational Statistical Abstract 2000, Ministry of Education and Sports, Uganda.

Table 41Percent enrollment in private secondary schools by district, 2000

58 UGANDA POST-PRIMARY EDUCATION

Using the district as the unit of analysis, there is apositive correlation between the percentages of stu-dents enrolled in private schools and net and grossenrollment ratios (Table 42). Although the relation-ship is statistically significant for female, but notmale, enrollment, the correlation must be treatedwith some caution, since the “direction of causa-tion” is unclear. Does increased private provision,in and of itself, increase access (especially for girls),or do private providers “respond” to unmet demandin certain districts? This area warrants further ex-ploration. Clearly, a higher percentage of age-eli-gible girls are likely to be in secondary school indistricts where more places are provided by privateinstitutions.

The government’s policy explicitly includes “re-laxing current controls, restraints, and quality as-surance checks on private education inorder to encourage the rapid growth ofprivate secondary schools.” In fact, theESIP targets of reaching the gross second-ary enrollment of 58 percent by 2010 as-sume that the private sector will provide68 percent of the enrollment. We men-tioned earlier that this target seems unre-alistic. Even if the 68 percent of privateenrollment were achieved, there would be

a negative implication on the systemequity. The private sector seems to becatering mainly to the poor and disad-vantaged students who cannot afford themore expensive government schools;hence they will not receive governmentsubsidies if government subsidy is notextended to the private schools. Yet,given the current resource constraints,government is in no position to providefinancial assistance to private schools ona large scale in the short or even mediumterm. At this stage, the reform of financ-ing public school is a higher priority.

4.6.4 Private provision and unit costs

A general argument in favor of private provision isthat entrepreneurs will have both the incentive andopportunity to identify and use more cost-effectivecombinations of inputs to increase efficiency. Analy-sis of the Unit Cost Study suggests that private PPETproviders have a lower unit cost than their govern-ment counterparts and that they are using a funda-mentally different production function in whichcapital is substituted for labor.

Annual salary costs per pupil (reported by theschools) are reported to be less than 40 percent ofthose in public schools. This implies either higherpupil:teacher ratios, lower average remuneration,or a combination of the two (Table 43). Interestingly,private schools appear to spend less than half perpupil on supplies. This may be an artifact of the con-

Table 42Correlation of private provision and NER

Source: Educational Statistical Abstract 2000, Ministry.

Correlations N = 46 Pct. Private enrollment

NER male Pearson Correlation Sig. (2-tailed)

0.276 0.064

NER female Pearson Correlation Sig. (2-tailed)*

0.347 0.018

NER total Pearson Correlation Sig. (2-tailed)*

0.331 0.025

GER male Pearson Correlation Sig. (2-tailed)

0.252 0.091

GER female Pearson Correlation Sig. (2-tailed)*

0.346 0.019

* Significant at the .05 level.

Table 43Unit costs per pupil in public and private PPET

Source: Analysis of IDC and F. Mungereza & Co., 2001, Table 4, rows 13&14.

Cost category Public Private Priv. as % pub. 1. Teacher salary costs pppa 199,705.3 76,192.9 38.2 2. Personnel administration 57,852.6 31,541.1 54.5 Teacher salaries & admin. 257,557.9 107,734.0 41.8 3. Supplies 418,832.0 186,976.5 44.6 Recurrent salaries & supplies (1, 2+3)

676,389.9 294,710.5 43.6

4. Assets acquired year 2000 49,517.4 110,989.5 224.1%

59UGANDA POST-PRIMARY EDUCATION SECTOR REPORT

struction of this variable. One major difference be-tween private and public schools appears to be ex-penditure on assets. Private schools reportedlyspent more than twice as much per pupil on assetsaccumulation during the survey year than their pub-lic counterparts. This suggests a production func-tion in which capital is being substituted for labor.

Figure 19 depicts the differences in the implicitproduction function. Public expenditure (upperpanel) provides a substantially smaller share of itstotal of new assets.

Overall, the total annual costs (salary, supplies,and asset accrual during the current year) result in asubstantially lower total unit cost in the privateschools (Table 43). If this sample is representativeof the national situation, the study suggests thatprivate providers are able to provide PPET servicesat about half the cost (56 percent) of public institu-tions. In large part, this seems to be due to a substi-tution of capital for labor.

However, the lower unit cost in private schoolsdoes not mean higher efficiency. As discussed insection 4.2.6, despite a few private religious schoolswhose average performance in mathematics andEnglish tests is comparable to government schools,most private schools were established by individu-als and communities and offer low quality educa-tion. Students in private/community schools gener-ally do worse than those in public schools or in pri-vate/religious schools in basic competency tests ofEnglish and mathematics. Almost 60 percent of pri-vate/community students in Form 1 failed the mathtest compared to 35 percent in government schoolsand 36 percent in private religious schools; 77 per-cent of Form 3 private/community students failedmath compared to 43 percent in government schoolsand 45 percent in religious private schools. The dif-ference is less drastic in Englishperformance: 38 percent of pri-vate/community Form 1 studentsfailed English compared to 27percent in public schools and 18percent in religious private

schools; 32 percent of private/community Form 3students failed English compared to 29 percent ingovernment schools and 17 percent in religious pri-vate schools. These figures confirm the earlier find-ing that, in Uganda, private schools (most of whichare private community schools offering low qualityeducation) are more an alternative for the poor.

Figure 19Distribution of expenditure—public and private

Private

Salaries27%

Supplies46%

New Assets27%

Public

Salaries35%

Supplies58%

New Assets7%

Table 44Math and English failure rates in government and private schools

Form 1 Math Form 3 Math Form 1 English Form 3 English Government 35 percent 43 percent 27 percent 29 percent Private–religious 36 percent 45 percent 18 percent 17 percent Private–community 59 percent 77 percent 38 percent 32 percent

60 UGANDA POST-PRIMARY EDUCATION

4.7. Cost effectiveness of various PPETinstitutions

4.7.1 Variation of school expenditure per pupil bytype of school

The Unit Cost Study revealed a great variation inschool expenditure per pupil. Table 45 lists the ex-penditure information by category and by schooltype. Notice that the national average school-levelexpenditure per pupil is about Ush.490,236, whichis similar to the direct unit cost (Ush.478,000) esti-mate derived from adding the public expenditureper pupil (Ush.236,994) and the private direct cost(Ush.241,000).

As indicated in Table 45, A-level and technicalschools are twice as expensive as O-level schools interms of recurrent expenditures. School expendi-tures per pupil on administrative staff are similaracross these three types of schools. The disparity ismainly driven by expenditures per pupil on schoolsupplies. A-level and technical schools spend almosttwice as much on school supplies as do O-levelschools. The school supplies include everything ex-cept wages and capital costs, including dormitorycosts. The high dormitory costs seem to have driven

up the school supplies expenditures (dormitorycosts included in the school supply).

A-level schools also spend about Ush.70,000 perpupil more on teachers compared to either O-levelor technical schools. This is consistent with find-ings from the Teacher Utilization Study that teach-ers teach fewer periods at the A-level than do thoseat the O-level (implying a lower pupil:teacher ra-tio), and that there is a higher proportion of gradu-ate teachers at the A-level schools who are betterpaid than others.

As expected, school expenditure per pupil alsovaries greatly among day, boarding, and mixedschools. Total recurrent expenditure at boardingschools (Ush.845,744) is 2.4 times higher than an

average day school (Ush.358,463). The expenditurefor an average mixed school (Ush.475,815) lies be-tween the pure day and boarding schools. Again,the disparity is driven by both school supply (board-ing costs) and teachers. Boarding schools spend 2.8times more per student on school supplies (a majorcategory being boarding costs) as compared to dayschools. In addition, boarding schools spend morethan twice per student on teachers than a day schoolbecause of the lower pupil:teacher ratio and higherproportion of graduate teachers in boarding schools.

Table 45Breakdown of use-attributable cost per pupil

Type of school Personnel adminis-tration on cost per pupil

School expenditure cost per pupil on supplies B1

Teacher salary costs per student

Total school recurrent expenditure per student

O-level 61,482.70 144,444.10 123,045.30 328,972.10 A-level 40,721.60 414,781.50 193,124.00 648,627.10 Technical/farm school 56,822,60 442,167.20 124,678.90 623,668.70 Rural 60,887.60 322,570.00 166,920.80 550,378.40 Urban 43,304.80 380,812.20 159,398.90 583,515.90 Peri-urban 40,339.50 328,054.40 153,989.70 522,383.60 Day 49,356.20 196,320.10 112,787.00 358,463.30 Boarding 53,623.90 561,044.40 231,076.10 845,744.40 Both day & boarding 46,316.50 287,956,50 141,542.80 475,815.80 Boys 63,300.70 594,408,60 177,755.40 835,464.70 Girls 56,554.20 534,171.60 263,457.60 854,183.40 Mixed 45,895.50 261,870.10 134,506.00 442,271.60 Public 57,852.60 418,832.00 199,705.30 676,389.90 Private 31,541.10 186,976.50 76,192.90 294,710.50 National average 42,136.00 299,456.00 135,278.00 490,236.00

61UGANDA POST-PRIMARY EDUCATION SECTOR REPORT

It is also interesting to note that “boys’” schoolsand “girls’” schools have an average school expen-diture per pupil of more than Ush.800,000, which issimilar to that of the boarding schools and twice asmuch as the expenditure in a mixed school. We knowthat most of the single-sex schools are boardingschools, whereas the mixed schools tend to be dayschools. This also illustrates the high costs of board-ing schools because of boarding facilities andteacher costs.

