President Yoweri Museveni has advised headteacher and School Management Committees which are fond of charging learners to bolt out of government institutions.
The president noted that headteachers who keep asking for money from learners in public schools have scared away those who cannot afford to pay, resulting in high dropout rates in the country.
He made the remarks while addressing parliament moments after the reading of the 2022/2023 budget during a session held at Kololo ceremonial ground on Tuesday afternoon.
Although education in UPE and USE schools is free, some children fail to access it because of additional charges, especially uniforms, lunch, and PTA (Parents Teachers Association) that are reportedly used to pay allowance to teachers and also meet the remunerations of teachers who are not on the government payroll.
He revealed that while on a recent tour in Moroto, he discovered that the primary school completion rate is at 6%, adding that in the whole country, the primary school completion rate is at 38 per cent, according to the Uganda Bureau of Statistics (UBOS).
President Museveni, says the act is creating a crisis as a majority of people remain illiterate which defeats the government’s efforts and envisioned goals which were set when the government introduced universal primary education back in 1997.
To arrest the situation, Museveni appealed to the Members of Parliament to allocate more resources towards UPE and USE in the next financial year so that all Ugandan children can attain free and compulsory primary and secondary education.
