Documenti di Didattica
Documenti di Professioni
Documenti di Cultura
By
Chanwat Brian Geoffrey
LLB (Hons) UPU.
Legal Intern
CHAPTER FOUR UGANDA
P.OBox33159,
Kampala, Uganda
Tel; +256 776 118350 / +256 756 864069
Email; briangeoffrey15@yahoo.co.uk
Abstract
Uganda is a democratic Republic with a governance system comprising
central and Local Governments. The Constitution of the Republic of
Uganda provides for a system of decentralisation and Local Governments,
which is further consolidated in the Local Governments Act. 1 In an urban
setting, there are City, Municipal, Division/Town, Ward and Cell Councils. In
the rural setting, there is a District Council, County (which is an
administrative unit without a Council), Sub County Council, Parish Council
and Village Council. The primary sources of revenue are transfers from
Central Government; however Local Governments are mandated to raise
revenue locally, including property taxes, licences and user fees.
Responsibility for transport and environment protection is shared between
Central and Local Governments. Districts and Municipal Councils are also
responsible for the provision of primary and secondary education, safe
water supplies and public health and are encouraged to devolve some
services to the lower tiers. Local Economic Development (LED) is the
responsibility of the district s and lower tiers of government. The Legal
framework took place including The National Constitution for the Republic
of Uganda that underscored education as a right of every Ugandan, and
the Republic of Uganda Local Government Act (1997) that transferred
Primary and Secondary Education services to Local Governments at the
district levelan example of decentralization of education delivery. Many
programs have been put in place to facilitate decentralization of education
service delivery, including: the Education Strategic Investment Plan (ESIP),
Universal Primary Education (UPE), School Facilities Grant (SFG); Teacher
Development and Management System (TDMS). In 1997 elementary
education was universalized beginning with grades 1 to 4.2
CHAPTER ONE
1.0 INTRODUCTION
Gulu District is a district in the Northern Region of Uganda. The town
of Gulu, which means "pot" in the Acholi language (a reference to Gulu's
location in the depression of a prehistoric floodplain), is the site of the
district headquarters and is its chief commercial centre. Gulu District is
bordered by Lamwo District to the north, Pader District to the east, Oyam
District to the south, Nwoya District to the southwest, and Amuru
District to the west. The district headquarters in the town of Gulu are
approximately 340 kilometres (210 mi), by road, north of Uganda's capital
city, Kampala. The coordinates of the district are 02 45N, 32 00E. In 1991,
the national population census was estimated the population of the
district at 211,800.3 Geographically, the study concentrated in Gulu
district.
The study was about the Gulu District Local Government Education and
Sports Bill which was passed in 2009 and it was made an Ordinance in
2010. It was designed to address issues such as absenteeism among
teachers, lack of parents commitment towards the education needs of
their children as well cases of forced child labour with the hope of
improving the Education performance levels of Gulu District as reflected in
the Primary Leaving Examinations (PLE), Uganda Certificate of Education
(UCE) and the Uganda Advanced Certificate of Education (UACE). This
chapter deals with the background, assessment of the problem,
justification of the study, objectives of the study, research questions,
methodology, literature review, limitations of the study, the hypothesis,
chapter break down and the duration of the study.
and failure to would call for punitive measures also highlighted in the law.
Although, the law exists it has faced challenges of enforcement.4
1.1.2 THE NATURE OF THE EDUCATION AND SPORTS ORDINANCE
Although the Education and Sports Ordinance was passed in 2010, it has
largely been silent and left to lie idle in the book shelves. However, the
district authority has been jerked into the urgency of implementing the
Ordinance after observing the 2011 Primary Leaving Examination results,
which placed the district among the worst performers.
The Education and Sports Ordinance passed by the sub-counties and
approved by the district council in 2010 agreed that parents or teachers
who failed to meet the education needs of children would be subjected to
a fine and a six-month jail term.
At most primary schools, teachers admitted they were aware of the
Ordinance although some said they were yet to read through the
provisions.
1.2 STATEMENT OF PROBLEM.
The law seems to be unrealistic and is facing a huge disadvantage in the
implementation of it. The ambits of the la have since failed especially in
regard to the implementation.
