Upe County

Mr Speaker, our brother is aware that we had a meeting; himself, I and the President in Mayuge sometime back. I was with him in Kween a few months ago and we agreed that we would relocate the people that were affected by the landslides in that camp. The President wrote a letter to allow regulated grazing of cattle by that group in the nearby national park. Today, I engaged the Ministry of Tourism, Wildlife and Antiquities to allow regulated grazing in Pian Upe. As far as food is concerned, Mr Speaker, we are starting a financial year. Money was warranted, I think, yesterday but one by this man of finance. We shall get access to the money to buy food supplies next week. When we get the money, we shall provide food for that camp. Thank you so much.

440 PRIME MINISTER’S TIME Mr Speaker, these figures come from nine official Government records and have been substantively corroborated by official data as well as international sources. The Government has already responded because we have been having communications. On the 11 th of July, the President ordered for Shs 45 billion Contingency Fund for famine relief and authorised regulated grazing at Pian Upe, as well as ordering a review of water reservoir plans in the region. That is a welcome response but we find this insufficient. Our motion seeks to extend that response to every northern subregion named in the motion and to ensure that the resources deployed are adequate to the scale of the need. Mr Speaker, I give notice of three amendments I intend to move during this debate: 1. That Government commits to further distribution of food relief across the six-month gap to the next harvest. One distribution is not enough. 2. That the Ministry of Agriculture, Animal Industry and Fisheries (MAAIF) distributes drought-tolerant seeds for the September to December planting season to food-insecure households across the northern subregions as well as some parts of Karamoja. 3. Lastly, a specific provision for therapeutic nutrition for children at risk of acute malnutrition. There are 120,000 of them in the region. Mr Speaker, flour and beans do not reverse acute malnutrition and from the mathematics available to us, the current distribution from Shs 45 billion can only last 10 days and yet we need around five or six such measures over the next six months. I beg to submit.

Thank you, Mr Speaker. I want to join the members who have spoken in the previous days thanking the President of Uganda for being clear in his statement to the country in the State of the Nation address. The President said many things but emphasised what he called “the word”. He indicated that, without resources, he mobilised the people in the cattle corridor to transition from pastoralism to settlements and, eventually, to what we now see as production and modernisation in that community. I would like to relate this to what is happening in our country today. Unlike when the President was engaged in “the word,” there is infrastructure today. At the time he gave “the word”, there was no infrastructure for the civil service and the established structures to participate in mobilising the people of Uganda. Today, we have a robust Local Government structure, with civil servants at the parish and sub-county levels and members of Parliament and councillors elected by the people of Uganda. The problem at hand is that the Government of Uganda has not established a legal framework that coordinates the work of members of Parliament, councillors and technical people. As we speak now, there are roads, hospitals and health centres being opened across the country, but Members of Parliament are here spectating on these processes. The infrastructure of the “word” that the NRM has established, especially after the introduction of Universal Primary Education (UPE) is disjointed today. It becomes very difficult for the elected leaders and the local leaders to harmonise service delivery. In addition to what the President spoke about, it is important today that the Government of Uganda, in implementing the President’s address, establishes an organised structure in which members of Parliament, individually, without - (Member timed out.)

Thank you, Mr Speaker. Let me first mention my name, as this is my maiden speech. My name is Laura Kanushu; I am the National Woman Member of Parliament for Persons with Disabilities. My colleague was asking me why I am putting up my hand. It is because the rules allow me since I am a person with a disability. I just want to start from where Hon. Ndeezi has stopped. We see, at the beginning of the motion - I want to commend Hon. Mapenduzi for that motion. At the beginning, we talk about special needs, but somewhere along the way, we lose it. I think that we need to make that amendment. I also want to say that from the time the affirmative action programme started, persons with disabilities have been at that number. It would only be fair that as we approve this motion, this Parliament is cognisant of the fact that there can never be a more vulnerable student than one with a special need. If there are people who need the sponsorship at universities more than anyone else, it would be the students with disabilities. Therefore, we cannot afford to leave them out, and we also need to increase the number. Lastly, Mr Speaker, while we talk about rural schools, we should also be specific and say public schools or Government schools. I do not think that a poor person can take their child to, for example, Kampala Parents School. Therefore, if they are able to take their child to Kampala Parents School, then they are able to pay at the university. However, the children who go to public schools are the neediest. I would like us to emphasise that the children who will be given more priority should be those that go to UPE and USE schools. I beg to submit. Thank you.

Hon. Laura, I just want to get you clearly there. We have some private schools in the villages that are cheaper than the Government schools. In the villages, parents cannot afford public schools; the so-called UPE or USE schools, but they can afford private schools, especially church-based or faith-based. How would you handle?

Thank you, Mr Speaker. My name is Tom Aliti Candia, Member of Parliament for Maracha East constituency in Maracha District in the West Nile region. I would like to support the motion to express appreciation to His Excellency the President for the State of the Nation Address. I add my voice and I bring the voice of the people of Maracha District to support this motion. I would like to start from where His Excellency concluded his State of the Nation Address. He said, let us work differently this time. Indeed, we need to work differently this time. I am very happy that His Excellency the President brought in legislative agenda number 3: the amendment to the Education Act, 2008. I am saying so because of the alarming, disturbing and catastrophic levels of primary school dropout rates. For Maracha and West Nile, the dropout rate for boys is now 90 per cent. The dropout rate at primary level for girls is at 93 per cent. So, out of 16,000 children who join primary 1, only 1,600 complete their primary education program or cycle. It is very disturbing and the tide is increasing. The cause of this is poverty: it is out-of-pocket spending on education; it is non-coded community primary schools. We have 15 community primary schools but because of poverty, parents cannot pay those teachers. For 10 years now, no primary school has been coded in Maracha district. We have applied and have not gotten a reply. We are so disturbed. Coupled with that, we have a callous mindset of some parents who do not care. They have given up. I really love this amendment of the Education Act. We need to move from UPE to CPE. CPE means Compulsory Primary Education. This is how we can manage this dropout rate and reduce it from 90 per cent. We need to code these schools in all districts. Let us say, okay, two community schools per district need to be coded. In five years, we would have done a lot. In some areas, children cannot cross rivers to reach government-aided primary schools. My plea is to the Parliamentary Committee on Education and Sports: we need to fast-track the Education Amendment Act and bring about compulsory primary education and also code the non-coded community primary schools in our districts. I thank you and I am happy that you have given me this maiden opportunity. God bless you.

263 THE TWELFTH PARLIAMENT OF UGANDA WEDNESDAY, 08 JULY 2026 reported inadequate classrooms, with some schools operating condemned pit latrines and this is dangerous for our little children. There are cracked walls and deteriorating roofs. The Government speaks of competence- based learning, yet many schools lack the infrastructure to implement it. We need to fix this. Learning outcomes are equally alarming. The 2025 National Assessment of Progress in Education report found that more than - and this is alarming - found that more than 60 per cent of primary six learners could not read a simple passage in English or perform basic numeracy. This is a Government report. After decades of investment in universal primary education. The national pupil-teacher ratio stands at 53:1, exceeding 70:1 in several districts, against the recommended 40:1. Secondary gross enrolment is only 29 per cent, and technical and vocational institutions enroll fewer than 400,000 learners, against a youth population exceeding 10 million in the relevant age bracket. The Universal Primary Education (UPE) capitation grant of only Shs 18,600 per learner and Shs 21,000 for learners with special needs is insufficient, pushing schools to levy charges on parents, a practice that undermines the principle of universal education. Think about it, colleagues. Eighteen thousand six hundred shillings per learner, not per term, but per year. How is this child supposed to compete globally in this day and age? It is not possible, so we are saying UPE is a good programme and initiative, but we are not funding it, and that is why it is failing. That is why 60 per cent of the children who are in P.6 cannot read a sentence in English, so we need to put more money there now that we are all saying it is a good programme, and we agree on this as Government and Opposition side. Why are we not funding what we all agree is good? Salary disparities between science, arts and primary teachers have weakened morale and fueled attrition. We welcomed the increase in pay for science teachers, but there is no reason the same does not happen for arts teachers as well. The Government must substantially increase investment in school infrastructure, review capitation grants to reflect the current realities, recruit and retain qualified teachers, strengthen technical and vocational education, and prioritise learning outcomes as the central measure of success, or we risk producing a generation enrolled in school but unprepared for a modern world. Agriculture and rural livelihoods Agriculture employs approximately 68 per cent of Uganda’s workforce and contributes 24 per cent to our GDP, yet production, measured as value added per worker, stands at just $462 per year, among the lowest in East Africa. That is according to the Ministry of Agriculture, Animal Industry and Fisheries sector performance report. Again, Government figures. The Head of State highlighted selected success stories in dairy and coffee, but did not pay sufficient attention to the structural constraints that are trapping millions of smallholder farmers in low productivity and poor returns. Uganda has approximately one extension worker per 2,000 farmers against a recommended ratio of one per 400. More than 5,000 extension positions are vacant nationwide in all of our constituencies. The Auditor-General’s report of 2025 found only 44 per cent of required extension workers across 135 local governments were fully employed, meaning farmers who are receiving Parish Development Model(PDM) money through their SACCOs do not have technical guidance to use it productively because who is supposed to guide them? The positions are vacant. Only 4.6 per cent of cultivated land is under irrigation, and post-harvest losses run at 30 to 40 per cent for perishable crops, with the destruction of value caused not by farmers failing to produce, but by our failure to provide storage, cold chains, and market infrastructure.