The School Quality Study found that students(Form 1 and Form 3) in boarding schools do signifi-cantly better than those in day and mixed schools—and the difference is striking. For example, 17.6 per-cent of Form 1 boarding students failed the math-

ematics test compared to 43 percent in day schoolsand 57.5 percent in mixed schools. In fact, second-ary students in day and mixed schools seem to havevery low achievement in mathematics and English.About one-half of the students fail mathematics testand more than one-third fail English tests. Note thatthese tests are not meant for selection or certifica-tion and that they are developed to assess the basiccompetencies. The high failure rates in these testshighlight the grave challenges facing the Ugandapost-primary education system.

Government provides for teacher salaries and capi-tation grants, but the families bear almost all theboarding costs through boarding and other fees.Hence, most children in boarding elite secondaryschools are from wealthier families than those atday schools. And the concentration of better-quali-

fied “graduate” teachers in boarding schools is amajor source of inequity in the system.

4.7.2 Variation of school expenditure per pupil byschool size

Enrollments are too low at many secondary schoolsin Uganda to allow economies of scale to be reaped.Government-aided schools in urban areas have, onaverage, twice as many students and teachers thando rural schools. The average enrollment for pri-vate and community schools was 200 in 2000 com-pared to 465 in government schools. Full boardingschools tend to have much larger enrollments thanday and partially boarding schools.

The Unit Cost Study foundthat the optimal school size isbetween 500 and 750 students,taking into account per studentexpenditure and manageability.

Seventy percent of private ru-ral schools have less than 250students. The corresponding fig-ures for private peri-urban andurban schools are 53 percent and44 percent, respectively. Whilegovernment-aided schools tendto be much larger in urban areas,

only one-fifth have more than 1,000 students. SixthForms, which are relatively resource-intensive, arealso relatively small. This is especially true for dayand partly boarding schools in rural and peri-urbanareas. In the late 1990s, each TSS and TVI had anaverage of 250 students; so, there is considerableroom for increasing the size of secondary schoolswith small enrollments.

However, increasing secondary school size re-quires some caution, and special consideration mustbe given to sparsely populated areas. This is impor-tant if the Uganda Government decides to providethe O-level education or at least 2 –3 years of O-level education free as part of the basic educationmovement, in which case basic education becomesa right in itself.

Table 46Failure rates by school type

Form 1 Mathematics

Form 3 Mathematics

Form 1 English

Form 3 English

Day 43.3 percent 70 percent 37 percent 37.7 percent Boarding 17.6 percent 24 percent 18.3 percent 10.6 percent Mixed 57.5 percent 64 percent 39.8 percent 35.5 percent Girls 26 percent 28 percent 10.2 percent 1.4 percent Boys 4.5 percent 9 percent 16.7 percent 14.5 percent Mixed 47 percent 61 percent 36 percent 26.1 percent

62 UGANDA POST-PRIMARY EDUCATION

1 In fact, there has been an interesting discussion on whetherthe net enrollment ratio is a useful statistic for secondaryeducation, since in developing countries, because of enroll-ment and repetition in primary schools, children rarely en-ter secondary education within the “target secondary agerange.”

2 The category of “indifference” could mean many things,including cost, disappointment at the quality of education,unwillingness to respond, did not pass the PSLE, and soforth. Future surveys should try to provide less vague rea-sons.

3 Appleton (2001) reported that the rates of return to educa-tion in Uganda are 17 percent for primary, 11 percent forsecondary, and 23 percent for university. The 11 percent re-turn to secondary education reported in Appleton’s paperis lower than the 24 percent reported above. This may bedue to two factors. First, the analysis above does not takeinto account the direct monetary costs to education. Sec-ond, the Appleton paper did not separate lower secondaryfrom upper secondary education. Further, Appleton ob-served an increase in the rate of return to secondary educa-tion in the 1990s.

4 Nearly 400 out of the 1,850 schools in the 2001 EMIS databasedid not submit all the required income and expendituredata.

5 Two out of the three private schools visited did not offerphysics and chemistry in S3 and S4.

6 One of the rural secondary schools the evaluation team vis-ited had a 45 period timetable.

7 During the 1970s, most secondary schools had no more than7 to 8 periods per day, although periods tended to be 45minutes long.

8 Terms such as unit cost or expenditure are often used inter-changeably. In this report, public expenditure per pupil isthe total government expenditure divided by number ofstudents in government schools. Private cost/expenditurerefers to direct cost borne by the household for every childenrolled in PPET. Private indirect cost refers to the opportu-nity cost of PPET. Unit cost is the total direct cost to society,including both the public expenditure per pupil and pri-vate direct cost. Finally, school expenditure per pupil is de-rived from total school-level expenditure divided by enroll-ment of that school. School expenditure usually lies be-tween public expenditure per pupil and unit cost. Data col-lected from the Unit Cost Study are school expendituredata.

9 The results from the Unit Cost Study should be treatedwith more caution. In particular, the ratio of expenditurefor remuneration, relative to supplies, does not seem intu-itively correct. The MOES may wish to review this issue.

10 It is estimated that about one-quarter of private schools arenot licensed or registered, so the extent of private provisionmay be substantially higher than suggested by the schoolcensus data. In addition, up to 70 percent of the private sec-ondary schools in Kampala were not included in the data(Ministry of Education and Sport, 2000).

63

5PPET Enrollment and Transition Rates Projections

PPET enrollment projection

ased on current primary enrollment, repeti-tion, and dropout rates, Figure 20 shows howmany pupils are likely to reach P7 and how

many will pass the PLE assuming the pass rates re-main at present levels. These PLE graduates consti-tute the cohort seeking access to S1. Their numberspeak in 2005 (650,000) and 2009 (825,000), then de-cline as the effects of UPE work their way through.

In 2002, about 102,000 PLE holders were selectedfor entry to S1 in government schools and another131,000 in private schools (reaching an overall tran-sition rate of about 50 percent).

This report contends that places in governmentschools will grow at a rate determined by the sizeof the public budget and the public unit costs ofprovision. An initial rate of growth in both privateand public secondary places of 7.5 percent is used,falling to 5 percent after five years. Higher rates ofgrowth are unlikely to be sustained as costs are highrelative to household incomes, and there are alreadysigns that growth is slowing. It seems probable thatsecondary school fee rates in both government andprivate schools are approaching the limit ofaffordability for the marginal households.

BIn this context, secondary school enrollments are

likely to grow along the lines shown in Figure 21.This indicates that government schools could seetheir enrollments increase from about 375,000 to over600,000 and private schools might grow from per-haps 420,000 to over 900,000 over the projectionperiod. Total secondary enrollment will reach about1.5 million. Technical/farm schools and technical in-stitutes would enroll less than 20,000 by 2012. Eventhis is optimistic given the current pattern of pref-erence for such schools. Three thousand four hun-dred candidates applied for technical/farm schoolsin 2002 and less than 2000 were accepted based onthe lowest grade of PLE pass. This is less than 1 per-cent of P7 enrollment. Enrollment patterns in sec-ondary schooling are assumed to remain static interms of repetition and drop out.

On this basis, the transition rates from P7 to S1will initially decline as the growth of S1 enrollmentdeclines relative to the growth of P7 graduates.However, the transition rate will then recover toabout 50 percent over a ten-year projection period.This is shown in Figure 22.

64 PPET ENROLLMENT AND TRANSITION RATES PROJECTIONS

0

200000

400000

600000

800000

1000000

1200000

2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012

Enrollment P7 PLE Passes

Figure 20Primary enrollment in P7 and PLE passes

Figure 21Total enrollment government and private

0

100000

200000

300000

400000

500000

600000

700000

800000

900000

1000000

2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012

Govt Private Enroll TI and TS

65UGANDA POST PRIMARY EDUCATION SECTOR REPORT

Figure 22Nominal transition rates P7–S1

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012

GovtPrivateOverall

66

6Conclusions

he reform measures being introduced in theprimary sub-sector and their resulting achieve-ment have unfortunately not yet been ex-

tended to secondary education. The PPET sub-sec-tor remains a low priority—this is evident from therelatively low budget allocation—and the Ugandapost-primary education system faces significantchallenges, including: •LOW COVERAGE AND EXTREME INEQUITY. Coverage at

the secondary level is very low: GER for S1–S4(the main focus of PPET) is 35 percent, and overallGER for S1–S6 is only 19 percent. This means thatat least two-thirds of the age group populationhave no access to PPET, and about 80 percent ofthe overall population has no access to secondaryeducation. In addition, inequity in the Ugandansecondary system is much more widespread thanat the primary level, with the richest 20 percent ofthe households occupying 63 percent of total sec-ondary spaces.