There is a challenge of the implementation of the ordinance as a law since
the technocrats are few in the district.
There were several problems in the district. There major problem was that
of absenteeism among teachers from schools and students miss out at the
expense of the teachers.
This lack of parents commitment towards the education needs of their
children. This has been greatly influenced by the mindset of the parents. It
has mainly affected the girl child since girls in the native African setting
were considered to be wives and not nation builders.
Poverty has also been a great pressure to illiteracy in the district. Many
children have been forced into child labour. This is among the various
distractions of children of school going age to quit school. Among the
activities they do is sports betting, stone quarrying, cultivation/ agriculture
amongst others. This has led to the decline in the Education performance
levels of Gulu District as reflected in the Primary Leaving Examinations
(PLE), Uganda Certificate of Education (UCE) and the Uganda Advanced
Certificate of Education (UACE).
1.3 OBJECTIVES OF THIS STUDY
This comprises of the following:
4 Feedback methods and practices in Northern and North Eastern Uganda [Based on
findings of a survey carried out in the districts of Gulu, Kitgum, Pader, Kotido and
Katakwi]
1. To establish the status of the laws passed by the Gulu District Local
Government between 31st July 2009 up to 31s July 2015;
2. To establish the level of awareness by the public of the Laws passed;
3. To examine some of the provisions in the laws passed
4. To identify and examine the challenges facing the Laws passed;
The result of this study seeks to find out the challenges facing the
education sector in Gulu district.
The result of this study also seeks to find out the challenges facing the
implementation of the Education and Sports Ordinance of 2010 in Gulu
district.
The Ministry of education and sports might also use the results of this
study to address the major causes of poor education sector in Gulu
district.
The results of this study might be used by The Human Rights Body to
enforce the Rights of children with especially in their right to education
enshrined under the 1995 constitution case they are violated.
The results of this study might also be used as reference by other
students of the Uganda Pentecostal University and other institutions of
Learning.
The study is being carried out to fulfil the requirement in order for me to
attain a Bachelors Degree of Laws of Uganda Pentecostal University.
Uganda being one of the African countries that has decentralized its
education system, there was a rise in the School enrolment increased due
to the policy on The Universal Primary Education in 1997
The process of implementation of the decentralized education system has
been challenging in one or two ways by the Ministry of Education and
Sports.
In a publication by the ministry of education and sports in 2008, Universal
Primary Education (UPE) is defined as the provision of basic education to
all Ugandans children of primary school going age (6+ years). 6 It further
stated that in providing this education, there must be access, equity,
quality and relevance of the same. This should be affordable by the
government and the majority of the people of Uganda.
Our mother law, the 1995 Constitution of the Republic of Uganda grants
everybody in Uganda the right to education.7
In the Education and Sports Ordinance of 2010, the policy on the provision
of education and training is a joint responsibility of the state, the parent or
guardian and other stake holders. 8 It further provides the responsibility of
parents/ guardians and stake holders in the provision of education.
The intention of the government of Uganda for drawing up such a policy is
to meet up the basic education stipulated by the Constitution. With the
Universal Primary Education (UPE) being put in place, it is expected that
Ugandan children of school going age enrol in school and complete the
process as the government provides and facilitates the necessities
through channelling the available resources towards that cause.
This arises at the peak of illiteracy, a vice that has steadily eaten up the
population in Uganda. This has stimulated the high rate of ignorance
amongst the population here in Uganda. The government, in its mission
considers eradicating the vice through availing a ready chance to every
school going age child and Ugandan at large the right to education.
In this foreplay, there is a vital role to be played by the various stake
holders. In context of this study, we focus our main interest at the district
level where various people are expected to play vital roles in the
implementation of the education sector.
Under the Education and Sports ordinance of 2010, it is clearly stated that
the government through its agencies are responsible for the provision of
learning and instructional materials, structural development and teachers
6 Ministry of Education and Sports, Guidelines on: Policy, Planning, Roles and
Responsibilities of Stakeholders in the implementation of Universal Primary Education
(UPE) for districts and Urban Councils, October 2008 at page 1 Para 1.1.