Mr Speaker, thank you so much for reconsidering the new members. I am really humbled. My name is Rufina Cheutich, Woman MP for Amudat District. I would like to rise on Rule 56 (1) of our Rules of Procedure. I wish to raise a matter of national importance regarding the insecurity between the Pokot people and the Pian Upe Game Reserve. There are rules and regulations in place to guide coexistence between the community and the park. The rule is that during the wet seasons, the animals graze outside the park. Unfortunately, Mr Speaker, because of climate change issues, seasons have changed too. There are no more wet seasons. The order of the day is that people are being arrested and animals being impounded. This is very sad, Mr Speaker. I would like to call upon the Ministry of Wildlife and Tourism - this is very urgent and critical. My people are suffering. All the time we get calls over this. Sir, work on this. I had written a letter to the President through the Speaker. Please make a follow-up. Thank you so much.

150 THE BUDGET SPEECH, 2026 Water and Sanitation Mr Speaker, access to clean and safe water remains fundamental to public health, human dignity and economic productivity. Government has, therefore, continued investing heavily in water supply and sanitation infrastructure across the country. Access to improved water sources continues to expand, with 71 per cent of households now having access. Coverage stands at 68 per cent in rural areas and 74.5 per cent in urban areas. Mr Speaker, during the Financial Year 2025/2026, safe water access was extended to 553 villages. Over 200 large solar-powered water and sanitation systems, several public sanitation facilities and faecal sludge treatment plants were completed in several districts. In addition, a number of urban water systems were expanded. Government has allocated Shs 1.013 trillion in the Financial Year 2026/2027 to further expand access to safe water and sanitation services across the country. The objective is to ensure universal access to safe water and sanitation services. Education, Skills and Sports Mr Speaker, education remains the most powerful instrument for social mobility and long-term economic transformation. During the Financial Year 2025/2026, the following milestones have been achieved in the education sector: a) In order to expand access to education, Government continued financing Universal Primary Education (UPE) and Universal Secondary Education (USE). Approximately 9.52 million learners benefited from UPE, while about 995,116 learners benefitted from Universal Secondary Education and Universal Post- O-Level Education and Training. b) Government completed construction of 90 additional seed secondary schools, expanded 54 existing schools and operationalised 259 seed schools. c) In preparation for the Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) 2027, Hoima Stadium has been completed, upgrades to Namboole Stadium are progressing well and other required tournament facilities remain on schedule. Further, construction of Akii-Bua Stadium is on schedule. d) Government has intensified investment in Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) education; technical and vocational education; industry-linked skills development and digital literacy. Financial Year 2026/2027, priorities for education, skills and sports Next year, Government has allocated Shs 6.66 trillion to further improve education of Ugandans. Priorities will include: i) Access to quality UPE and USE; ii) Strengthening STEM and vocational education; iii) Improving teacher welfare and training with emphasis on pre-primary teachers; iv) Curriculum reform; v) Strengthening public universities and research institutions; and vi) Completing critical sports infrastructure for AFCON 2027. Beginning the Financial Year 2026/2027, an additional Shs 568.65 billion has been allocated to enhance salaries for primary school teachers and Arts teachers in secondary schools and Business, Technical, Vocational Education and Training (BTVET) institutions. Social Protection and Inclusive Development The National Resistance Movement (NRM) Government has over the years ensured that economic growth is inclusive. Government continues implementing targeted programmes aimed at supporting vulnerable groups and expanding economic participation.

9 THE TWELFTH PARLIAMENT OF UGANDA THURSDAY, 14 MAY 2026 56. Kirungi Annet Pamela Woman Representative Kabarole NRM 57. Kyogabiirwe Jackie Muganda Woman Representative Kyegegwa NRM 58. Lanyero Christine Awany Woman Representative Nwoya NRM 59. Logose Sarah Annet Woman Representative Butaleja NRM 60. Lokii John Baptist (Dr) Matheniko County Moroto NRM 61. Lokoru Albert Tepeth County Moroto Independent 62. Lokoru Stephenson Yoyo Chekwii East County Nakapiripirit NRM 63. Longoli Simon Peter Chekwii County (Kadam) Nakapiripirit NRM 64. Lubega George Willy Bugangaizi South County Kakumiro NRM 65. Lubowa Ssebina Gyaviira Nyendo-Mukungwe County Masaka City NUP 66. Lugoloobi Amos Ntenjeru County North Kayunga NRM 67. Kiwanuka Sulaiman Nakifuma County Mukono NUP 68. Kuteesa Mary Kamuli Mwenge County South Kyenjojo NRM 69. Kyeyune Ivan Nakasongola County Nakasongola NUP 70. Lakisa Mercy Faith Woman Representative Alebtong NRM 71. Lenia Charity Kevin Vurra County Arua NRM 72. Mutebi Benard Mugoya Bulamogi County Kaliro Independent 73. Katooko Sylivia Damba Woman Representative Kibuku NRM 74. Kayogera Yona Busiki North County Namutumba Independent 75. Kiti Peter T’oo County Bukwo NRM 76. Lolem Micah Akasile Upe County Amudat NRM 77. Locap Peterkhen Bokora East County Napak NRM 78. Linda Irene City Woman Representative Fort Portal City NRM 79. Lokubal Emma Woman Representative Nabilatuk NRM 80. Katusiime Adrine Woman Representative Sheema NRM 81. Loluk Fidelis Logwee Napore West County Karenga Independent 82. Komakech Christopher Aruu County Pader NRM 83. Muzaid Khemis Arua Central Division Arua City FDC 84. Lamwaka Catherine Woman Representative Omoro NRM 85. Kiwanuka Abdallah Mukono County North Mukono NUP 86. Kyeyune Haruna Kasolo Kyotera County Kyotera NRM (The House was suspended at 11.42 a.m.) (On resumption at 1.00 p.m., the Deputy Clerk, Parliamentary Affairs presiding.) 87. Lokwang Hillary Ik County Kaabong NRM 88. Lowila CD Oketayot Woman Representative Pader NRM 89. Lugoloobi Willy Bageyente Bujumba County Kalangala NRM 90. Lugwar Benson Agogo North County Agago Independent 91. Lukyamuzi David Kalwanga Busujju County Mityana NUP 92. Kiwanuka Keefa Kiboga East County Kiboga NRM 93. Maala Zahrah Luyirika Makindye Division West Kampala NUP 94. Makumbi Henry Kamya Mityana County South Mityana NRM 95. Mariam Seif Woman Representative Iganga NRM 96. Mafabi Asha Nabulo Woman Representative Sironko NRM 97. Mamawi James Adjumani East County Adjumani Independent 98. Masaba Karim Industrial Division Mbale City Independent 99. Matembu Chriss Wataka Bubulo County West Manafwa Independent 100. Matovu Emmanuel Magoola Busiro County East Wakiso Independent 101. Mawanda Micheal Maranga Igara County East Bushenyi NRM