• GENDER DISPARITY. Female enrollment ratios fallbelow those for males, especially after age seven-teen. Only 41 percent of secondary enrollment isfemale. Gender disparity is worst in the NorthernRegion perhaps because of social norms. Girls dosignificantly worse in mathematics than do boysnationwide, but their performance in English issimilar. Since the Ugandan Government has com-mitted itself to the Millennium DevelopmentGoals, the gender disparity must be addressed.

• LOW INTERNAL EFFICIENCY. The PPET system overallhas low repetition but significant dropout rates—

T and dropouts rates are higher in rural and non-government schools. In addition, bottlenecks oc-cur at the transition from primary to secondary(between 40–50 percent including both public andprivate) and from Ordinary level to A-level (26percent). However, given the projected increasein the primary graduates, the transition rate willfall if no action is taken to expand and improvethe PPET system.

• POOR STUDENT ACHIEVEMENT, ESPECIALLY IN MATH,ENGLISH, AND SCIENCES. A recent School QualityStudy found that, nationwide, 40 percent of Form1 students and half of Form 3 students failed mathtests. Results of the English tests are only slightlybetter: one-quarter of students fail English tests.These tests were specifically designed to test thebasic concepts and skills in math and English andare tests of minimum requirements. Such high fail-ure rates indicate that a substantial proportion ofsecondary students are leaving without the skillsand competencies they will need.

The report identified reasons for the poor perfor-mance. These include: the low priority accorded thePPET sector, the quality and quantity of primarygraduates, and—significantly—the inefficient useof public resources and the highly inequitable fi-nancing mechanism.

The low pupil:teacher ratio at the PPET institu-tions and the overloaded curriculum, which requiresmany specialized teachers, are responsible for thehigh cost of PPET. Public financing also tends to sub-

67UGANDA POST-PRIMARY EDUCATION SECTOR REPORT

Box 5Expanding secondary education:The Zimbabwe experience

Several factors enabled Zimbabwe to expandits secondary schooling quickly after indepen-dence. The main one was a high level of com-mitment to public resources. As much as 8 per-cent of GNP and 17 percent of public expendi-ture were allocated to the education budget.

The second reason is that the public costs perstudent at secondary average about twice thoseat primary, which is low by Sub-Saharan Afri-can standards. Part of the basis for the relativelylow costs is the extent to which the public fi-nancing of secondary schools is supported byfees and other contributions. Automatic pro-motion at primary has reduced repetition ratesto low levels, and double shifting has contrib-uted to increased capacity and savings in capi-tal costs (Lewin and Calloids 2001, p. 344).

sidize children from wealthier families dispropor-tionately more. Hence, it is almost impossible forthe system to expand within a reasonable budget-ary allocation. If performance in terms of coverage,equity, and quality is to improve, the unit cost ofPPET will have to drop.

With the UPE wave coming through the system—and with the growing economy requiring skilledlabor educated at the secondary level—the Govern-ment of Uganda cannot afford to ignore these chal-lenges. And the HIV/AIDS epidemic has made it evenmore difficult for the government to address thesechallenges within a reasonable budget. This reportargues that the only way to meet these challengeswithin a sustainable budget is by increasing systemefficiency and improving the equity of public financ-ing. Without reducing the relative unit cost of sec-ondary education, it will be difficult to improve sys-tem coverage, equity, efficiency, and quality.

Box 5 describes the Zimbabwe experience in ex-panding secondary education. Unfortunately, thegovernment’s proposal for expanding PPET—through community polytechnics and through com-prehensive and vocational schools to vocationalizesecondary education—is a move in the opposite di-rection. Not only will the CP mean higher unit coststhan a regular day O-level school, but the conceptsof CP and vocationalization of secondary schoolswill also adversely affect the equity and quality ofthe system. In addition, the CP and vocationaliza-tion will not improve gender equity; a much higherproportion of students in technical schools are boys.And it is unfair to require that the poorest section ofthe population pay for this education entirely outof their own pockets, without the benefit of gov-ernment subsidy.

Evidence also shows that technical and vocationalstudents are not mastering the basic competenciesmost valued by formal sector employers (over two-thirds of technical students fail the math and En-glish tests), and a heavier dose of vocational sub-jects will further reduce teaching and learning incore subjects. And, there appears to be no demand forsuch education from both parents and employers.

The ministry must, through a consultative pro-cess, develop a policy framework and strategies forthe PPET sector, with clear, realistic goals. Targetsand indicators for the next ten years in coverage,quality, and efficiency will also be needed. Finally,the strategic plan should articulate the means forreaching those goals.

These proposed broad options should be evalu-ated with respect to anticipated cost and incorpo-rated into the strategic plan. To the extent possible,the PPET sub-sector should emulate the primarysector and use a medium-term budget frameworkto prioritize activities, and adopt the semi-annualEducation Sector Review as a monitoring tool.

At the same time, there has to be quick decisionson key issues, such as community polytechnics andincreasing efficiency in the current system. The gov-ernment is already committing itself to plans it can-not afford: The current budget plan includes thecommunity polytechnics, and there has been pres-sure to hire additional secondary teachers. It is ur-gent that these key issues be resolved.

68

7Policy Options

he report offers ten broad policy recommen-dations for the ministry to consider for incor-porating into a strategic plan. These suggested

options are not prescriptive, but rather a menu ofchoices based on the challenges discussed in thisreport.

Policy options are clustered into three areas: (a)short-term focus on increasing the efficient use ofcurrent resources as a way to expand and improvequality; (b) medium-term focus on a more equitabledistribution of public financing, and on reducing thecost burden, especially on poor and other disadvan-taged households as a strategy to improve equity,coverage, and quality; and (c) long-term focus onstructural and curriculum reforms for improvingquality and relevance. The options are presented ina policy matrix at the end of this chapter.

These options are part of the emphasis on improv-ing the quality of education, reducing the age offirst enrollment, and achieving greater internal effi-ciency at the primary level. Policy-makers often ig-nore such critical linkage between primary and sec-ondary. But quality improvement measures at pri-mary level are central to improving coverage, eq-uity, and quality in secondary education.

These options must also be seen as part of theeffort to improve school-level management. Muchof the innovation in teaching and learning, and in

T maneuvering resources, happens at the school level.The Study of the Provision of Instructional Materi-als discovered that many headmasters are schedul-ing classes in such a way so that every student hasaccess to a textbook during the class. Such energy atthe school level should be harnessed—but the ca-pacity of school-level management needs to bestrengthened through capacity building and othermotivational incentives.

It is also important to remember that large differ-ences exist between regions, districts, and evenwithin districts. The policy options will have to betailored to the local context.

A. Short-term focus on increasing efficiency of thecurrent system: Expanding and improving qualitywithin the next five years

The short-term measures can improve secondarycoverage without significant changes in the re-source allocation pattern. However, although theproposed measures may result in efficiency gains ifimplemented successfully, they may require extrafunding during the transition period. This is wherethe EFAG may offer assistance, based on sound andagreed upon policy decisions.

69UGANDA POST-PRIMARY EDUCATION SECTOR REPORT

1. Require all secondary teachers to teach at leasttwo subjects

About 45 percent of secondary teachers teach onlyone subject area, even though all teachers have beentrained to teach two subjects. Without increasingthe number of subjects teacher teach, it will be al-most impossible to increase the overall pupil:teacherratio without altering the curriculum. Yet, revisingthe curriculum—although ultimately desirable—ismore a medium- to long-term undertaking. Sinceteachers have already been trained to teach twosubjects, the implementation of such a policy maybe relatively easy.

2. Increase pupil:teacher ratio

This is a core strategy for improving the efficiencyof the system. Increasing the overall pupil:teacherratio from the current level of 17 to 30 will, for ex-ample, increase the enrollment by more than 150percent without incurring additional costs. Increas-ing PTR does not mean drastic measures, such asfiring teachers; instead, it can be achieved by reduc-ing the hiring rate and restricting the hiring to teach-ers of subjects in demand, such as math, English,and sciences. However, the burden the increaseshould not fall on the more crowded schools. Andthe process has to be linked to the rationalization ofcurriculum, teacher workloads, and deployment.

3. Distinguish the secondary (O-level) versuspost-secondary (post O-level) institutions, bothconceptually and administratively

Create an integrated secondary school system to includegeneral O-level and secondary technical and farmschools under a single system of administration,governance, finance, and curriculum focus

Technical and vocational education at the O-level isexpensive, ineffective in transmitting basic compe-tencies—as compared to general secondary—andis generally not a preferred option for families. Thegovernment should consider converting theseschools into regular O-level day secondary schools.

This also means that the government should notstart massive construction of community polytech-nics. At most, the community polytechnics shouldonly be piloted in selected districts with a cheaperversion of design that can be easily converted intoregular day O-level secondary schools.