7 Article 30 of the 1999 Constitution of the Republic of Uganda, All persons has a right to
education.
14 Look at sections 21(4), 22(2), 26(2), 27(2) of the Education and Sports ordinance of
2010.
15 Ministry of Education and Sports, Guidelines on: Policy, Planning, Roles and
Responsibilities of Stakeholders in the implementation of Universal Primary
16 Policy Brief 10, Universal Primary Education Uganda, February 2006 at page 2
26 Ministry of Education and Sports (MoES) (2012), Sector fact sheet 2000 2012,
Kampala. Uganda.
27 Ministry of Education and Sports (MoES) (2012), The education and sports sector
annual performance report 2012, Kampala. .
CHAPTER 2
2.0 Non legal aspects
The war in Northern Ugandan Uganda started in the late 1980s with the
Lords Resistance Army rebels declaring war upon the National Resistance
Movement government. Due to the war, several communities in Northern
Sector Investment Plan, at least 65% of the education budget must fund
primary education. The additional expenditure has been financed largely
from debt relief provided under the Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC)
initiative, channelled via the countrys Poverty Action Fund.32
2.1 The Challenges facing the education sector in Gulu district.
The education sector in Gulu district faced and still faces various
challenges in the provision of education to the population. These
challenges have made is difficult to realise improved grades in
the education sector of the district and Uganda at large.
There is a huge problem of management in the education sector. In
practice, there are management pillars that must work hand in hand to
make the sector strong. These pillars of management are at both the
central government and the local government. Their roles start right from
the mother ministry, Ministry of Education and Sports to the Local
government at District levels and then to the Schools.
The ministry is generally charged with the responsibilities of making the
education policies and focus is always on regional equality to promote
access, participation and performance along with equity among different
socioeconomic groups. This in line with the planning process involves
certain groups of the population with the mandate towards resource
allocation left to central government through the ministries.33
The implementation of policies that are set out by the ministry of
Education and Sports has also been a great challenge in Gulu district. This
has been caused by the short time given to the local governments in order
to achieve particular purpose in the sector.
There is insufficient funding towards the UPE programmes in various
districts has also been a huge challenge in the sector. This has made the
management at the district level very challenging. The budgetary
constraints in the sector is also realised especially during the planning
process. This has affected the Education sector in that there is insufficient
teaching and limited learning materials which in the long run affect the
quality of education provided.34 This has affected the performance in the
co-curricular activities such as sports. This has led to the questioning of
the education sector because the urban schools end up performing better
than the rural schools that are under the local government.
32 Policy Brief 10 Inter-Regional Inequality Facility sharing ideas and policies across
Africa, Asia and Latin America
The government pays annual tuition fees for all pupils in all government
aided schools. These funds are sent by the government and received to
the CAOs district collections Accounts. For instance, for instructional
materials, funds are transferred to a dedicated DEO/IM textbook local
purchase order (LPO) Account held at a local commercial bank. The district
inspector of schools/ district education officer (DIS/DEO) on behalf of the
Decentralization instructional materials procurement steering committee
(DIMPSC) then prepares the schedule for LPOs for each school in the
district according to enrolment and the per capita funding allocation
provided to the district. There must be agreement by the DEO/DIS and the
schools about their annual expenditure for the grant for the whole
financial year. This is a lengthy process as funds are handled by many
people before getting to the final beneficiary, let alone the beneficiary not
receiving all that they are supposed to receive except peanuts. The
central government has therefore re-centralized the system where
instructional materials are directly sent to the respective UPE schools by
the top tier of the system at Ministry of Education and Sports with
responsibility of carrying out purchases and supply which presents
decentralized UPE system as a liability to rural Ugandan schools based on
the lengthy process involved.
Capitation grants toward UPE are channelled to the local government as a
conditional grant and should be utilized in accordance with the Poverty
Action Fund (PAF) under the directive of the ministry of Finance, Planning
and Economic Development.35
Just like any other sector, the challenge of ghost payments for both
teachers has persisted for a long time. Payrolls with ghost teachers and
accountability data with ghost students and resources are common. Local
finance management has created monitoring loopholes.