18702 CONSIDERATION OF THE BUDGET ESTIMATES FOR FY 2026/2027 Vote 302: Mbarara University of Science and Technology - you can read. Vote 303: Makerere University Business School - you will read on that page. Kyambogo University - the same story. Busitema University - we have such narration. Muni University - you will look at the construction of the multi-purpose health science lab and the rest. Kabale University, Vote 307 - the narration is there. Soroti University, Gulu University, Lira University, Uganda Management Institute, Vote 313 for Mountain of the Moon University - you can read the narration. Observations Madam Speaker, we had general observations, and it was observed that the sub-programme was allocated Shs 989.82 billion at the time of the finalisation of the draft estimates. Of course, we have the ULEARN project, the Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) - the narration is there. However, there are key critical activities within the sub-programme that remain unfunded, yet they are critical in the attainment of the set targets within the five-year National Development Plan (NDPIV). This is the implementation of free and compulsory Universal Primary Education (UPE), which continues to be underfunded at Shs 309.16 billion. Recommendation The committee recommends that the Ministry of Finance, Planning and Economic Development funds the various votes under the sub-programme in time within the first half of the financial year, to ensure timely financing towards the planned activities in order to achieve the set targets. The finance ministry is also urged to allocate additional Shs 309.16 billion towards the implementation of free and compulsory primary education and Uganda shillings 14.95 billion towards the implementation of free Universal Secondary Education (USE) and Universal Post O-Level Education and Training (UPOLET) Education. The Ministry of Finance is also urged to allocate an additional Shs 66.30 billion and Shs 21 billion towards the grant-aiding of 100 secondary schools in subcounties without government support, and 300 primary schools in parishes without government ones, respectively. The Ministry of Finance is also urged to release funds to the Technical, Vocational and Educational Training (TVET) Council, to promptly avoid any challenges in the transition to the TVET Act because of limited funding to the council. Vote 013, Ministry of Education and Sports Madam Speaker, the committee recommends that an additional Shs 5.11 billion be provided by the Ministry of Finance to cater for these increments, and supplement its efforts towards vocational skilling as envisaged by the National Development Plan IV. The re-purposing of non-core Primary Teachers College (PTCs) into the eight health training institutions and eight TVET institutions. Recommendation The committee recommends that the finance ministry allocates Shs 65.78 billion towards the re-purposing of the 16 non-core PTCs into eight Health Training Institutions (HTIs), seven TVET institutions, and one seed secondary school. Increment in unit cost of the training grants and indentures, internship fees in health training institutions

18706 CONSIDERATION OF THE BUDGET ESTIMATES FOR FY 2026/2027 AFCON facilities. Recommendation The committee recommends that the Ministry of Finance, Planning and Economic Development provides an additional Shs 1 billion for the hire of five specialised technical human performance consultants for Uganda Cranes players; Shs 2 billion for hosting the Four Nations Tournament at least one month before AFCON 2027 kick-off, and Shs 9.1 billion for equipping and personnel for maintenance of completed AFCON facilities. On funding the national team preparation for the major critical internal championship of Olympic and Paralympic games, and all African games for Islamic solidarity, we recommend that the Ministry of Finance, Planning and Economic Development provides an additional Shs 4.2 billion for national team preparation for major critical international championships and tournaments. Other critical activities Madam Speaker, the committee recommends as follows: i) Shs 1 billion for the National Anti-Doping Organisation to fully implement its mandate; ii) Shs 6 billion to establish the national rewards and recognition scheme; iii) Another one is Shs 8 billion for the operationalisation of the Teryet National High Altitude Training Centre in Sebei; iv) Next is Shs 5 billion for the redevelopment of the Uganda Golf Course, Kitante; v) The other one is Shs 5 billion for hosting the World Challenger Series of Rugby in 2027; and vi) Then Shs 30 billion towards the rehabilitation of regional stadia, as guided by the National Council for Sports and necessary for funding for each stadium. The Education Service Commission The committee recommends that the Finance Ministry provides Shs 7 billion to facilitate the initial phase of the construction of the ESC office block to address the shortage of office space and storage, and an additional Shs 0.4 billion to undertake evidence-based research to support the commission’s mandate. That the Finance Ministry should also provide the ministry with the wage to support recruitment of personnel to fill current staffing gaps in schools, to promote assistant education officers who have acquired graduate qualifications. Kampala City Council Authority (KCCA) There are several narrations about the removal of asbestos and all that, and lighting, as well as the Philip Omondi Stadium. The committee recommends that the ministry of Finance – i) Allocates an additional Shs 12.0 billion to purchase land for the construction of city schools in KCCA; ii) Allocates Shs 1.05 billion to cater for the refurbishment and removal of asbestos in three schools, that is Mengo Primary School, Katwe Martyrs Primary School, and City High School; iii) Allocates Shs 1.6 billion to install lightning arresters in 79 UPE and 22 Government- aided secondary schools; iv) Allocates Shs 3.0 billion to construct 264 toilet facilities in Government-aided primary schools; and v) Allocates Shs 39 billion in a phased manner to complete the construction of Phillip Omondi Stadium. Honourable members, the Phillip Omondi Stadium, I think all members here consume the services of that stadium. So, let us hope you are with us because they are really in need of Shs 39 billion.

The procedural matter that I am raising is that we have many crippling universities. I am a product of Makerere University, with two degrees by the way, in law and education. Why do we come out for Makerere University only when a number of universities are crying for money? When I see Members of NRM standing up very comfortably to support that motion, yet the majority of those universities that are crying are from their own constituencies and districts, I feel like crying. Mr Speaker, the procedural matter I am raising is that we have UPE schools that are all condemned. Would it not be procedurally okay for the minister to bring a loan request for all universities in Uganda, including Universal Primary Education schools, which are all condemned by now, other going for Makerere

17515 THE ELEVENTH PARLIAMENT OF UGANDA THURSDAY, 12 JNUE 2025 trillion to get these facilities completed. In addition, Mandela National Stadium has been upgraded, and the government commissioned the National High Altitude Training Centre-Teryet, in Kapchorwa; (v) To improve compliance with quality standards, the government digitised school inspections in all public schools and certificate awarding Technical, Vocational Education and Training (TVET) institutions; (vi) To improve the qualifications and skills of primary school teachers to meet the new minimum education requirement of degree level, the government has established the Ugandan National Institute for Teacher Education (UNITE). So far, UNITE has enrolled 1,000 students across five campuses and has been supported to undertake staff recruitment and take over the operations of 23 primary teachers’ colleges to upgrade certificate-holder teachers to diploma level; (vii) Rolled out the Abridged A-Level curriculum to implement the Competence-Based Curriculum for A-Level. A total of 357,120 learners successfully completed the four-year cycle under the new Lower Secondary Education Curriculum and are transitioning to the new A-Level curriculum; and (viii) Implemented the TVET reform to increase industry participation in TVET training and delivery. A new TVET Council, Sector Skills Councils and Secretariat have been established with representation from various sectors. Madam Speaker, next financial year, I have provided Shs 5.04 trillion for priority interventions, which include: 1. Continuing to provide free education to Ugandans under UPE, USE, and Universal Post O-Level Education and Training; 2. Providing sponsorship and student loans for higher education; 3. The rehabilitation of 120 traditional secondary schools and 31 special needs primary schools; 4. Construction of 116 new seed schools and expansion of 61 existing secondary schools; 5. Recruitment of more teachers and non- teaching staff; 6. Strict enforcement of teachers’ and learners’ inspection across the country using an electronic system; 7. Providing textbooks and instructional materials to improve the textbook-to-student ratio to 1:3 from the current 1:15; 8. Operationalisation of Bunyoro and Busoga Universities; and; 9. Completion of the ongoing construction of stadia and training facilities ahead of CHAN and AFCON27. Social Protection Madam Speaker, to keep our senior citizens healthy and to actively participate in socio-economic activities, the Government has provided Shs 811 billion, benefitting 495,720 older persons across the country under the Social Assistance Grants for the Elderly Programme (SAGE). In addition, 1,741 older persons’ group enterprises have been funded with Government grants worth Shs 5.5 billion, benefitting 11,644 older persons under the Special Enterprise Grant for Older Persons Programme (SEGOP). Other social protection interventions, which the Government has supported, include the following: (i) Youth Livelihood Programme (YLP): A total of 24,228 youth enterprises have been funded to the tune of Shs 191,336 billion, benefitting 271,211 youth -

