PRESENTATION BY THE MINISTER OF STATE FOR HIGHER EDUCATION OF THE REPUBLIC OF UGANDA, HON. DR. JOHN.C.

MUYINGO, AT THE HIGHER EDUCATION INITIATIVE FORUM AT THE 25TH ANNUAL UGANDA NORTH AMERICAN ASSOCIATION (UNAA) CONVENTION IN DALLAS, USA

HIGHER EDUCATION IN UGANDA: OPPORTUNITIES AND CHALLENGES

Your Excellency the Vice President of Uganda Honourable ministers present, Honourable Members of Parliament, Your Excellencies Ambassadors and High Commissioners The Executive of UNAA and organizers of the convention Policy makers, Chancellors, Vice Chancellors and Principals Invited Guests, My long lost brothers and sisters Ladies and Gentlemen. I bring to you warm greetings from Uganda and the Ministry of Education and Sports in particular. I would like to thank the leadership of the Uganda North American Association (UNAA) for inviting me to this important Higher Education Initiative forum.

Let me also congratulate the leadership and entire membership of UNAA upon the 25-years of dedicated voluntary service. This is the true spirit of bulungibwansi. It would be selfish of me if I dont salute you for the hard work you do to develop yourselves as individuals and for the support you give to Ugandans here and back home. I know for a fact that many Ugandans have been enabled to go to school because of your financial and moral support. We thank you and please keep it up. I will avoid the tendency of giving an academic paper to the forum. Academic papers are typically stuffed with situational analysis and abstract figures usually painting a predicted picture. What I intended to do is to tell you the facts as they subsist on ground. After-all, acceptance is not submission; it is acknowledgement of the facts of a situation. Then deciding what you're going to do about it (Kathleen Casey Theisen).

Higher Education: Simply put, Higher Education is education beyond high school. Its sometimes referred to as post-primary education. This is Education at college or university: It includes institutions, such as vocational schools, business schools and technical colleges that award academic degrees or professional diplomas and certifications. The Government of Uganda believes, just like you do, that Education is the key to development and indeed a major solution to most of Ugandas problems and challenges. The government has therefore enacted laws and policies to ensure that Ugandans access quality and relevant education at various levels: (i) Universal Primary Education (UPE): This policy to offer free primary education to primary school going children was launched in 1996. As a result the number of

children going to primary schools shot up from 2.2 million in 1996 to 8 million as we speak today.

(ii) Universal Secondary Education (USE): This policy is geared at closing the gap or challenge that UPE created; an upsurge in the number of children seeking Ordinary-Level secondary education. Consequently, in 2007 the Government resolved to start offering free education in public and some private post primary schools. Statistics show that the number of children enrolled in High School increased from 161,396 in 2007 to 686,403 in 2011.

(iii) Universal Post O-level Education and Training Programme (UPOLET). The scheme was rolled out in 2011 to enable eligible Ordinary Level graduates to enroll in tuition-free Advanced-Level secondary schools and vocational training institutions. Even at this level the number of students registered shot up remarkably.

(iv) Students Loan Scheme: As a result of the above interventions, many children of the poor were enabled to access primary and secondary education. However, they would still drop out before attaining university or tertiary education. Therefore, your government has now filled that missing link with a Students Loan Scheme. In the 2013/14 budget Shs5b was allocated to the ministry of Education and Sports to kick-start the Students Loan Scheme. Students of

science courses that have been identified as critical to national development have an added advantage.

Government has taken a strategic deliberate policy to support science and technology at all levels of the education system. Beneficiaries of the Students Loan Scheme will be bound to take up government employment after their respective courses, which will serve towards the repayment of the loan.

(v) Skilling Uganda: This is a new Government programme that is intended to emphasise practical skills as opposed to theoretical courses. We want to impart marketable skills to our youth so that they can easily get jobs or even when they dont, they can employ themselves by starting their own businesses or workshops.

Let me say a bit more about the vision of this programme. Skilling Uganda emphasises what one can do (practically) and not what (theory) one can recall. It is also intended to heal Ugandans from the colonial legacy that put gave high esteem to white collar (office) jobs and created a negative mentality towards business, technical and vocational education (what you call blue colar jobs). We are redirecting our people from where comfort is to where the money is.

(vi) Regulation: At various stages, the government has put in place a quality assurance framework which all

education institutions have to comply with. We have the National Council for Higher Education (NCHE) which is a quality assurance and regulatory body for higher education in Uganda. Tertiary Institutions run a competence based curriculum with independent examination bodies in place to ensure that this is complied with.

