Schools implementing the Universal Secondary Education programme are struggling to complete the term after government’s alleged failure to release funds on time.
Many schools are on the verge of abandoning the programme because they claim that government is failing to honor its obligation. The most affected schools are private schools and seed schools set up in every sub-county.
Lagoro Secondary school last received the money when the programme started. A year down the implementation, the school is grappling with lack of funds. Kitgum Town College, on the other hand, started implementing the programme this year, but since the start, they have not received any moneyfrom the government.
The management of the school confirmed the failure to access funds, but refused to discuss any detail of how they will continue to implement the programme, when government fails to remit money.
In Kitgum Comprehensive College, the situation is not different. The school that started implementing USE programme right from the start in 2007 is also grappling.
The acting head teacher of the school, Pamela Akech Kimara says they are limping with the operations in the school. Akech says her school has just received the money for the first term this week, and is not sure when the money for the second term will be remitted.
Cue in: “first term money has just been…”
Cue out: “…the school at a terrible risk”
Akech says the failure to release funds in time is putting the school at a big risk because students may fail to understand why the school administration cannot implement certain programmes.
She says the school is given 47000 shillings per student per term, which is too little to run the school, yet the cost of living has tripled. She wants the government to increase the amount per student so that they can offer better services.
Cue in: “forty seven thousand is very…”
Cue out: “…that money is too little”
Kitgum District Education Officer, Amoo Ekwe Okaka, has confirmed the plight of schools implementing the programme. Okaka says the situation is unfortunate because it hampers the smooth operations of the schools.
Okaka wants the government to address the shortfalls in the release so that schools can plan accordingly.
Cue in: “the delay has been there on…”
Cue out: “… be used to help the schools.”
He also wants the government to stop reducing the amount of quarterly release to the secondary schools. Okaka says in some terms, government releases less than 29 thousand shillings per student, making planning and implementation difficult. He says as a district, they will fight to ensure that secondary schools get the required amounts.