In the Gospel according to Matthew 7:24-27, Jesus talked about two kinds of builders: the wise builder who built his house on the rock, and the foolish builder who built his house on sand. When the rain, floods, and wind came upon both houses, that of the foolish man was swept away because its foundation was weak, while that one of the wise man remained standing because its foundation was firm and strong. The National Resistance Movement (NRM) can be likened to the wise man in Jesus’ parable because we have been able to establish the necessary foundation to catapult Uganda to modernity, based on the four principles ideology. The principles are: patriotism – love Uganda; Pan-Africanism – love Africa; socio- economic transformation; and democracy. The aim of this ideology is to promote the mass line, i.e., guaranteeing the social uplift of all segments of the society, and not just the few elites. The mass line programmes such as the Universal Primary Education (UPE) and Universal Secondary Education (USE), the mass immunisation campaigns, the wealth creation funds, for example, the Parish Development Module (PDM), Operation Wealth Creation of the army – where the army was involved and Emyooga , etc., have led to significant improvements in the quality of life in Uganda. Life expectancy in Uganda is now 63 years, compared to 45 years in 1986. This means that Ugandans are now living longer. In 1986, Uganda’s population was only 14 million. The National Population Housing Census conducted last year showed that Uganda’s population is now 46 million people.

29 Pleqse toke note thot there ore occording to the 2024 census results, .l0.6 million households in Ugondo occommodoting 45.5 million people which meons 4.2 people per household. The Auditor Generol in his December Report soys, 2985 PDM SACCOS in 127 Locol Governments didn't hove registered offices on their documents. Some of the reported projects didn't exist ond obout 242 SACCOS were implementing foke projects. The government is osking us to opprove Shs 1 .080 trillion this finonciol yeor for PDM. This progromme on the surfoce is o good progromme but its success must be continuously ossessed. Otherwise it might turn out to be onother UPE where we register 2m children in primory one but only 700, 000 sit Primory Leoving Exominotions. A genuine ond tronsporent ossessment must be corried out before more money is disbursed under PDM. Success of PDM should be meosured ogoinst octuol people (households) tronsformed ond not omount disbursed ond list of beneficiories. Since the outcome of PDM is supposed to be meosured this Finonciol Yeor, Porlioment connot oppropriote more money before this is done. Mind you Ministry of Finonce hos worned on poge 4l of their policy stotement thot mony projects underperform becouse of inodequote monitoring ond evoluotion. The PDM is bosicolly o revolving fund. Hos it storted revolving? How mony more disbursements do we need to moke to ollow the revolving fund stond on its own feet? According to the UBOS Census report, 62% of households in the country (obout 28 million people) ore engoged in ogriculture. Only 4% ore engoged in irrigotion. The Report notes thot 98% of porishes in Ugondo ore utilizing roinwoter for ogriculture. lt further notes that 96% reported crop diseoses,947o reported onimol theft ond 97%reported bod roods. Community occess roods in oll your constituencies ore in bod stote. .6q-

Thank you. Implementation of free and compulsory Universal Primary Education (UPE)

17171 THE ELEVENTH PARLIAMENT OF UGANDA WEDNESDAY, 16 APRIL 2025 Recommendation The committee recommends that the Ministry of Finance, Planning and Economic Development allocate an additional Shs 309.16 billion towards the implementation of free and compulsory primary education. Grant aid of 100 Secondary and 300 primary schools Recommendation The committee recommends that the Ministry of Finance, Planning and Economic Development allocates an additional Shs 58.1 billion to the Ministry of Education and Sports for grant- aiding 300 primary schools and 56 secondary schools. Rehabilitation of primary schools and secondary schools Recommendation The committee recommends that the Ministry of Education and Sports fast-track the implementation of the project. Rehabilitation of UPDF formal education schools Recommendation The committee recommends that the ministry for finance allocate Shs 64.39 billion in a phased manner, with an initial allocation of Shs 10 billion under the Medium Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF) to ensure sustained improvements focused on providing quality and sustainable education for all students. Grants and living allowances for trainees Recommendation The committee recommends that an addition of Shs 5.11 billion be provided by the Ministry of Finance, Planning and Economic Development to cater for these increments and supplement it towards vocational skilling, as is envisaged in the National Development Plan IV. Shortfall in the cost of capitation grants Recommendation The committee recommends that the finance ministry allocates the Ministry of Education and Sports an additional Shs 25.97 billion in order to improve the capitation grants to UPE and USE, as committed by the Government, at Shs 20,000 for primary schools and Shs 175,000 for secondary schools. Salary harmonisation of science and arts teachers Recommendations The committee recommends that the finance ministry urgently harmonise the salaries for the arts head teachers with the science head teachers in the Financial Year 2025/2026 for purposes of equity. The committee also recommends that the finance ministry urgently harmonise the salaries for the arts teachers with the science teachers in the MTEF period for purposes of equity. Uganda Secondary Education Expansion Project (USEP) Recommendation The committee recommends that the Office of the Attorney-General lift up the conditionality of the acquisition of land titles as a preliminary requirement for the commencement of the project, since this requirement has stalled the project both in rural and urban areas. The committee further recommends that the Ministry of Education and Sports adopts and approve cost-friendly designs for storeyed classrooms for city secondary schools in urban areas.

Mr Speaker, if it may please you, give me one more minute. I want to go into the issue of school feeding. We all know that our brains grow best when they are still young. I appreciate the Univer - sal Primary Education (UPE) program of the Government that has offered the opportunity to most of our children to access education. However, I am surprised that we have not tak - en any steps to implement the school feeding programs. This is absolutely important for young brains so that we do not produce aca - demic dwarfs. All of us are here because we fed while at school. We did not feed because the Government was giving us free money for feeding, but our parents were contributing a lit - tle money – (Member timed out.)

Thank you, Mr Speaker. First, I rise on Gulu University. I remember a petition was presented here about the degazettement of part of the forest land, yet the university had already developed that land, and there are buildings, which are existing. I remember having passed a resolution in that favour that the university was going to hand over certain land for a tree plantation. I am surprised that the issue is still in the report and requires a resolution from the ministry. It is supposed to be the Parliament here to degazette; to approve the degazettement, which I remember we already approved here. I wonder why it still exists in the report. Mr Speaker, there is an issue that the President has always been echoing now and then, about the restriction of fees in Universal Secondary Education (USE) and Universal Primary Education (UPE) schools. Can the minister come out clearly and tell the nation, which fees are supposed to be paid by parents or students? Otherwise, there is a lot of havoc in the schools. The parents are about to fight with the management of the schools. On the recruitment, I beg the honourable minister that we consider recruiting teachers