Re-organize post-secondary BTVET institutions into asingle system of Further Education institutions ofviable size, and invest in improving quality andefficiency, either through larger multi-faculty colleges orlarger single field of study institutions

A strategic review is needed of post-school provi-sion to re-energize, rationalize, and increase valuefor money in this sector. There is room to (a) adoptmore demand-led approaches to enrollment plan-ning and institutional development, (b) provide in-centives and flexibility for colleges to increase par-ticipation using cost recovery, and (c) generate adynamic, post-school, occupationally and profes-sionally orientated education and training system.

B. Medium-term focus on more equitable distribu-tion of public financing to improve coverage,equity, and quality of PPET (within 5–10 years)

4. Broaden the concept and forms of the capitationgrant to schools

Capitation grants for non-wage expenses

The existing capitation grant must be revised so thatit can be used only for non-wage and non-boardingexpenditures. Currently, the capitation grant is usedto subsidize teacher salary or to hire additional pri-vate teachers. Variations of the formula can be in-troduced to address the inequity in public financ-ing. For example:• To improve equity, the capitation grant can be for-

mulated so that schools serving predominantlypoor students receive a higher allocation on a percapita basis.

70 POLICY OPTIONS

• More radically, the government may stop payingcapitation grants to elite boarding schools serv-ing predominantly wealthy families (one impor-tant indication is the high level of fees charged).

• Or, the government could provide capitationgrants to the elite boarding schools, but only basedon the enrollment of poor and day students inthose schools.

• The government could consider supporting theprivate sector by approving the same grant forprivate schools. There is no reason why such agrant should not be provided to private and com-munity schools. Of course, given current resourceconstraints, the government will not be able toprovide support immediately. Reforming publicfinancing to public schools is still the priority.

Formula-based teacher salary grant

Much of the variation in per student expenditurecomes from the proportion of graduate teachers inthe school. This variation is also a major source ofinequity of public financing, since rich students usu-ally go to schools better endowed with graduateteachers. To correct this, the ministry may want toprovide a formula-based capitation grant that isearmarked for teacher salary only. The schools willthen decide how to use this grant, determining thenumber of teachers, proportion of graduate teach-ers to be hired, and salary level for teachers. TheMinistry of Education will determine the value ofthe grant to cover a certain number of teachers.

This option is not as drastic as it sounds—second-ary schools already have a large degree of freedomin hiring teachers and reallocating resources. Andsuch a grant can eventually be extended to privateand community schools. However, there may beresistance from teachers’ unions because the strat-egy implies a change in contractual terms. Also, at-tention needs to be paid that teachers are not ex-ploited by the system.

5. Increase the average secondary school size toreap economies of scale; gradually reduce thenumber of schools with enrollments of less than 250

There is a longstanding concern that, at many Ugan-dan secondary schools, enrollments are too low toallow economies of scale to be reaped. The Unit CostStudy found that the optimal school size is between500 and 750 students, taking into account per stu-dent expenditure and manageability. Seventy per-cent of private rural schools have less than 250 stu-dents. The corresponding figures for private peri-urban and urban private schools are 53 percent and44 percent, respectively. About 23 percent of thegovernment schools in rural areas have enrollmentssmaller than 250; the corresponding figures for gov-ernment peri-urban and urban schools are 6 percentand 7 percent. Sparsely populated areas, where sec-ondary schools have small catchment areas, needspecial attention. This is especially true if the Ugan-dan Government decides to provide the O-leveleducation or at least 2 –3 years of free O-level edu-cation as part of the basic education movement, inwhich case basic education becomes a right.

6. Expand the existing scholarship scheme tocover needy students, including AIDS-orphans

The PPET system faces challenges of efficiency, ac-cess, quality, and equity. And equity will not im-prove without explicit intervention from the gov-ernment.

Bursary schemes are an effective strategy. Theanalysis shows that bursaries should be targeted atthe poor and other disadvantaged students. But it isnot clear to what extent the current bursary schemeis benefiting students with real needs. Expandingthe bursary scheme should therefore be precededby careful study of the current scheme. Perhaps bur-saries can be targeted to schools that meet certainperformance criteria and that charge fees below acertain level (since the rich may not be opting forsuch cheap schools). Or, bursaries can be used forday students attending boarding schools. Specialprovision should be made for orphans, includingAIDS-orphans.

71UGANDA POST-PRIMARY EDUCATION SECTOR REPORT

C. Long-term focus on structure, curriculum, andteacher reform to improve the quality and rel-evance of PPET education

7. Structure and curriculum reform

In the long term, Uganda must examine its struc-ture and curriculum focus for PPET—and it must bedone within the context of cultural, social, and eco-nomic development as well as regional and interna-tional integration. It needs to ask what core compe-tencies and skills are expected of a secondary gradu-ate, and then determine the structure of the educa-tion system, teaching method, and curriculum todeliver such outputs. The country also has to decidewhether it will adopt a basic education cycle thatcovers primary and selected years of lower second-ary education, with a curriculum focus on literacy,numeracy, and problem solving skills; and an en-riched curriculum for higher secondary education,with more focus on science and technology.

8. Reform teacher education and teacher incentive

Both pre-service and in-service of teachers need tobe reviewed. Very little is known about what hap-pens at the teacher training colleges; however, evi-dence suggests that teacher education would ben-efit from improved efficiency and relevance at thecolleges. Teaching and learning at the colleges tendto be mostly content driven, with little attention todeveloping professional skills and attitudes. Reducesalary differentials between graduates and non-gradu-ates doing the same jobs, and link bonuses toworkloads to improve productivity and performance.

9. Reform the secondary examination and assess-ment system

Secondary teaching and learning in Uganda areheavily influenced by two graduation examina-tions: the Uganda Certificate of Education after pri-mary, and the Uganda Advanced Certificate of Edu-cation at the end of O-level. Both examinations are

mainly designed to select students onto the nextlevel, and, inevitably, teachers and students willteach and learn to the examinations if spaces in PPETare limited. With the gradual expansion in cover-age, it may be possible to introduce other forms ofassessment, such as continuous assessment or na-tional assessment of student aptitudes. This willprovide more insights into the teaching and learn-ing process, and help inform the curriculum review.

10. Increase the resource allocation for PPET

Intra-sectoral shifts

At present, 65 percent of the education budget isearmarked for primary education. In fact, the gov-ernment is committed to guaranteeing 65 percentof its education budget to primary education in thenext few years. It is conceivable that, after a fewyears when the primary situation is more stabilizedand most of the overage students will have beenabsorbed into the system, primary budget may notneed to consume 65 percent. And, though reformsin the higher education may result in higher publicfinance in the short term, if implemented well, theymay result in autonomous higher education institu-tions, which will not require a large share of theministry’s budget in the long term. This is going tobe a national decision.

Inter-sectoral shifts

If PPET were to become a high priority area, it ispossible that funds from other sectors might be com-mitted to the education sector. This is clearly a deci-sion that must be made at the national level, withconsultation and concurrence by the Ministry of Fi-nance and Cabinet. By national standards, the shareof the budget currently going to education inUganda is already extremely high.

72 POLICY OPTIONS

The projected cost of adopting short-termefficiency measures

What is the resource implication of adopting theproposed short-term efficiency measures? The threeshort-term policy options center on increasing thepupil:teacher ratio via creating core subject clustersand having teachers teach at least two subjects. Thecost projections assume that the initial costs of cur-riculum adaptation are minimum or can be shoul-dered by the EFAG, and that the ministry is onlyconcerned with the development costs (for pilotingcommunity polytechnics and building regular daysecondary schools) and the recurrent costs of wagesand capitation grants.

Two scenarios have been costed. Both scenarioscenter on increasing system efficiency via increas-ing the pupil:teacher ratio, though at a different rate.The baseline model includes a modest agenda of

reform that anticipates a gentle rise in thepupil:teacher ratio. It would allow about 200 newschools to be built by 2006 and 470 by 2011. Thelatter will ensure that all sub-counties have a sec-ondary school by 2011. It would also allow the sec-ondary GER to climb towards 50 percent, the levelat which gender parity is likely to become real. Fi-nally, it only requires about 20–22 percent of theoverall MOE budget to be devoted to secondaryand BTVET. The report regards the baseline modelto be more politically feasible than the radical model,which will require a much faster increase of PTR.Therefore, the report recommends that the baselinemodel be adopted for implementation. A process offurther national and regional consultation on theseoptions has been agreed upon during the April 2002Education Sector Review. And the final action planwill be presented to the October 2002 Review andincorporated into the medium-term budget frame-work. Annex 3 details the cost projections.