There is
misinterpretation of the formula for funding schools in a way that the
number of pupils is exaggerated so as more funds are received by
schools. This challenge has been addressed through regular head counts
in the regular visits and inspections by the authorities. Data is collected
annually through the Educational Management Information System (EMIS)
by the Ministry of Education and Sports. In September 2003 the District
Service Commission Secretary of a new district, Kiboga, was remanded for
putting ghost teachers on the payroll There has been Corruption
witnessed in the process of transferring finances from the central
government to local governments. It is not rare for funds budgeted for one
use to be diverted to another. Some resources have been diverted. In the
Gulu district, for example, part of the Ush 2.6 billion (approximately 1.4
million USD) meant for elementary teachers salaries was diverted in the
financial year 1998- 1999, and another part was embezzled. Also funds for
classroom construction were robbed during transportation. Districts such
35 Ministry of Education and Sports, Guidelines on: Policy, Planning, Roles and
Responsibilities of Stakeholders in the implementation of Universal Primary Education
(UPE) for districts and Urban Councils, October 2008 at page 2
as Gulu have problems of accounting for their School Facilities Grant (SFG)
fund.36
The misappropriation of resources especially the salaries is also rampant.
At times, there is a delay in the process of payment. This in the long run
has been realised that some funds are diverted in to private accounts
other than the local; government account of even the account of the
direct beneficiaries.
As for procurement, the schools are responsible for selecting and
overseeing local contractors, with the assistance of the district assistant
engineer and other district personnel. Schools are responsible for applying
the funds, hiring a suitable contractor, supervising the work, paying the
contractor, and ensuring the maintenance of services delivered. In 2001
an SFG evaluation was done. Different construction elements, such as
doors and roofs, were monitored for their quality. The outcome of the
quality evaluation showed that out of 35 classroom projects only 14
showed no shortcomings. On September 3, 2003, it was stated in a
Special Audit Report from the Auditor Generals office that out of two
hundred and thirty eight million Shilling (238m) remitted to the Gulu
district for the Schools Facilitation Grant, only seventeen million and two
hundred thousand shillings (17.2m) was put to use. Forty million shillings
(40m) was unaccounted for, another one hundred and seventy eight
million and five hundred thousand shillings (178.5m) was reimbursed to
the Ministry of Finance, and three million and one hundred thousand
(3.1m) was spent on bank charges.37
There is a wrong perception of the of the education programme especially
for the UPE programme by the general rural population. Many parents still
have the view that the programme is a free service provided for by the
government. This is wrong because both parents and other stake holders
have a role to play in the education sector in the district. Accordingly, this
results into poor parents commitment towards the education needs of
their children. It is the Parents right and duty to care for and bring up
their children.38
It is the responsibilities of parents and guardians to register their children
to school and provide parental guidance and psychological welfare to their
children.39
On the part of the teachers, there is increased absenteeism from schools
during times of teaching. This greatly affects the performance of the
schools since the students are not taught promptly. The Education and
Sports Ordinance of 2010 focuses on this vice by teachers.
The teacher quality reveals that a large proportion of primary school
teachers, particularly in rural areas, lack appropriate training. In 2003,
there were 145,703 primary schoolteachers, of whom 54,069 (37%) had
no formal teacher training. An additional 7,960 had just a teaching
certificate, obtained after training on completion of primary education.
Most of these had retired, but had been recalled into the teaching service
due to shortage of teachers after the introduction of UPE. The majority of
these unqualified teachers are deployed in UPE schools in rural areas.
Under the school facilities grants, the government has devoted a lot of
resources to procure textbooks, construct classrooms and teachers
houses, and purchase furniture for pupils. The increase in education inputs
explains the gradual improvement of some education quality indicators
from the time UPE was introduced. Nevertheless, these improvements
may not always translate into better education performance by pupils.