16536 PRIME MINISTER’S TIME I have personally written letters to UNRA, Ministry of Works and Transport, Office of the Prime Minister, and the President’s Office, but no valid attention has been paid to my pleas. His prayer is a request that we take interest in this matter and provide an update. Madam Speaker, Bwizibwera-Nsiika- Nyakashaka-Nyakabirizi Road with a spur to Kabwohe, is in the National Development Plan (NDP) III and in the NRM Manifesto of 2021- 2026. The road is being implemented in phases. Even yesterday, the President, while in Bushenyi, talked about the same road and that the road will be implemented in phases; (i) A civil commercial contract for the upgrade of Bwizibwera-Nyakambu-Nsiika with a spur to Kabwohe road was signed in March 2023 and awaits confirmation of financing before physical works can commence. (ii) A detailed design for the upgrade of Nsiika- Nyakashaka-Nyakabirizi Road (48.3km) is currently ongoing and is expected to be completed by May 2025. Thereafter, procurement of civil works contractors will commence. Madam Speaker, upgrading of Nsiika-Ibanda- Kabujogera-Mashooro-Rwenjaza-Kyambura has been considered in National Development Plan IV (NDP IV) and will be prioritised subject to availability of resources. Madam Speaker, I want to thank you on this note because the Members do not give detailed information. That is why I am on question number eight. Hon. Shartsi Musherure, MP, Mawogola County North: Following the dissolution of both the Uganda National Roads Authority (UNRA), and the Uganda Road Fund as part of the rationalisation process, her prayer was: could the Office of the Prime Minister clarify how people of Mawogola North, Ssembabule will ensure the completion of the promised Akagari Bridge, which connects Gomba to Ssembabule District? I wonder how they will do it. Madam Speaker, my response is that the Akagari Bridge on River Katonga is on a district road. Following the request from the area Members of Parliament, the former Uganda National Roads Authority intervened and installed the culverts that made the location motorable. The district will be advised to complete the outstanding works using the Shs 1 billion. Hon. Michael Timuzigu Kamugisha MP, Kajara County, Ntungamo asked that all counties in Uganda be turned into districts except 19, which are in the districts of Ntungamo, Isingiro, Kasese and Tororo. These districts are treated like former counties in provision of all services and staff. Each has one road maintenance unit, one district hospital, gets the same share of Government-sponsored students in public universities, gets the same share of seed schools and construction of primary schools, to mention but a few. According to Hon. Timuzigu, these districts have, therefore, not been able to fairly benefit from the decentralisation policy and are slowly being left behind in development. For example, in Ntungamo, parents have to first build primary school classrooms up to window level for the district local government to come in and do the completion and this is against the Government policy of no-fees payment in Universal Primary Education (UPE) schools. Prayer: When is the Government going to complete the harmonisation of district sizes by giving the remaining 19 counties district status to start developing at the rate of other districts? Madam Speaker, my response is that the Ministry of Local Government issued a moratorium, suspending creation of any new local government units or alteration of boundaries in April 2021, under which we were still operating, until a new position is approved by the Government.

15936 THE NATIONAL BUDGET FRAMEWORK PAPER FOR THE FY 2025/2026 - 2029/2030 thanked the committee. I hope the committee will not be a scene of crime this time. Mr Speaker, you talked about vending licences. In Busoga, there is a miller who has seven licences. You wonder how he got them and what they are going to do. As you mentioned, something must be done. On the issue of unfunded priorities, how can an item remain unfunded for five years, appearing every time? We must, maybe, have a law somewhere that says that if an item appears three times – what is very interesting is that an item can appear among those to be funded this year, then the next or third year, it becomes unfunded, but it remains there. We must stop this joke and have something serious and tougher in that line and have a law. In the same spirit, as the President said that we must help him about Universal Primary Education (UPE), my honourable colleagues talked about arts teachers. We are tired of seeing cartoons in newspapers where one teacher is eating chicken and rice and the other eating cassava. One is sleeping in a big house, another in a grass-thatched one. One is driving a Benz, and the other is walking. Mr Speaker, we must do something about arts teachers. It has become the song during burial services. When an arts teacher gets space to speak, he will speak about Parliament not helping or doing anything. I pray and request that as we prepare the budget for this year, let us provide some money for the arts teachers. On Busoga University, Hon. Peter Ogwang has just left the subregion. He promised to do something about the university. In 2019, I attended a meeting where Bunyoro and Busoga universities were discussed. They told us that they were beginning with Bunyoro University and then Busoga University would come next, the following year. Five years down the road, Busoga University is just looking for a Vote. We must also do something about that. Blood bank in Jinja. During COVID-19, when Dr Ruhakana Rugunda was still the Prime Minister, he promised that they would do something about Jinja Regional Referral Hospital and that we would get a blood bank. I do not know where we are in terms of the position and what is happening. Power. On the Committee on National Economy, we – (Member timed out.)

Thank you, Mr Speaker. I take this opportunity to thank the Chairperson of the Committee on Budget and the minority report which was presented. My concern is on the teachers in Universal Primary Education (UPE) schools. Mr Speaker, it is our support, as the Government, which will help the UPE school teachers to perform well. When you move in most of the UPE schools, you will find that they do not have staff quarters, which leads to the teachers coming late and leaving early. I request, if possible, we provide a budget for staff quarters in most of the UPE schools. This will improve the performance of our children in the schools. Even the teachers will perform well when they have where to sleep, around the school. Thank you very much. Mr Speaker.

15961 THE ELEVENTH PARLIAMENT OF UGANDA THURSDAY, 30 JANUARY 2025 report pointed out. The minority report raised an issue on luxury spending; Mr Speaker, I wish to respond to luxury spending as follows: Whereas the shadow minister mentioned the allocation of Shs 132.251 billion towards beddings and cloth wear as the highest allocation for luxury items, this is not the case. The Ministry of Finance, Planning, and Economic Development is proud of its achievement in providing information on the budget to all stakeholders. However, we urge you to request for clarification where you might not understand some of the allocations. I wish to clarify on the allocations to these items as follows: i) Ministry of Defence and Veterans Affairs; An amount of Shs 94.8 billion is provided for army uniforms and boots. This is what he is calling “luxury spending”; ii) Uganda Police Force; An amount of Shs 17.6 billion is provided for uniforms and boots; iii) Uganda Prisons Service; Shs 11. 89 billion for uniforms, boots, blankets, and uniforms for prisoners; iv) Hospitals, Uganda Heart Institute, and Uganda Blood Transfusion Service (UBTS); Shs 1.144,5 trillion. This is the medical clothing for medical workers; v) We have an item of clothing under the Parliamentary Commission for protocol people, which the Speaker has already clarified; vi) Uganda Revenue Authority; Shs 998.8 million for tax collectors attire; vii) Under the Ministry of Health, we have Shs 929.4 million. These are medical- related attires; viii) National Citizenship and Immigration; Shs 899.4 million. This is for procurement of attire for immigration officers; ix) The Judiciary; Shs 603 million. This is the attire for judicial officers; x) Under Uganda Business and Technical Examinations Board (UBTEB) and universities, we have Shs 2.06 billion for various attire for the staff working in those institutions. Mr Speaker, it is, therefore, not true that this is a luxurious expenditure. These are provisions aimed at facilitating the operations of people working in these sectors. The report also raises the issue of skyrocketing public debt to Shs 109 trillion. Mr Speaker, as we mentioned in the Budget Framework Paper, the debt levels of Uganda remain within sustainable levels – of 46.8 per cent of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) as at the end of Financial Year 2023/2024 (that is, as at June 2024). We are confident that with the 10-fold growth strategy, which focuses on the ATMs, the debt will further reduce because the economy is going to grow and we shall raise more taxes, and, as a result, we shall keep the debts within manageable levels. On the domestic arrears, our response is that the Government has put in place the Domestic Arrears Management Strategy in order to clear arrears over the medium-term. An amount of Shs 13.8 trillion included Shs 9.1 trillion in outstanding debt to Bank of Uganda, which has since been paid – this is the minister for finance speaking. (Applause) The most recent report from the Internal Auditor-General estimates the stock of domestic arrears at Shs 3.521 trillion, and they are in areas of court awards, pension, salary and gratuity, telephone, water, electricity, etc. Through the arrears management strategy, the Government remains committed to clearing all the remaining arrears over the medium-term. There was an issue on tax policy. Our response on tax policy is that we have submitted a Cabinet memorandum on the draft national tax policy, and we shall fast-track it to ensure that it is put on the agenda as soon as possible There was a question on capitation grant. Mr Speaker, from Financial Year 2023/2024, capitation grant for Universal Primary Education (UPE) learners is Shs 20,000, as opposed to the Shs 6,000. For secondary, it is Shs 176,000 per term. Over the years –