73UGANDA POST-PRIMARY EDUCATION SECTOR REPORT

Policy matrixBroad policy options for improving post-primary education

Short-term (next 2 years)

Medium-term (next 3–5 years)

Long-term (next 5–10 years)

Efficiency Focus on curriculum and teacher rationalization

Create core subject clusters and reduce the # of practical subjects being taught so that total number of courses taught can be reduced

Maintain the average national PTR taking into consideration reasonable deviations due to certain geographic and demographic conditions

Increase the pupil:teacher ratio gradually from 20 to 30–33

Continue to increase PTR so that it reaches a sustainable national average desired by the country

Create an integrated secondary school system: convert the existing secondary-level technical schools to regular O-level day secondary Re-organize and re-energize the post secondary BTVET*

Maintain a sustainable average school size, recognizing the special needs of certain remote areas

Increase the average secondary school size to reap economies of scale where feasible

Coverage and equity Focus on financing reform and targeted assistance to needy students

Revise the current capitation grant scheme so that only the non-wage expenses are covered; further introduce variations of the formula to address the inequity in public financing:

- A higher capitation grant to schools serving predominantly poor or other disadvantaged children

- Stop capitation grant to elite boarding schools, or only pay capitation grant based on the number of poor students enrolled in those schools

- Entertain the idea of providing such a grant to private schools

Continue revise and implement the capitation grants to maximize equity and quality

Pilot formula-based salary grant so that schools can decide the number and qualifications of teachers to be hired

Implement formula-based salary grant

Expand and revise the existing bursary scheme so that more poor and other disadvantaged children can benefit from the bursaries

Institutionalize the bursary scheme

Quality and relevance Focus on structure, curriculum, teaching reform

Review the structure and curriculum focus according to international benchmarks; establish a basic education cycle which will be provided for free with a core curriculum

Reform teacher education and teacher incentive structure

Increase the share of budget allocated to secondary (subject to national debate)

74

Appleton, S. 2001. “Education, Incomes and Povertyin Uganda in 1990s.”

Bennell P. and Sayed Y. 2002. “Improving the Man-agement and Internal Efficiency of Post PrimaryEducation and Training in Uganda.”

Bennell, P., Hyde, K., and Swainson, N. 2002. “TheImpact of the HIV/AIDS Epidemic on the Educa-tion Sector in Sub-Saharan Africa: A Synthesis ofthe Findings and Recommendations of ThreeCountry Studies.”

Bontoux, V., Buchan, A., Foster, D., Ibale, A., and Read,T. 2002. “The Provision of Instructional Materialsto Secondary Institutions in Uganda.” Draft finalreport.

Buchan, A., Foster, D., Ibale, A., Read, T. (2001) “TheProvision of Instructional Materials to SecondaryInstitutions in Uganda.” Draft inception report.MOES.

Byaruhanga C., and Levine V. 2002. “Issues and Op-tions for the Expansion of PPET in Uganda.”

IMPACT Associates and Monarch Consulting TeacherUtilisation Studies. Vol 2. “Final Report on Second-ary Schools.”

Jansen, J. and Howie, S. 2002. “Secondary Educationin Africa (SEIA): A Literature Survey and Reviewof Best Practices.” Draft.

Keating, Jack. 2000. “Technical and Vocational Edu-cation in Uganda.”

. “Firm Demand for Post Primary Qualifica-tions.” Report to the Secondary Education Com-mission, Ministry of Education and Sports, andthe World Bank. Draft.

Latham, Michael. 2000. Uganda: A Review of the Cur-rent Role of the Private Provision Within the EducationSector. HDNED. The World Bank, Washington, D.C.

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Lewin, Keith. 2002. “Options for Post Primary Edu-cation and Training in Uganda Increasing Access,Equity and Efficiency within Sustainable Budgets:A Draft Framework for Policy.”

Lewin, K. and Caillods, F. 2001. Financing SecondaryEducation in Developing Countries: Strategies for Sus-tainable Growth. UNESCO Publishing: Interna-tional Institute for Education Planning.

Ministry of Education and Sports. 2001a. “Concep-tual Framework for the Proposed Curriculum forSecondary Education With Emphasis on Vocation-alization.” Fifth Education Sector Review, April 2001,Uganda.

. 2001b. “Revised Concept Paper on CommunityPolytechnics.” Fifth Education Sector Review, April2001, Uganda.

. 2001c. Medium-term Budget Framework, 2001.

.Education Statistical Abstracts, 1995–2000.Uganda.

Tulya-Muhika S. “Unit Cost Study of Post PrimaryInstitutions in Uganda.”

Uganda Examinations Board. “A Study of SchoolQuality in Secondary Schools and EquivalentGrades in Technical/Vocational Schools inUganda.”

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. 2001b.Edstats Database.

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. n.d. “Vocational Skills Development in Sub-Sa-haran Africa: Phase I Synthesis Summary of MainFindings and Recommendations.” Washington,D.C.

75

Annex 1Determinants of Secondary Enrollment UsingMultiple Regression Method

ivariate comparisons, as shown below, giveus some indication of how secondary cover-age varies by gender and by level of house-

hold expenditure. However, they are not able to iden-tify which are the most significant factors and there-fore cannot explain why coverage is low. Multivari-ate analysis is needed for this. We used multivariatelogistic regression to predict the probability of sec-ondary enrollment, including both currently en-rolled students and those who had graduated fromsecondary education, among a sub-sample of 13 to25 year-olds who had completed primary school.We included in our model the regional (Central, East-ern, and Western, with Northern being the baseline),wealth (having a mud wall, total expenditure), pa-rental education, and family structure variables (age,gender, number of children under eighteen, age ofthe youngest child). Our hypothesis was that thesevariables all affected the target child’s enrollmentin secondary school.

A series of logistic regression models were fit.Table 48 lists the coefficients and standard errors foreach of the predictors. Model 7 is our final regres-sion model. It shows that the variables that are sig-nificantly correlated with secondary enrollment in-clude total household expenditure, age of the child,whether or not the target child is the head or spouseof the household, the age of the youngest child inthe household, and the father’s education, control-ling for everything else.

There are no apparent regional differences in sec-ondary enrollment among the primary graduates,holding constant the control variables. This mayappear counterintuitive, since we know from theministry’s Education Statistical Abstracts that theCentral region usually has the highest age-specificsecondary enrollment, followed by the Eastern,Western, and Northern regions. However, it is notcontradictory since our sub-sample only includesprimary graduates. The North has the lowest sec-ondary enrollment, since it also has the lowest pro-portion of children graduating from primary school.Also, in the multivariate analysis, we are control-ling for all other variables. The Central and Easternadvantage in secondary enrollment can be mainlyattributed to the higher proportion of their popula-tion who are primary graduates and to the higheraverage level of expenditure (income).

We also discussed that girls have a lower age-spe-cific secondary enrollment after age seventeen. Theregression results show that, only controlling forhousehold economic factors but without control-ling for family structural characteristics, girls are stillless likely to enroll than boys. However, once wetake into account whether the target child is thehead or spouse of the household and the age of theyoungest child in the household, girls do not differfrom boys in enrollment probability. This meansthat girls are less likely to enroll in secondary schoolsafter age seventeen because they start to get mar-

B

76 DETERMINATES OF SECONDARY ENROLLMENT

Note: * P<=0.05 ** P<=0.01 *** P<=0.001

Table 47Regression results: Predicting the probability of secondary enrollment among 13-25year-olds completing primary school

Variables Model 1 B (s.e)

Model 2 B (s.e)

Model 3 B (s.e)

Model 4 B (s.e)

Model 5 B (s.e)

Model 6 B (s.e)

Model 7 B (s.e)

Central 0.45 (0.29)

0.42 (0.29)

0.42 (0.29)

0.19 (0.30)

0.41 (0.30)

0.45 (0.33)

0.38 (0.37)

Eastern -0.05 (0.32)

-0.03 (0.32)

0.02 (0.32)

-0.14 (0.32)

0.09 (0.33)

0.02 (0.35)

-0.07 (0.38)

Western 0.21 (0.31)

0.31 (0.31)

0.46 (0.31)

0.26 (0.32)

0.46 (0.32)

0.55 (0.35)

0.58 (0.38)

Rural

-0.76*** (0.15)

-0.65*** (0.16)

-0.47** (0.17)

-0.38* (0.18)

-0.28 (0.19)

-0.16 (0.21)

Mud wall

-0.40* (0.19)

-0.14 (0.20)

-0.18 (0.21)

-0.40 (0.23)

-0.13 (0.24)

Total expenditure (natural log)

0.34*** (0.06)

0.43*** (0.06)

0.33*** (0.07)

0.23** (0.08)

Age

0.17*** (0.02)

0.24*** (0.03)

0.23*** (0.03)

Gender

-0.17 (0.15)

0.03 (0.17)

0.04 (0.19)

Head or spouse

-3.46*** (0.73)

-3.05** (0.74)

# Children under 18

-0.03 (0.03)

0.00 (0.03)

Age of the youngest

0.03 (0.02)

0.04* (0.02)

Father’s eduration

0.06* (0.02)

Mother’s education

0.03 (0.03)

Constant -3.30***(0.27)

-2.92*** (0.28)

-2.90*** (0.28)

-7.75*** (0.87)

-12.36*** (1.12)

-12.32*** (1.19)

-11.56*** (1.30)

ried and become the spouse or head of a new house-hold or are taking care of the youngest child in thehousehold, whether or not the child is hers. There-fore, starting girls’ schooling earlier is likely to leadto higher attainment for girls, in addition to helpingmore girls into secondary school.