Results of a National Assessment of Primary Education Performance taken
between 1996 and 2000, for example, suggest that education
performance in terms of pupils numeric, reading, science, and social
studies knowledge and skills deteriorated following the introduction of
UPE.40
2.2 The challenges faced in the implementation of the Education
and Sports ordinance of 2010
In a bid to address some of these challenges that were affecting the
District, the Gulu District Local Government decided to draft laws that
were engineered at addressing the concerns of community. As such,
between 2009 up to 2015; the Gulu District Local Government passed the
Education Bill in 2009 and it was made an Ordinance in 2010. The passing
of this bill has not yielded the expected fruits in the education sector in
Gulu district and there are challenges that are being faced in the
implementation of the ordinance.
The unpopularity of the Education and Sports Ordinance of 2010 is a
major challenge in the implementation of the ordinance. The people in the
region are not aware of the existence of this legislation. This failure is
attributed to the local Councillor Representatives whose role is to engage
the people they represent on matters. This is admissible in as far as the
implementation of the ordinance is because one cannot implement what is
not known to the population.
The parents, who are among the key parties in implementing the
ordinance, are not informed about the demands. Mr. David Ngole, the LC3
chairperson of Palaro Sub County said most people in his area were not
aware of the provisions of the Ordinance. He said he was planning to
conduct an education week for his sub county to help boost awareness
among the parents. He criticized the district leaders for failing to involve
parents during the formation of the ordinance. He also criticized the
40 Policy Brief 10, Universal Primary Education, February, 2006 at page 3
local language for easier understanding among all partners, with about
5,000 copies needing to be printed for distribution to the public.45
Chapter 3
3.0 Legal Regime governing.
The Constitution of the Republic of Uganda provides for a decentralised
system of local government.46 This stipulates the fact that education is a
right of every Ugandan also stipulates the role of Government and other
stakeholders in providing education. The main legislation on the subject of
local government in Uganda is the Local Governments Act 1997. In 1997,
the Local Government Act decentralized social services including
education. The Act transferred Primary and Secondary Education services
to Local Governments. The Act provided for five levels of local
government: village, parish, sub-county, county and district. The district
and sub-county levels have political authority and significant control over
resources. District councils have autonomy over primary and secondary
education, primary health services, and basic services in water provision,
roads, planning and licensing. Each district has the authority to formulate,
approve, and execute its own development plan. Primary education,
community-based health services, hygiene, and low-level health units
were devolved by districts to lower level councils. The central government
continues to play a key role in policy setting, governance, management,
and finance and curriculum development. Essentially, national guidelines
regulate translation of state policy into local reality and define how
schools are run. The second schedule of the Local Governments Act 1997
lists the functions that must remain with central government, but also
provides a list of functions to be carried out by the districts and other local
councils functions which may or may not be devolved to lower levels of
local government. Districts are responsible for the provision of education
services, although some education services may be devolved to the lower
councils. Education policy remains with central government. The same is
true for social welfare, environmental services and public sanitation.
Public health is the responsibility of the districts, but they are also strongly
urged to devolve primary care and health protection to the lower councils.
Responsibility for transport and environmental protection is shared
45http://www.monitor.co.ug/News/National/Gulu-education-by-law-fails-as-dropoutspersist/-/688334/1661686/-/mj3yav/-/index.html retrieved on 28th March, 2016 at
3:00pm
46 Chapter 11, Article 176(1) of the 1995 Constitution of the Republic of Uganda
between central and local government, and water supply, electricity, trade
and industry remain under central government. Local economic
development is the responsibility of the districts and lower tiers of
government; for example the provision of marketplaces. 47
The decentralisation of Educational services plan constitutes a major
component of the National Policy framework of decentralisation. The
implementation of decentralisation policy in Uganda has in general
involved the devolution of functions which hitherto has been responsibility
of the Central Government to Local Government. The GoU decentralisation
policy was announced in 1992 and led to the Local Government Statute of
1993. This provided for transfer of power .. and services to Local
Government. The Constitution 1995 and the Local Government Act, 1997
both further entrenched the principles of decentralisation by empowering
Local Government with responsibilities for lower level local councils, subcounties and divisions. Under these legal frameworks, control of
substantial amounts of divisions and Municipal Local Governments, which
are corporate bodies with the Local Government system. The merits of
Decentralisation are that it has enlisted the participation of community /
grass root in providing educational services.