Thank you, Mr Speaker. However, important to note is also that this capitation grant has been growing over time. For instance, under USE, the capitation grant increased from Shs 126.99 billion to Shs 144.7 billion and under UPE, capitation grant has increased from Shs 67.85 billion to Shs 185.36 billion. We had an issue on district funding. Mr Speaker, during the current financial year, all districts, which migrated from cities, received an initial funding of Shs 1 billion for construction and this has been released in full. For subcounties and town councils, the ministry for finance is working with the Ministry of Local Government to provide standard Bills of Quality (BOQs) to enable the Government to sequence the construction, subject to availability of funds. We also had an issue of budget ceilings. From the debate, you could hear people saying “You have not provided for this and that, you have reduced this and that”. Mr Speaker, the preliminary figures which appear in the Budget Framework Paper are informed by the MTEF projections and they exclude the subsequent provisions, which were made after the second budget call circular was issued. That is why you find that under National Medical Stores, for instance, Shs 100 billion is missing. Mr Speaker, I wish to assure the House that as we finalise the second budget call circular – which will be issued on 15 February 2025 – some of these considerations will be taken care of, funds allowing. (Interjections) A number of them will be taken care of, honourable colleagues. Mr Speaker, I have received information that under UPE, the capitation grant is Shs 20,000 per learner, per year and under USE, the Shs 160,000 is per learner per year. What are we doing under tourism? Mr Speaker, our priorities under tourism are the following: 1. Increasing tourism-related research and uptake. 2. Development, improvement and diversification of tourism products. 3. Improving tourism infrastructure, including transport, trails, electricity, ICT and accommodation. 4. Reducing the tourism skills gap. 5. Strengthening and harmonising marketing and promotion of Uganda as a preferred destination. 6. Strengthening the enforcement of tourism standards and regulations, conservation and protection of natural resources. Mr Speaker – I am trying to conclude. You raised a number of issues about the taxation of subscriptions for clubs. The manager of Entebbe Golf Club might have been referring to the VAT charged for the provision of some services. I do not want to believe that our law – I can cross-check, but our law excludes subscriptions from taxation.

15804 STANDING COMMITTEE R E PORT school that has been performing for the last 10 years, posting good grades, and this time it comes out as the worst school. Members, kindly give me attention because I am giving important information. Secondly, some of these schools have children whose parents picked them from Kampala and took them to rural schools. These very children of primary six got first class grades; aggregate four. Then those in primary seven did mocks and mid-term exams and were getting aggregate five, but now, they got aggregate 17, when the PLE results came out. The most challenging issue with the Uganda National Examinations Board (UNEB) – and it is the practice everywhere; when the parents complain, the child, the teacher who taught the child and the school all say that they do not agree with these marks. “UNEB, show us the scripts of our children; we are ready to pay because that is the principle.” Even in universities, it is the principle that once there is a complaint about the marks, the school pays a cost to UNEB to find out the performance, but UNEB is rejecting this. Mr Speaker, let us agree on this: Most of the Universal Primary Education (UPE) schools in Kampala employ teachers on a private basis because they do not have enough teachers. Then you have schools like Kampala Parents, Green Hill, and Hillside, where you are sure that the school has more staff teaching children – something is happening in UNEB that we must exhaust. Let us not talk about our rural schools or what, but we need to find out the challenges. It is absolutely not proper to mislead anybody here – (Member timed out.) Mr Speaker, as I conclude-

Mr Speaker, thank you very much. From your communication - and it has become common practice for me to remind the Ministry of Education and Sports, that since you said you are going for campaigns, the children should not stay behind. I got numerous calls, as a shadow minister, from a number of schools that they did not get the capitation grant, yet the term starts on the third. This is a very big problem for the children. Secondly, a number of schools have advertised for senior one positions when the Primary Leaving Examinations (PLE) are not yet out, and the Minister for Education and Sports is comfortably seated listening. How are these students going to join senior one when the results for the PLE are not yet out? Above all that, Mr Speaker, let us help the Minister for Education and Sports. This money is very little, and yet the teachers must be at school by now preparing for the beginning of the term, as they are at private schools where our children study. The biggest population of children in Uganda is in Universal Primary Education (UPE) and Universal Secondary Education (USE) schools. Mr Speaker, the Ministry of Education and Sports should take keen attention; USE schools have developed a system of opening up boarding sections – (Member timed out.) COMMUNICATION FROM THE CHAIR

15559 THE ELEVENTH PARLIAMENT OF UGANDA THURSDAY, 9 JANUARY 2025 Firstly, the country has got serious peace, security – (Interjections) – yes, it does not just come unless you have planned for it – and there is also macroeconomic stability. That means that this business of prices changing overnight and so on – there is now stability. Madam Speaker, the size of Uganda’s economy has increased more than threefold in the last 14 years. (Applause) It has increased to Shs 202.1 trillion, from Shs 64 trillion. Madam Speaker, the economy has also been diversified from the traditional base, that is, the 3Cs and 3Ts of coffee, cotton, copper, tobacco, tea and tourism. We have now moved to other areas. (Applause) We have also achieved better domestic revenue mobilisation, which has risen up to Shs 27.7 trillion - here we mixed commas and points - from Shs 6.4 trillion, way back. That is about 13.8 per cent, much as we are now moving towards 18 per cent, and the plan which is coming is going to show that things are getting better and better. Investment in road transport infrastructure has significantly improved connectivity, providing potential for better movement of people, goods and tourists. The stock of paved national road network has increased from 6,199 kilometres out of a total of 21,000 kilometres. We have 21,000 kilometres, if we are to have the whole network. So far, we have managed to move to 6,199 km from the previous 3,112 km. That is quite remarkable, colleagues. We also have to note that electricity generation capacity has been built, and it has tripled in the last 14 years. That is why you see that with electricity, now we are only suffering with transmission and whatever – what do you call them? Distribution? That is so that all people get electricity. The next plan will now address where we are heading. On average, Ugandans are now living longer. The average life expectancy has moved – because of all these good things; good life, good health, and so on – from 50.4 to 68.6. (Applause) Therefore, our people, like my sons, Hon. Masaba here, Hon. Odur, and Hon. Mwijukye, are not going anywhere. (Laughter ) You are going to be here for 20 other terms because things are going to be better and you will see that in the next plan, it will be even better. Strides have been made in lifting our people out of poverty. Although vulnerability remains at high levels, there is some improvement. Access to education, at all levels, has increased. Honourable colleagues, primary school net enrolment increased from 91 per cent in the Financial Year 2019/2020 from 82.3 in the Financial Year 2012/2013. From 2019/2020, it has come to 91 per cent for primary school- going children. Secondary school enrolment has also improved. Therefore, as we build more schools and provide UPE and USE, there is great improvement, and illiteracy levels are coming down. Madam Speaker, the Government’s restoration and tree planting policy is yielding results. The forest cover, as a percentage of total land area, increased to 13.3 per cent in 2021/2022 from 10.7 per cent in 2010/2011. So, there is some increase, although we need more. Internet penetration and usage have also increased. The percentage of the population subscribed to the internet rose to 53 per cent in 2022, from 1.8 per cent in 2010. Therefore, there is a big loop there. That means that if the trend continues and if we put some catalyst, it will even go to 100 per cent soon. However, much as we scored these improvements, they would have been better but there are also some challenges. That is why we are now talking of – 1. The proportion of the population outside the money economy is still high. We need to work harder - stop this politicking. Let us work hard and make sure that our people come out of poverty.

First, on behalf of the people of Katakwi District and the Ministry of Education and Sports, I begin by thanking Hon. Joseph Koluo, Member of Parliament for Toroma County and the entire management of Toroma Primary School for coming to visit the Parliament of Uganda. I congratulate you for coming. I have heard the request from the Member of Parliament for Toroma County but I want to say the following: this school is a Universal Primary Education (UPE) school. As a Government and in line with the UPE policy, we do not look at dormitories and fencing. Are we clear there, honourable colleague? However, regarding the question of teachers, we first of all understand that it is one which we normally follow up with the responsible ministry in charge of the release of monies to recruit additional teachers which is not only Toroma but all over the country. We need it and I implore - we will follow it up to ensure that once we are given this additional money, we will be able to provide teachers equivalent to the pupils’ ratio in this school. In a nutshell, I want to say that the question of teachers riding boda bodas - (Interjection) - teachers becoming boda bodas - I appeal to our teachers, if there are some who are leaving their profession for this specific subject matter of being a boda boda rider, it is important that you remain a teacher because all of us here are products of teachers. Thank you. I congratulate Toroma for coming to visit the Parliament. Congratulations, Hon. Koluo.