Not surprisingly, household expenditure is sig-nificantly and positively associated with second-ary enrollment. Children from better-off house-holds are more likely to be enrolled or to have ben-efited from secondary education compared to theirpoor counterparts. This is consistent with our find-ings from bivariate analysis. Being a head or spouse

of the household significantly lowers the probabil-ity of secondary attendance. Finally, father’s edu-cation is another significant and positive factor. Themore years of education the father has received, themore likely the target child is to enroll or to haveenrolled in secondary school.

In short, the multivariate analysis found that pov-erty is the single most important factor in deter-mining secondary enrollment (negatively), alongwith father’s education, whether the child is alreadyhaving his/her own family, and the age of the young-est child in the household.

77

Annex 2Analyzing Private Direct and OpportunityCosts of PPET

Private expenditures

ublic expenditures on PPET, although alreadysubstantial, are by no means the only cost toUgandan society. Households bear a signifi-

cant cost in direct costs and opportunity costs.

Direct cost

The major reason for not attending secondaryschool is poverty. While public finance is well docu-mented, much less is known about the costs to stu-dents and families. The 1999/2000 household sur-vey collected information on total household ex-penditures in education, including school fees (in-cluding contributions to the Parent Teacher Asso-ciation, boarding and lodging, uniforms, books andsupplies, and other expenses). The average house-hold expenditure on books and supplies amountedto Ush.2,494, on school uniform Ush15,699, onschool and PTA fees Ush.228,857, and boarding andlodging Ush.490,471.

Though expenditure data are reported at thehousehold level and cannot be directly attributedto individual household members, it is possible toinfer the costs associated with different householdmembers, based on changes in total household ex-penditure on education, since it relates to the num-ber of household members attending educationalinstitutions.

Expenditure by level of educational service. Estimatesof expenditure associated with having a householdmember in an educational institution were derivedby regressing total household expenditure on edu-cation on the set of variables for household mem-bers enrolled at each level. The regression coeffi-cient on the number of household members enrolledcan be interpreted as the additional expenditure asso-ciated with having one additional household memberenrolled in that level of education. To statisticallycontrol for the effects of differences in householdincome, total cash income (from enterprise and em-ployment) was also included as an argument in theregression equation.

Results of the analysis are shown in Table 50. Thefirst equation (Model 1) is based on the entire UNHSsample of 10,696 households and shows the esti-mated impact of one additional household memberin a specific education level on total household edu-cational expenditure (statistically controlling forfamily income). The equation explains over 50 per-cent (Adjusted R2) of the variance in spending withinthe sample. Only those variables that were statisti-cally significant at the 0.5 level are included in theequation. For this reason, apprenticeship was notincluded in this model.

The model suggests that having one additionalhousehold member enrolled in secondary school islinked to an increased annual expenditure (on edu-cation) of Ush.241,000.

P

78 PRIVATE DIRECT AND OPPORTUNITY COSTS OF PPET

Model 2 presents results from the same analysis,restricting the sample to the 6,724 households thatreport at least one member enrolled in educationand at least some educational expenditure. The re-sults using this sub-sample are virtually identical tothose using all UNHS households (Model 1).

Our best estimate of the private costs of having ahousehold member in secondary school is thereforein the range of Ush.238,000 to241,000 per year. Bear in mind thatthese figures only reflect house-hold expenditure. To the extentthat extended family members, orother sources, also contribute toeducational expenditure, theymay be biased downward.

The data also provide a basisfor estimating expenditure bycost category. Models 3 through7 show the analysis of informa-tion of expenditure on specificcost items. For example, Model 3uses expenditure on fees and PTAas the dependent variable, ratherthan total expenditure. Table 51summarizes the results of the fiveexpenditure regression analyses(Models 3 through 7).

The estimate total cost of sec-ondary derived from the indi-vidual cost item equations iscomparable to that derived fromtotal expenditure.

Unit cost (direct)

In summary, we have estimated that the averageannual direct cost of providing secondary educa-tion includes costs borne by the government atUsh.236,994 and by families at Ush.241,000, suggest-ing a total average annual direct unit cost of Ush.478,000 per student. It is important to note that, onaverage, families now meet over half of the directcost of secondary education.

This figure is similar to the results from Unit CostStudy,1 which analyzed the expenditure patterns of120 sampled PPET institutions nationwide. Thestudy concluded that nationwide average recurrentunit cost per secondary student is about Ush.490,236.The small difference may be because the Unit CostStudy aggregated all sources of incomes at theschool level, including government, households,and other donations.

Table 48Education Expenditure UNHS 1999/2000

Source: Analysis of UNHS.

Item description Frequency Mean value Books and supplies 6,333 12,494 School uniforms 4,821 15,699 School fees and PTA 3,855 228,857 Other education expenses 2,978 21,438 Boarding and lodging 332 490,471

Table 49Regression analysis of household education expenditure—UNHS

Dependent Variable -- > Sample N Adjusted R 2

Coefficient Sig. Coefficient Sig. Coefficient Sig. Coefficient Sig. (Constant) -34,987 0.0000 -44,285 0.0000 -29,696 0.0000 -15,310 0.0000 nursery 46,441 0.0000 36,673 0.0006 32,325 0.0006 primary 13,186 0.0000 12,980 0.0000 7,893 0.0007 post-primary 192,892 0.0000 202,019 0.0000 88,313 0.0046 91,660 0.0000 secondary 241,271 0.0000 238,042 0.0000 162,367 0.0000 51,168 0.0000 post-secondary 224,204 0.0000 234,666 0.0000 176,400 0.0000 48,928 0.0000 diploma 378,973 0.0000 400,333 0.0000 298,441 0.0000 76,894 0.0000 university 763,188 0.0000 746,015 0.0000 605,592 0.0000 107,865 0.0000 apprenticeship Total cash inc. (000) 438 0.0000 54 0.0000 385 0.0000 10 0.0000

Dependent Variable -- > Sample N Adjusted R 2

Coefficient Sig. Coefficient Sig. Coefficient Sig. (Constant) 714 0.0920 -144 0.8157 -131 0.8717 nursery 3,254 0.0000 1,664 0.0375 3,147 0.0026 primary 2,086 0.0000 1,373 0.0000 1,590 0.0000 post-primary 7,157 0.0001 10,790 0.0018 secondary 7,575 0.0000 10,091 0.0000 7,022 0.0000 post-secondary 2,276 0.0201 3,959 0.0058 diploma 2,818 0.0418 15,518 0.0000 7,137 0.0070 university 3,407 0.0225 16,106 0.0000 13,333 0.0000 apprenticeship 6,913 0.0320 Total cash inc. (000) 1 0.0000 3 0.0000 1 0.0000

BOARDING Model 4Model 1 Model 2 Model 3TOTAL ED

EXPENDITURE

UNIFORMS BOOKS & SUPPLIES

OTHER

0.527 0.552

Model 5 Model 6 Model 7

TOTAL ED EXPENDITURE

6,724

FEES & PTA

0.449 6,724 0.373

10,696 6,724

0.487 6,724 0.518

6,724 0.291

6,724

79UGANDA POST-PRIMARY EDUCATION SECTOR REPORT

Opportunity cost. In addition to direct costs, fami-lies (and, by extension, society), also incur “oppor-tunity costs.” The opportunity cost of a student’stime is the value of that time in the best alternativeactivity.

One approach to estimating opportunity cost isto look at the earnings of primary school graduates(without secondary education) for whom earnedemployment income data are available in theUNHS. However, given the structure of the Ugan-dan economy, few individuals are in formal employ-ment. Of the total sample of 57,385 household mem-bers, only 4,291 (fewer than 8 percent) have em-ployment income.

When we restrict the analysis to a sample of P7completers who are not in school, and have a re-ported earned income of at least 4,000 per month,there are only 407 respondents in the sample. Themean income for this sub-sample (including all in-come from main and secondary in cash and in kind)of employed P7 graduates is 689,000.

However, it is well documented that individualearnings increase over the working lifetime throughexperience and on-the-job training. When we com-pare mean earnings of P7 graduates by age groups,this anticipated relationship appears, as shown inTable 52.

Ideally, we would look at the earning income ofP7 completers in the age bracket 15–20 for our esti-mate of opportunity costs. UNHS does not providesufficient cases in this age group, and we thereforeuse all individuals under age 25; this may introduce

a slight upward bias in the estimate. Based on re-ported employment income, our best estimate ofthe opportunity cost of P7 graduates (in the agegroup attending PPET) would be approximately500,000 per year or about twice the direct costs tofamilies. This estimate, however, is based on asample of fewer than 100 individuals.2

Of course, in the Ugandan context, most P7 gradu-ates do not find paid employment. Those who areemployed in the formal sector may be systemati-cally different from the majority of P7 graduates,and so may be an inappropriate sample for inferringopportunity costs.