The local government of Uganda offers many services to communities
such as education, health, agricultural advisory services and rural
infrastructure (rural roads, water, and electricity), most of which have
been decentralized by the central government to the local governments
so as to promote effective provision of social services. This kind of
Decentralization has been implemented under 3 major components;
Administrative decentralization in which powers over administration and
delivery of services is mandated to the local government, Fiscal
decentralization through which the local government is given the fiscal 2
autonomy especially regarding policies towards increase of revenue, and
Political decentralization meant to devolve opinionated rights to Local
Governments. Ugandas case of a decentralized UPE system presents the
central government at the top tier of decision making powers and
authority over how the system is to be managed with less concern of local
choices and decisions. Decentralising UPE in Uganda was therefore a
government initiative through the Ministry of Education and Sports along
with interrelated ministries.
The Ministry of Local Government, empowered through the Local
Governments Act 1997, Cap 243 is responsible for formulating and
supervising national policy and legislation on local government. The
minister responsible for Local Governments, the Resident District
Commissioner (RDC), and the inspector general of government (IGG) who
is broadly responsible for the elimination of corruption and abuse of office
in the public sector, have powers to intervene in the activities of local
47 Bernard Bashaasha (Makerere University) Margaret Najjingo Mangheni (Makerere
University) Ephraim Nkonya (IFPRI), Decentralisation and Rural Service Delivery in
Uganda. December 2008 at page 10
and old girl system which tends to affect the quality of services provided
education in this case.
Under the UPE programme, the Government of Uganda abolished all
tuition fees and Parents and Teachers Association charges for primary
education. Following its introduction, gross enrolment in primary school
increased from 3.1 million in 1996 to 7.6 million in 2003. This amounts to
an increase of 145% (4.5 million children), compared to an increase of
39% (0.9 million children) between 1986 and 1996. This is despite the fact
that primary education was not made compulsory, or entirely free, since
parents were still expected to contribute pens, exercise books, clothing,
and even bricks and labour for classroom construction. The UPE
programme has required a significant increase in public expenditure
devoted to primary education. Total education expenditure increased from
2.1% GDP in 1995 to 4.8% of GDP in 2000, while the share of the
education sector in the national budget increased from 13.7% in 1990 to
24.7% in 1998. More importantly, under the countrys Education Sector
Investment Plan, at least 65% of the education budget must fund primary
education. The additional expenditure has been financed largely from debt
relief provided under the Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) initiative,
channelled via the countrys Poverty Action Fund.
According to Article 183[3] of the 1995 Constitution of Uganda, the
politicians under the headship of the district chairperson represent the
political wing. They monitor the general administration of the district;
coordinate activities of councils at the lower local administrative units at
the district coordinate and monitor government functions between the
district and government, and are concerned with the approval of the final
budget at the local government level. Bureaucrats are part of the local
government working directly with the central government and headed by
the chief administrative officer (CAO) to coordinate the administration of
government services in the district. Primary education (UPE) in this case is
managed by district councils, having the authority to formulate, approve
and execute development plans and monitor their implementation based
on district priorities. The district education officer (DEO) is the key person
responsible for the implementation of UPE at the district level, directly
works with the head teachers for any feedback to the ministry of
Education and sports, and delegates head teachers within their different
schools with authority to control school affairs. School level actors are at
the last level of institutional structure involving different actors like head
teachers, teachers, school management committees, Parents teachers
associations, parents, pupils and the community at large. With the aim of
creating ownership and involving local communities in monitoring and
implementation of UPE under decentralization, stakeholders at this level
are responsible for the schools administration, overseeing teacher
performance, persuading parents to send children to school, provision of
scholastic materials and meals for children at school, put-ting together
teaching guides, work and lesson plans for easy implementation. In
tackling issues related to local participation and the zeal of all citizens to
Chapter 4
4.3 RECOMMENDATIONS
The Bill and the Ordinances should be printed in simpler and easy to
understand English that is reader friendly as opposed to the
technical legal term.