Thank you, Madam Speaker. As a principal mother, having nurtured and a home being the first school, I share this joy with the teachers to join them and celebrate this day, and congratulate them for choosing to be teachers beyond the home, which privilege I do not take for granted. It is very alarming to find that we have Universal Primary Education and Universal Secondary Education, and you go to a school that has over 1,600 students. You then find that the Government only pays about 30 teachers. What happens to the rest? The rest of the teachers are being sponsored by the fees that are collected. I know His Excellency has appealed so many times that UPE needs to be free. Through you, Madam Speaker and the Minister of Education and Sports, I would like you to carry my voice to His Excellency that I support free education as a woman and I am an advocate for the girl- child. That is one area that we appeal to him to do. The other thing is the looming epidemic of children, especially in private schools, who carry heavy bags on their backs. I thank the teachers for doing that work, but asking young children to carry counter books - we were in Ankole for a surgical camp that covered 13 districts. The report that came –

Amen. Thank you. Honourable minister, I will get a response from you but you need to address the issue of the teacher-to-student ratio, the discrepancy in payments and the issues of the new curriculum that even the teachers who are teaching are not well-versed with. The living conditions of the teachers where somebody - The teacher stays 30 kilometres away from the school and - Do you get it? Then the issue of children sharing toilets; the girls and boys are sharing toilets with the teachers. You also need to look at the students’ feeding. Much as we are talking about Universal Primary Education (UPE) and Universal Secondary Education (USE), the students’ feeding and the discrimination between the teachers - We need to look at the overall issues that Members have raised. Please, let us first hear from the minister then –

Thank you, Madam Speaker. We, who come from refugee hosting districts, there is a big discrepancy with the data we have in the population databank. The management has totally failed. They give wrong reports. I think they do not use people who qualify to collect the data. They just go and assume that in this population, this could be the number. Now we share health centres and schools. The Universal Primary Education (UPE) fund that is given is so little. Even medicine that is supplied to the health centres is so low. A major intervention should be done with the population council. They should take their work seriously.

Mr Speaker, we cannot work retrospectively in this House. Yesterday you gave a directive that the Ministry of Education and Sports should go and give us three months - actually, the minister wanted one month, but I pray that she takes three months to give us the status of Universal Primary Education (UPE) schools in Uganda. But, here we are and the minister is giving us figures which were given to districts. When you talk about Shs 80 million as money to rehabilitate schools in a district, that is almost nothing - It is nothing.

Thank you, Mr Speaker. I rise on a matter of national importance, urging the Government for a speedy intervention in a calamity that is about to befall the education sector, especially in the Universal Primary Education (UPE) schools. Mr Speaker, you are aware that UPE caters for 85 per cent of the local population in Uganda, and there is a move to parallelise the whole process. How? We are having teachers, more especially in primary schools, who are registering for early retirement. It is affecting service delivery in most of the schools. As I speak now, in a school of seven classrooms, apparently, there are four teachers catering for all the classes. We are facing a challenge, not only in Butaleja, but countrywide. As a member of the forum for children, we moved to many districts – Butaleja, Jinja, Arua, Koboko and Kalangala – and they are all facing the same issues. How does this come about? The teachers, at one point, are forced to seek for contributions from the parents and we are all aware that the President came out very clearly on this matter, that there should not be any parent making any contribution towards UPE schools. We are all aware that the budget for primary schools is very small for any school to function. We are faced with a challenge on the ground, between the offices of the Resident District Commissioners (RDC) and the headteachers in school. As I speak now, in Butaleja, we have headteachers who have been arrested. All this is affecting the services, as I have said. It is leading to an unconducive environment for the schools. My prayers are; 1. Who is going to teach the children of the poor if the rate of early retirement is not deterred? 2. Secondly, is the –

Request. Thank you, Mr Speaker. Another question is: is the ministry aware of what is taking place in the UPE schools? Finally, can Parliament interest itself to carry out oversight in regard to this information that I provided and indulge the President for an immediate intervention on the state of the Government schools in the country?

Thank you, Mr Speaker. I thank my sister, Hon. Florence, for raising that matter, which is on the issue of teachers. I am very much aware – that is why I am the minister for primary education. I am aware of what is happening. Mr Speaker, it is true that out of 10.9 million learners in primary education, 9.6 million are all in public schools – that is, UPE schools – whereas the balance is in private schools. She is very right to say that over 90 per cent of learners in primary education are found in UPE schools. Number two, she is right because the budget that we have in place is not adequate to support the schools as we expect. Mr Speaker, to have a comprehensive compulsory universal education, we need Shs 309.1 billion for primary education only. In principle, we all agree that we need, as the Ministry of Education and Sports, to provide policy direction for implementing this vision of implementing comprehensive, compulsory universal education for our children. We all look forward to achieving that vision of implementing comprehensive and compulsory universal education for our children. What I can tell my sister is that it is true that the number of teachers is inadequate but all the same, we do provide funds every financial year for the recruitment of teachers. In our budget this very financial year, we have Shs 11 billion for recruiting primary school teachers in those districts that critically need to recruit teachers. It is also for coding of the new schools. I cannot provide it right now but we have it in our budget. Therefore, I can assure my honourable colleague that we may not handle everything at a go but every financial year, we try to increase the budget for recruitment. As I conclude, I want to thank her for raising that concern but let us all speak the same language to advocate and ensure that we implement compulsory, comprehensive universal education. That will come along with recruiting enough teachers and increasing capitation grant and all that it takes to provide that education for our learners. I thank you.

Mr Speaker, I think the Ministry of Education and Sports, in their admission, are themselves saying they have refused to release the funds. As I was saying, Bat Valley and Buganda Road primary schools do not have pit latrines. They use that money to pay for national water and electricity. That means they might even cut off their water. When I talked to the minister before we entered here, we were talking very well, but when I sought clarification, she refused. Let us speak the truth. We need an audit on Universal Primary Education (UPE) schools in Uganda. Can you give us the status of these UPE schools? It is

14310 SECTORAL COMMITTEE REPORT these Members of Parliament who are building pit latrines, doing construction work, putting up the blackboards, painting and everything for UPE schools. The little money you are giving is useless, yet you are not sending it in time. You talked about the – (Interjection) - honourable colleague, I am going to give you way - 113 districts, which have been cleared – the minister of finance said they are 113, but you are saying they are 158. However, even those that you have cleared have not yet received the money yet what is happening is that Members of Parliament are called by the head teachers to give assistance to buy boxes of chalk as well as red and blue pens. So, where are we heading? You know that we are going for Primary Leaving Examinations (PLE). The whole chairman of the Committee on Education and Sports is here also having a challenge with his schools because the roofs were blown off. He is our committee chairman! So, can I take the information as I –

14313 THE ELEVENTH PARLIAMENT OF UGANDA WEDNESDAY, 18 SEPTEMBER 2024 the head teachers and the district leaders who are not carrying out your directives. Lastly, Mr Speaker, my prayer and I request that if it pleases, you direct the Committee on Education and Sports to get us the status of Universal Primary Education (UPE) schools in Uganda; only UPE. Let me talk about UPE. I will not go to Universal Secondary Education (USE) so that we get a report here and see what we can do. Otherwise, what we are having in the schools in our constituencies is appalling. Thank you.

Thank you. Any comment on the UPE schools? Hon. Ssewungu is saying we need a status report of the UPE schools in the country. How much time would you need?