Of those ages 15 through 69 not in school at thetime of the survey, only 11 percent were engaged inpaid employment.3 The probability of being in for-mal employment increases with educational attain-ment, as discussed in section 4.2.7.

The UNHS does provide information on incomefrom household enterprises. However, unlike em-ployment income, these data are not, and cannotbe, directly attributed to individual householdmembers, and are reported for the household as awhole.

One way to infer the contribution of individualhousehold members is to look at total householdenterprise income4 in relation to the compositionof the household workforce, statistically control-ling for other inputs, such as land, equipment, live-stock, and geographic region. In order to developestimates of this relationship, it is necessary to usesome simplifying assumptions about the contribu-

Table 50Summary of household expenditureon education by category

Item Cost Percent Fees and PTA 162,367 68.2 Boarding 51,168 21.5 Uniforms 7,575 3.2 Books and supplies 10,091 4.2 Other 7,022 2.9 Total 238,223

Table 51Average earnings of P7 completers by age

Age category Mean N Std. deviation

Lt 25 498,433 98 470,282

25–29 655,076 100 596,910

30–39 794,246 120 991,984

40–70 794,131 89 895,406

Total 688,799 407 785,283

80 PRIVATE DIRECT AND OPPORTUNITY COSTS OF PPET

tion of household members to household enterpriseincome. In the analysis that follows, we have at-tributed all reported enterprise income to house-hold members between the ages of 15–69 who arenot students and who do not report significantearned employment income.5

The analysis is based on a sub-sample of 8,664households for which enterprise income is reportedand where adults (age 15–69), not in school and notreporting earned income, reside.6 The approach in-volves using individual household member data toconstruct “counts” of the number of members, whofall into specific education and age categories byhousehold. These data are then merged with infor-

mation on household enterprise income, assets, live-stock and location; creating a new analysis filewhere the household is the unit of analysis. Thisnew file includes measures of household income,productive assets, and labor involved in householdproduction. Multiple regression is then used as away to explain differences in household productionby differences in assets and labor. The estimatedcoefficient on a specific category (education andage) of household worker can be interpreted as the“marginal productivity” of one additional workerof that type on household production. That is, whatthat individual contributes to annual household pro-duction, controlling for assets and location. In this

Table 52Household enterprise production function

MODEL A Adj R square = 0.23

Independent Variable Coeficient Signif. N Yrs Educ Age(Constant) 122,118 0.0000<P7 / 15-25 107,921 0.0000 3,803 2.88 20.33<P7 / 26-35 192,506 0.0000 3,275 2.69 30.35<P7 / 36-45 249,471 0.0000 2,273 2.38 40.26<P7 / 46-55 166,029 0.0000 1,503 1.93 50.37<P7 / 56-69 91,404 0.0000 1,601 1.55 61.91P7 / 15-25 229,850 0.0000 767 7.00 20.41P7 / 26-35 440,927 0.0000 618 7.00 30.25P7 / 36-45 398,997 0.0000 447 7.00 39.90P7 / 46-55 366,719 0.0000 148 7.00 49.20P7 / 56-69 330,509 0.0047 48 7.00 61.06S1-S2 / 15-25 334,036 0.0000 341 8.47 21.00S1-S2 / 26-35 595,775 0.0000 301 8.54 29.95S1-S2 / 36-45 564,157 0.0000 139 8.61 40.17S1-S2 / 46-55 569,682 0.0000 142 8.80 50.89S1-S2 / 56-69 299,650 0.0002 105 8.96 60.91S3-S4 / 15-25 317,203 0.0000 317 10.61 21.30S3-S4 / 26-35 435,737 0.0000 276 10.62 30.07S3-S4 / 36-45 702,060 0.0000 159 10.69 40.31S3-S4 / 46-55 863,595 0.0000 63 10.59 49.29S3-S4 / 56-69 561,605 0.0142 13 10.77 60.00>S4 / 15-25 473,195 0.0000 170 13.52 22.23>S4 / 26-35 925,745 0.0000 160 13.98 30.00>S4 / 36-45 974,381 0.0000 104 13.99 40.35>S4 / 46-55 771,548 0.0000 73 14.23 50.58>S4 / 56-69 266,158 0.0137 56 14.27 62.00LAND_EQP (10,000) 99 0.0000LIVESTCK (10,000) 978 0.0000CENTRAL 579,921 0.0000EAST 226,310 0.0000WEST 400,724 0.0000

81UGANDA POST-PRIMARY EDUCATION SECTOR REPORT

Table 53Estimated “shadow wage” of P7 completers

Age Model A Model B Model C Mean 15–25 229,850 219,603 222,011 223,821 26–35 440,927 432,213 433,638 435,593 36–45 398,997 389,197 392,363 361,001 46–55 366,719 357,928 358,354 361,001 56–69 330,509 338,472 328,088 332,356

Table 54Opportunity cost of PPET

Activity Percent Wage Market employment 15 498,443 Household enterprise 85 223,812 Weighted average 265,007

case, we are particularly interested in the contribu-tion of young P7 completers, since this is an esti-mate of the opportunity cost of their time.

We estimated various household enterprise pro-duction functions. In each model, household laborwas entered as a count of the number of householdmembers in one of twenty-five education-age cells(five education by five age categories). Table 53shows results of the best fit. “Model A.”

The coefficients on the education-age cell vari-ables can be interpreted as the contribution of oneadditional household member (with these charac-teristics) to total household production, controllingfor assets and geographic location.

Several general points warrant comment:• There is a strong and consistent pattern of pro-

ductivity increasing with education. This suggeststhat formal education significantly increases produc-tivity not only in formal employment but in house-hold production as well. For example, regressioncoefficients in Model A suggest that at age 26–35,primary school graduates are twice as productiveas those with less education.

• Age earnings profiles appear to be convex fromabove—rising with age, reaching a plateau andthen declining—in a pattern similar to that ob-served for formal employment. In general, thepeak comes at an earlier age than in the formallabor market. It is not possible to assess to whatextent this reflects lifecycle patterns in physicalstrength and stamina or patterns of gaining skillsthrough on-the-job training.

•Returns to marginal investments in land andequipment appear to be modest, on the orderof 1 percent.7 Returns to investments in live-stock and poultry appear to be higher, on theorder of 10 percent.•Controlling for assets and labor, there is apremium associated with household enter-prises located in regions other than the North-

ern region (the excluded dichotomous variable).This premium is highest in the Central region.

The marginal productivity of P7 completers inhousehold enterprise activities (the opportunitycost of attending PPET) was of particular interest inthis analysis. Estimates were consistent across thethree models used, as summarized in Table 54.

We noted that about 15 percent of P7 completers(who do not continue in school) enter market em-ployment. The remaining 85 percent are assumedactive in household enterprises. If we use the aver-age wage (weighted by the probability of being ei-ther in market or household employment) as thebasis for estimating the opportunity cost of beingin PPET, our best estimate would be Ush.265,000 perannum, as shown in Table 55. This is approximatelyequal to the average direct costs borne by households.

This estimate may be biased upward, since it isbased on the age 15–25 cohort. But, to the extentthat individuals who do enter PPET may be system-atically more able (therefore more likely to find for-mal sector employment), the estimate may be bi-ased downward. We have no basis for estimatingthe extent of biases; they may be offsetting.

82 PRIVATE DIRECT AND OPPORTUNITY COSTS OF PPET

In summary, the opportunity cost of attendingPPET, Ush.265,007 is slightly higher than the aver-age direct cost to households, Ush.241,000. We esti-mate an average public expenditure of Ush.236,994per pupil enrolled in secondary education. The com-bined cost to families (direct and indirect) repre-sents over two-thirds of the total recurrent cost ofsecondary schooling.

1 The results from the Unit Cost Study should be treatedwith more caution. In particular, the ratio of expenditurefor remuneration, relative to supplies, does not seem intu-itively correct. The MoES may wish to review this issue.

2 It could be argued that, to the extent that employment in-cludes both an observed wage in addition to the “costs” of“general” on-the-job training, this estimate may be biaseddownward.

3 Individuals with reported income of less than 4,000 permonth were excluded.

4 We have excluded property income, interest, dividends, andtransfers from the analysis.

5 We have excluded household members who report averagemonthly employment income of 4,000 per month or greater.

6 To minimize the impact of “outlier” cases, we have excludedhouseholds in the lowest and highest 3 percent “tails” ofenterprise income.

7 The asset variables Land and Equipment (LAND_EQP) andLivestock and poultry (LIVESTCK), were entered in unitsof Ush.10,000.

83

Annex 3Projected Cost of Adopting Short-termEfficiency Measures*

* This annex draws heavily from Prof. Keith Lewin’s recentwork with the Ministry of Education on PPET enrollmentprojection and costed options for expanding the sector witha sustainable budget framework.