(vii) Internship and attachments: These have now been institutionalized for all academic programmes in higher education.

(viii) Research and innovations: Our education institutions are now bubbling with life. Both lecturers and students are carrying out various researches and have come up with wonderful innovations. I am sure you have heard about the Kiira Ev, the electric car designed by students of the College of Engineering Design, Art and Technology at Makerere University. They also produced sanitary pads (MAKAPADS) from local materials, an anti-stripping technology for road construction, produced mosaic virusresistant cassava and disease resistant soya bean varieties. The prospects for business incubation and eventual commercialisation are promising. Budget support has been provided by Government through the Presidential Initiative Projects.

As Government we are committed to transform the country into a competitive nation by providing quality education to all citizens, with emphasis now on practical skills for future sustainability and

development. The Government has already embarked on the reform of the lower secondary curriculum to re-focus it into provision of holistic education for personal and national development.

CHALLENGES: Its not all a bed of roses. Even roses have thorns. Inescapably there are several challenges the Government of Uganda and indeed the Ministry of Education face in a bit to provide the required education for the citizens. Inadequate Financing: The ideal situation is for everyone and every government to have all the money they need in the world. However, the reality is that resources are scarce and have to be shared out among competing demands. You must have heard about the incessant (unending) demands by teachers and lecturers to increase their pay! You must also be aware that we dont have all the classrooms we need and the scholastic materials needed to go around the country. Inadequate Human Resource: Personnel (lecturers, teachers and instructors) for some strategic courses are inadequate. There is a challenge of missing critical personnel which is worsened by low retention as they migrate to other country for a better pay. Out-dated technology: My brothers and sisters you are privileged I should say to live in this country, the United States of America. Some of you call it the land of opportunities. I read your comparisons of what you see here with what is back at home! You ask, what doesnt our government do it like schools in Dallas? You appreciate that technological advancement gap. Some of the technology we use in our school and tertiary institutions is out-dated. It was bought way back when you were still students and it

was designed to fit the colonial curriculum. Thats why you have heard me talk about reforms. Look at this, for example; while in the US each school-going student has a laptop, back home we are struggling to get aleast a computer and internet to the Principals office. And before we achieve us, you are telling us how we need to cut out bulk and use i-pads! Where we use blackberry phone and walk with a bounce, you email telling us how out-dated that technology is and that the in-thing is the iphone.

OPPORTUNITIES: Uganda remains an education hub in the East African region. Despite the challenges we still have the best education system in the region. Students flock to Ugandan school from all the neighbouring countries. This increased demand for our education from the region coupled with the increasing population, provide opportunities that I want you to come home explore. Investment: The democratization and liberalisation policy has enabled the private sector to invest in the education sector. Many people, Ugandans and foreigners now own; primary, secondary and tertiary institutions including universities. I will use the Universities to illustrate this. REGIONAL DISTRIBUTION OF UNIVERSITIES IN UGANDA: 1. 2. 3. 4 Central Eastern Western Northern Public 2 2 1 2 Private 18 5 5 1 Total 20 7 6 3

Enrolment

75,000

55,000

Government is still the highest provider of Higher Education. However, the demand is still very high and unsatisfied. The Tertiary Gross Enrolment Ratio (GRE) is 6:1%, as compared to 8% and 15% for East Africa and other African regions respectively. Consequently, there is still room for investing in the education sector. We used to have only Makerere University but now we have seven other public universities and 29 private universities and several colleges. They are all full and students are still struggling for vacancies. As a result some parents have resorted to sending their children to other countries like India, UK and the US. Collaboration/Partnership: Related to the above, I urge you to invest in the sector through strategic collaboration and partnerships. Identify persons in Uganda who have what you dont have and join hands to invest. For example there are many Ugandans down there who own acres of land and just need an injection of capital to utilize that redundant land. You can also initiate twinning programmes or constituent colleges. Online education: In the US and Europe there are many courses that are offered online. We have not exploited this area. However, Uganda Communications Commission (UCC) is in the process of giving policy guidelines on the use of the internet. This is also a virgin area. Conclusion: Let me end with a proverb by these people who are hated in some quarters but loved in others quarters of the world, the Chinese. They say, If you are planning for a year, sow rice; if you are planning for a decade, plant trees; if you are planning for a lifetime, educate people.

Lest harness the power of the diaspora by investing in education and that way we would have planned for the lifetime of Ugandans. I thank you for listening to me. I have said all this, FOR GOD AND MY COUNTRY.