Ugandan parents cite the excessive amount financials contributions to both primary and secondary schools as the biggest challenge, according to the latest Twaweza’s new Sauti za Wananchi (Voices of Citizens) survey.
The finding was one of several others dug out, as 1,878 respondents across the country were reached via mobile phone in the sixth round of calls to the Sauti za Wananchi panel, conducted between September 17 and October 5, 2018.
The above challenge, the survey says is a particularly a common problem cited in regard to secondary schools, where one out of four (23 per cent) cite the issue, but even for primary schools (14 per cent) it is cited more than any other issue.
In both levels of schooling, distance to the school is the second most cited issue, with one out of ten naming distance as a problem in both primary (12 per cent) and secondary (12 per cent) schools. Shortage of teachers and teacher absenteeism were also widely cited as serious issues facing schools.
The survey also established that almost half of parents do not speak to anyone about the problems they see at school. Just under half of parents (46 per cent) did not speak to anyone in the past year to see if they could help fix the main problem they saw at their children’s school. One out of four or 26 per cent spoke to the head teacher, and one out of six (17 per cent) spoke to the School Management Committee (SMC).
The survey found out that in majority of cases (61 per cent), the problem raised by parents was not resolved after they spoke to someone about it. “In most cases where some action was taken, the problem was only partially or temporarily resolved (32 per cent), leaving just a small number of cases (7 per cent) where the problem was resolved completely,” the report says.
The survey established that other than speaking to someone, very few parents (14 per cent) have taken any other action towards resolving problems they see at their children’s school while 8 out of 10 have not.
In 2017 baseline survey of Sauti za Wananchi Uganda found that citizens report higher levels of engagement in education matters than on issues relating to health services and water supplies
The survey established also that 1 out of 3 citizens has visited a school to ask about school finances. One out of three citizens (34 per cent) has ever visited a school to seek information about school finances and expenditure. This number is higher among men (38 per cent) than women (30 per cent) and higher in rural areas (36 per cent) than urban (30 per cent).
In more than half of such cases, citizens were able to find some financial information on display, either in the head teacher’s office (44 per cent), the staff room (6 per cent) or on a noticeboard within (5 per cent) or outside (3 per cent) the school grounds. In three out of ten cases (29 per cent), the information was not available, while in the remainder (10 per cent) the information was not displayed but was shared either at public meeting (9 per cent) or in some other way (not shown in charts).
Parents are split on whether head teachers would respond positively to requests for information, the survey says. 48 per cent think the head teacher would not provide such information, while nearly as many (41 per cent) think they would.
Around half of citizens are aware of the capitation grant Four out of ten citizens (41 per cent) are confident that they have heard of the capitation grant for primary schools, while a further one out of six (16 per cent) say they have heard of the grant when prompted with some details. Four out of ten (43 per cent) say they have not heard of the grant, even after probing.
The most common uses of capitation grant funds identified by citizens are the purchase of school materials (28 per cent), construction work (11 per cent), paying teachers (9 per cent) and teacher and student welfare (9 per cent). However, in all these cases, the numbers are dwarfed by the number of citizens who were not confidently aware of the capitation grant in regards to their children’s school (59 per cent).
Very few citizens (2 per cent) say they know how much capitation grant is provided to schools per pupil. Among those who do claim to know the amount, citizens gave estimates ranging from Shs300 to over Shs3,000,000 per pupil, with no consistency in these estimates, (not shown in charts). Reports in the media about the capitation grant amount also vary significantly.
5: 8 out of 10 parents continue to pay other levies to schools while eight out of ten parents (80 per cent) say they continue to pay money to schools for a range of purposes, including tuition or extra classes (68 per cent), food (60 per cent), school books or other materials (58 per cent), construction work (57 per cent) or to support volunteer teachers (48 per cent).
The survey established that parents in urban areas are more likely to pay for tuition or extra classes (75 per cent) than those in rural areas (65 per cent), but parents in rural areas are more likely to pay for volunteer teachers (50 per cent) than those in urban areas (42 per cent) However three in ten children (29 per cent) of school-going age attend private schools. As such, those paying these additional levies will include parents of children attending private schools (not shown in charts)
One out of 10 citizens say they are members of a school committee or board One out of ten citizens (10 per cent) say they are members of a school committee or board, and most of these (8 per cent) say they are active participants on the committee.
Parents’ representatives (68 per cent) and school staff (52 per cent) are widely recognised as members of the school committee / board, followed by representatives of the school’s founding body (24 per cent) and/ or the local council (24 per cent).
According to the survey, citizens are split on the proper role of school committees between those who prioritise planning, budgeting and decision making (33 per cent) and those who focus on maintaining academic and disciplinary standards (31 per cent). However the largest number of parents say that, in practice, committees focus much more on planning decisions (38 per cent) than on academic and disciplinary matters (9 per cent).
Still, half of citizens have seen a teacher absent from school in the past year, half of whom approached the teacher. Half of citizens (47 per cent) have, in the past 12 months, seen a teacher out of school at a time when he or she should have been at school and teaching. Half of this group – a quarter of the overall population (24 per cent) – approached the teacher to ask why he or she was not teaching.
Among those who saw an absent teacher but did not approach them, four out of ten (42 per cent) say this was because they feared it might have negative repercussions. Three out of ten (32 per cent) say they thought it was pointless as it would achieve nothing, and almost as many (27 per cent) say they would have felt uncomfortable doing so.