ROT IN SCHOOLS! School heads in panic as First Lady sets up special monitoring unit
Panic has gripped school heads across the country following the creation of a monitoring unit by the Ministry of Education and Sports to unearth the rot in government schools including those that inflate pupils’ numbers to swindle capitation grants from the government.
The unit has hit the road running and so far has uncovered 43,045 ‘ghost’ pupils – who are counted in official records but do not exist in Ntungamo district, western Uganda.
This revelation was made by Janet Kataha Museveni, the minister of Education and Sports also the first lady during her year-end address to ministry staff and affiliated agencies. The revelation sheds light on the persistent issue of inflated enrollment numbers that have cost taxpayers billions of shillings over the years.
Ms Museveni said that the discovery was part of broader efforts to enhance accountability and governance within Uganda’s education sector. To address these challenges, Ms Museveni noted that a Special Infrastructure Monitoring Unit has been established within the ministry to oversee and streamline operations. This unit aims to curb fraudulent practices, ensure transparency, and safeguard public funds invested in education.
The unit, led by Dr Kenneth Ssemwogerere, is tasked with closely monitoring infrastructure projects among other assignments.
“These people have been my feet, ears, and eyes for all the projects we undertake because I don’t want to sit here and report on projects that are non-existent or done poorly,” Ms Museveni started.
She added that one of the achievements made by the unit this year was their recent findings in Ntungamo district where they conducted surprise checks and headcounts across 236 primary schools, they identified 43,045 ghost pupils.
Given that the government allocates Shs 20,000 for each primary school pupil, this discrepancy could have led to an overpayment of approximately Shs 860 million in capitation grants to the district over the years yet similar funds if placed into use could make a difference. For instance, districts like Kabarole receive Shs 500 million for schools in the 17 sub-counties as School Facilitation Grant (SFG) to help with the construction of more classrooms, latrines and purchase of desks for primary schools under the Universal Primary Education (UPE) program.
Despite the gravity of this discovery, Ms Museveni did not reveal the fate of the implicated head teachers or other officials in charge. However, in her address, she urged ministry staff and school officials to act with integrity, stressing that corruption and dishonesty must have no place in Uganda’s education system.
“We must serve with integrity in handling the funds allocated for education. This money is meant to support our children’s learning, not to be misused,” she concluded.
According to estimates from the ministry of Finance, ‘ghost’ pupils alone cost taxpayers about $11 million (Shs 41 billion) annually. In 2022, the ministry of Education introduced an improved Education Management Information System (EMIS) to among other things combat the issue of ghost pupils by assuring accurate learner enrollment data in individual schools, enhancing planning and management.
Though EMIS is still in its roll-out phase, preliminary results have already shown significant discrepancies. Ministry sources revealed that some schools reported inflated numbers of pupils, only for those students to be missing when the data was cross-checked in the system. Nearly half a million over-reported learners have been identified nationwide through this process, and the ministry plans to carry out a full analysis of the data shortly.
When asked about the matter, Vincent Ssozi, assistant commissioner for statistics, monitoring, and evaluation at the ministry of Education, explained that once the ministry completes the harmonization of data collected from schools, a clearer picture of the ghost learners will emerge.
“This process will allow us to eliminate discrepancies. We will completely handle those so-called ghost pupils and ensure that future capitation grants are allocated based only on verified data from the Education Management Information System (EMIS).”
Still addressing the issue of integrity spoke on the recent disciplinary action taken at the Directorate of Industrial Training (DIT), following reports supported by evidence of misappropriation, misuse of government resources, and abuse of office.
She emphasized that whenever such issues are detected, she will not hesitate to take swift and decisive action to address the matter.
“This year, we had to crack the whip on the team at DIT, and this was not done haphazardly, it followed a report by the IGG, with evidence of misappropriation, misuse of government resources, and total abuse of office,” she noted.
She added that, while recognizing the importance of DIT and the significant benefits it brings to the people, the work must be done properly.
“Next year, we must come together to streamline the mandate, management, and work methods of DIT,” she stated.
Meanwhile, during the same session, the ministry also took stock of its achievements over the past year, including securing the AFCON co-hosting bid and streamlining the TVET sector, among other successes.
It is not new for public servants to include ‘ghosts’ and non-existent figures in the payrolls so as to siphon public funds. For example, in 2021, it was discovered that over 1,039 ‘ghost’ workers were on the nurses’ payroll whereby each nurse was receiving Shs 15,000 per day.
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