Options for policy, financing, and action

The baseline model

framework for policy has been developedthrough consultation, the identification ofachievable policy goals, and the construction

of a detailed projection model. The Baseline Ten-year Uganda Projection Model for PPET has beenused to test the financial sustainability of the pro-posals. This assumes that the MTBF grows at 6.5percent, and price inflation is around 3 percent p.a.The PPET model allows overall transition rates toS1 to be sustained between 40 percent and 50 per-cent and GER to climb from 30 percent to 45 per-cent. It is assumed that private sector growth willfall away to less than 5 percent p.a. as price con-straints exclude low-income households. Enroll-ments would climb in government schools to about625,000 and private schools to 900,000. The demandfor newly trained teachers would be somewhat lessthan 1,500 p.a. for government schools and about2,250 in private schools. The current model will re-quire allocations to secondary of about 18 percentof total public expenditure on education, and 4 per-cent for BTVET. The latter is likely to be an overesti-

mate. It is based on growth of 5 percent p.a. in en-rollments that recent recruitment suggests is un-likely. Overall allocations therefore would be be-tween 20 and 22 percent of the education budget,an imaginable level to sustain.

The baseline model includes a modest agenda ofreform that anticipates a gentle rise in thepupil:teacher ratio. It would allow about 200 newschools to be built by 2006 and 470 by 2011. Thelatter is sufficient to ensure all sub-counties have asecondary school by 2011. It would also allow thesecondary GER to climb towards 50 percent, thelevel at which gender parity is likely to become real.The detailed activities included in the baselinemodel are listed in Tables 55 and 56.

Two further variants of the baseline model havebeen developed. These are:

The status quo model

This shows what would happen if PTRs at second-ary remained unchanged, and the number of teach-ers was allowed to grow accordingly. The growthof S1 enrollments has been kept the same as in thebaseline model. In addition, community polytech-nics have been constructed according to the latestfull-cost proposal (not the low- cost, small-scale pi-lot in the baseline model), which would result in240 existing by 2006, and the building/conversionprogram continuing at the same level into the fu-

A

84 COST OF ADOPTING SHORT--TERM EFFICIENCY MEASURES

ture, giving 480 institutions by 2011/12.Twenty-one thousand students would be en-rolled in CPs by 2006 and 124,000 by 2011. Theother activities have been retained as in thebaseline model.

There would not be a substantial gain in tran-sition rates; secondary GER in governmentschools would not change, and the increasedBTVET enrollment would add at most about 8percent to the GER after ten years if places weretaken up. Over 25,000 teachers would need tobe employed in secondary at the end of theprojection, working at the same levels of effi-ciency as today, and about 5,300 teachers incommunity polytechnics.

Most importantly, this model would be un-likely to result in gender parity (a MillenniumDevelopment Goal), both because GERswould not rise much, and because the increaseswould be in community polytechnics, whichhave yet to attract girls (technical and farmschools overwhelmingly enroll boys).

This model is completely unsustainable. Itwould require over 40 percent of the educa-tion budget. It would create recurrent deficitsof Ush.28 billion and Ush.60 billion in 2006 and2011 for secondary, and Ush.16 billion andUsh.78 billion for BTVET.

Radical reform model

This version of the model seeks to ensure thatall sub-counties have access to secondaryschooling by 2006. This requires a faster in-crease in PTRs, reduced enrollments in NTCsto reflect actual demand for teachers, and nocommunity polytechnic program (since eachsub-county will have a secondary school andtwo additional institutions cannot be sup-ported within the envelope). The model pro-vides for enhanced capitation to be directed toschools serving disadvantaged groups. It alsofreezes publicly funded growth in post-school

Table 55Consolidated reforms and activities in the baseline modelwith incremental reforms

Key indicators 2002 2006 2011

Total primary enrollment 371107 461600 598038 Total P7 enrollment 601987 828452 949803 Transition rate P7-S1 (government) 23 15 17 Transition rate P7-S1 (total) 54 36 39 Gross enrollment rate (government) 16 18 20 Gross enrollment rate (total) 35 40 45 S1 entry enrollment (government) 103940 135702 169191 S1 entry enrollment (total) 140540 183432 228701 Rate of growth of S1 entry (government) 1.075 1.05 1.025 Rate of growth of S1 entry (private) 1.075 1.05 1.025 Total enrollment secondary (government) 371107 461600 598038 Total enrollment secondary 808832 1007660 1302320 TI enrollment 5500 6685 8532 TS enrollment 6000 7293 9308 Secondary teachers govt. 14396 15444 16873 New secondary teachers needed (government) 966 1343 1102 New secondary teachers (needed private) 1012 1550 1250 CP teachers needed 0 125 175 College enrollments (W1) 13116 15924 20347 NTC enrollments (W1) 8400 8400 8400 PTRs secondary 23 27 32 PTRs BTVET TI 9 9 9 PTRs BTVET TS 11 11 11 PTRs CPs 24 24 24 Total recurrent secondary 68.4 91.5 125.6 MTBF recurrent secondary 68.2 87.7 120.1 Balance recurrent secondary -0.3 -3.8 -5.5 Total development secondary 5.9 15.5 17.1 MTBF development secondary 7.1 9.2 12.6 Balance development secondary 1.3 -6.4 -4.6 Total recurrent BTVET 14.7 20.3 29.3 MTBF recurrent BTVET 15.4 22.5 36.3 Balance recurrent BTVET 0.7 2.3 7.0 Total development BTVET 3.0 4.8 2.8 MTBF development BTVET 4.6 5.9 8.1 Balance development BTVET 1.5 1.0 5.3 GoU budget 1228.0 1606.1 2200.4 MTBF growth rate 0.065 0.065 0.065 Recurrent Percent to education 30.7 31.0 31.0 Percent to secondary 18.1 18.1 18.1 Percent to BTVET 4.0 4.0 4.2

85UGANDA POST-PRIMARY EDUCATION SECTOR REPORT

Table 56Activities for baseline model

Activities Secondary Initial year 2002–2006 2007–11 Total 2002–2011 Build new schools in disadvantaged sub counties 15 196 273 469 New classrooms added to schools 77 982 1364 2346 Rehabilitated classrooms 100 640 560 1200 New labs/workshops 12 157 218 375 Textbook stocking, grants, rental (Ush. Billion) 2 11 14 25 Equipment restocking (Ush. Billions) 1.0 5.4 7.1 12.4 Bursaries (cost in billions) 0 2 3 Capitation (cost in billions) 6 9 14 BTVET New CPs 0.0 14.0 0.0 14.0 Converted CPs 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 Rehabilitated TS 6.0 30.0 0.0 30.0 Rehabilitated TI 6.0 30.0 0.0 30.0 Rehabilitated colleges (cost in billions) 1.5 8.4 12.0 20.4

BTVET on the assumption that colleges would con-tinue to receive the current number of Window 1students (i.e., publicly financed), and that anygrowth would be in Window 2 students (privatelyfinanced).

Numbers enrolled would increase considerablyto 1.8 million by 2011, giving higher transition rates,rising to 55 percent and a GER of over 60 percent.Teachers employed would rise initially to 16,700(2006), and then to 19,800 (2011). The increase in theGER would greatly increase the chances of achiev-ing the gender Millennium Development Goal,since progress on female enrollment rates is closelyassociated with increased secondary GER.

The recurrent budget in 2006 has a deficit of aboutUsh.9 billion, and BTVET is in surplus by Ush.12billion. On the development budget, the figures areUsh.23 billion deficit and Ush.3 billion surplus. Mostof the development costs are new school buildingcosts. If the average price could be reduced signifi-cantly below Ush.140 million, this would have a di-rect effect on the deficit. If cost sharing and econo-mies of scale in purchasing reduced costs to Ush.100million the deficit would fall by Ush.6 billion—toabout Ush.17 billion.

On this projection, PPET would absorb about 22percent of government’s recurrent expenditure oneducation. BTVET’s share would drop significantly.It is assumed that savings on BTVET would be trans-ferred to secondary. The investment necessary tocover the development costs can be fairly repre-sented as the additional cost of taking on an ambi-tious program which that have a major impact onaccess, equity, and efficiency.

Summary of projections

The results of these projections indicate that the sta-tus quo model is not only financially unsustainable,since it would require 40 percent of total educationbudget, but is also not desirable in terms of achiev-ing the enrollment and gender equity goals for PPET.The radical reform model, on the other hand, con-tains drastic measures, the main ones being increas-ing the pupil:teacher ratio from 17 to 40 over thenext ten years and freezing publicly financed growthin the BTVET sector. Teachers and parents may re-sist such a fast increase in the PTR. The completefreezing of the BTVET sector also may go againstpopular belief.

86 COST OF ADOPTING SHORT--TERM EFFICIENCY MEASURES

The baseline model, on the other hand, requiresonly a moderate increase of PTR to 33 over the nextten years. It also allows for the construction of alimited number of community polytechnics (acheaper version of what is now proposed) that canbe easily converted into general secondary schools

if necessary in the future. More importantly, it al-lows the gross enrollment ratio of S1–S4 to reach 50percent by the end of the ten years projected, and itachieves better equity. The report therefore recom-mends that the baseline model be adopted in theUganda PPET Policy and Strategic Framework.