Mr Speaker, I stand here to present a motion for a resolution of Parliament urging the Government to formulate a policy on free compulsory boarding school education for the Karamoja Subregion. I am moving this motion under Rule 56 of the Rules of Procedure of Parliament. “WHEREAS the Karamoja Subregion is located in the North Eastern part of Northern Uganda, covering about 27,000 square kilometres and characterised by a semi-arid climate, with erratic rainfall and a population of about 1,400,000 people out of the national population of about 46,000,000 people as per the 2024 National Census; AND WHEREAS the Karamoja Subregion has traditionally experienced low literacy levels with 66 per cent of the population not having any form of formal education largely attributable to the high school dropout rate caused by the inability to afford scholastic materials, lack of school feeding programme, long walking distances, cultural chores like livestock farming, digging, and historical injustices against the Karamoja Subregion; NOTING that the high school dropout rates at primary level has resulted into a minimal secondary school gross enrolment rate which stands at only 19 per cent and the lowest adult literacy rates of 25 per cent as per the 2019/2020 compared to the 73 per cent national enrolment rate. For instance, if you compare Karamoja to the rest of Uganda, the general enrolment rate for Kampala is 92 per cent, 83 per cent for Buganda South and 79 per cent for Ankole, but Karamoja Subregion stands at the bottom of the table; FURTHER NOTING that many of the male school dropouts end up being recruited into “warriorhood”, cattle rustling and armed violence while the female school dropouts end up in early marriages and/or as child mothers which has contributed to Karamoja having high indicators of maternal mortality, child mortality and under five mortality rates; CONCERNED that Karamoja’s struggle with cyclic insecurity is attributed to its low rates of education and household poverty. Many children of school going age (3-18 years) are integrated into the livestock herding economy, taking care of livestock and experiencing the vagaries of conflict, and ultimately taking roles in either defending their livestock or participating in revenge expeditions and most often becoming the victims and perpetrators of conflict; FURTHER CONCERNED that the human and economic costs of dealing with insecurity in Karamoja far outstrip the costs to the national economy of implementing high quality education. In the decade until 2010, Karamoja lost about 80 per cent of its herd to insecurity. When insecurity returned in 2019, as mentioned by Hon. Nakut yesterday, a district like Kaabong lost nearly all its herd. Therefore, investment into education is a direct investment in national economic growth, in stabilising the region and security and also cuts off the young generations from participating in criminal activities; AWARE that with Government interventions, through the UPE and USE as well as the free compulsory boarding school programme in some schools in Karamoja Subregion, the literacy rate for the boy-child has risen by seven per cent between 2016 and 2020 but that of the girl-child has only risen by 1.3 per cent and out of this total primary school enrolment of both boys and girls, only 12 per cent of the girls make it to secondary schools;

14178 SECTORAL COMMITTEE REPORT RECOGNISING that the Constitution, in Articles 30 and 34, enshrines a child’s right to basic education and obligates the state to provide it, together with the parents, the same is buttressed by the Sustainable Development Goals, the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child as well as the African Charter on Human and People’s Rights; FURTHER RECOGNISING that whereas there are policies on UPE and USE, there is no complementary policy on free compulsory boarding school education specifically for the Karamoja Subregion, given its unique historical injustices and vulnerable nature; REALISING that there is need for a full-fledged policy on compulsory free boarding school education to boost the education of children in the Karamoja Subregion and to complement and strengthen the existing structures that offer free compulsory boarding school education; FURTHER ACKNOWLEDGING that providing quality education in Karamoja Subregion requires long-term comprehensive and coordinated Government effort; NOW, THEREFORE, be it resolved that; a. Government formulates a policy on free compulsory boarding school education for Karamoja Subregion; b. The implementation of the policy should be fast-tracked in the Karamoja Subregion and other regions of the country with low literacy levels; and c. Government strengthens the existing structures and framework on free compulsory boarding school education for the Karamoja Subregion.” Mr Speaker, I beg to move.

14181 THE ELEVENTH PARLIAMENT OF UGANDA FRIDAY, 30 AUGUST 2024 the Government to formulate a policy on free, compulsory boarding school education for the Karamoja Subregion. I want to thank hon. Remigio for moving this motion and honourable colleagues for supporting it. Mr Speaker, we are moving this motion for a region whose development indices are very, very low. Talk about education, it is very low, the percentage covered is low. Health, water, roads, name it, are very low. The only indices that are high are illiteracy, insecurity and poverty which stands at nearly 70 per cent of the people in Karamoja in extreme poverty. The illiteracy level in Karamoja stands at 66 per cent. Mr Speaker, we cannot just sit and observe part of Uganda lagging behind when the rest of the country is moving forward as far as education and other aspects of development are concerned. Leaving Karamoja behind has a pull-down effect on the rest of the country so, we must team together and pull this child called Karamoja, which is still lagging behind. And we can only do this on two approaches. The first approach is affirmative action, as enshrined in Article 32. The second is the right- based approach as embedded in Article 30 and Article 34(1) that every child of school going age has a right to education. Mr Speaker, some people might argue that we have Universal Primary Education (UPE) and Universal Secondary Education (USE) so, why hasn’t Karamoja utilised these existing Government policies? We are saying yes, the Government policy of having a primary school per parish and a secondary school per subcounty are there. However, when you look at the dynamics therein, you find the distances covered by these young learners, commuting from their homes to the schools to either a primary or a secondary school are considerable distances which cannot be managed by the learners. Therefore, we are saying if the Government can have a policy to enhance both boarding primary and secondary school education, these young learners can stay at school and finish their education smoothly. There is a destructive effect of moving from your home to school. Along the way, it contributes to absenteeism and increases the dropout rate of the young learners. So, having boarding schools for the Karamoja Subregion will address this issue. Mr Speaker -

Thank you, Mr Speaker. I would like to thank my colleague for presenting this motion. Permit me to, first of all, make the mandate of the Ministry of Education and Sports very clear. It is to provide quality education for all children in Uganda. I am happy that Article 30 of the Constitution of the Republic of Uganda stipulated that education is a fundamental right for our children. In that spirit, Mr Speaker, the President of the Republic of Uganda, Gen. Yoweri Kaguta Museveni, to ensure all our children have a right to education, brought on board the universal education for our children; primary in 1997 and secondary in 2007. The principle and spirit of universal education is to leave no child behind. There should be no barriers for our children to access education. As a result of universal education that was brought on board, the enrolment of our children in schools increased drastically. For instance, in 1995 when Universal Primary Education (UPE) was brought on board, from 2.5 million pupils, the enrolment rose to 5.3 million in 1998. Thereafter, in 2023, it went to 8.5 million and, today, we are speaking about 10.9 million learners enrolled in primary education. This is because of the principle of universal education. The principle is to increase access to education, especially to the disadvantaged children. Also, the design in that principle is to construct classrooms and sanitation facilities as well as administrative blocks for primary, while secondary has an ICT block, multipurpose hall and science block. There was no provision for boarding facilities, in terms of dormitories and what it takes to have a boarding facility. Mr Speaker, despite this high enrolment in universal education, we, as the education fraternity, have seen challenges in terms of high rates of dropout, uncoordinated charges of fees, climate change that has caused problem for children to access school – the floods and the destructions in our school. We have seen violence against children and overcrowding in classes. The Ministry of Education and Sports, indeed, recognises the challenges that are unique to areas in the Karamoja region and in island communities, where we have seen children coming to school using boats or canoes. We have seen challenges in areas that are prone to disasters. As a result of floods, we see day scholars not able to cross the bridges. Mr Speaker, on 17 March 2023, Cabinet, under the chairpersonship of His Excellency Yoweri Kaguta Museveni, approved a document that was presented by Mama Janet, the Minister of Education and Sports. It is about the Government implementing free and compulsory universal education for all our children in Uganda, starting with the primary education and, then, we move to secondary education. This will bring on board issues to do with increment in enrolment, recruitment of teachers, funds to increase capitation grants and what have you. We are to start with primary and then move to secondary because the funds that are needed to start this free and compulsory education went up to over Shs 300 billion. We had to prioritise the upcoming AFCON activities in the country.

14121 THE ELEVENTH PARLIAMENT OF UGANDA THURSDAY, 29 AUGUST 2024 free education in government schools, but other people are pushing for charges for this one, for that. Please, if you want those children whom you say are street children - they are street children because many of them did not go to school. What is blocking them? School charges. So, the political class, all the elite, please, if you say you care about your people, support my position on free education. If you do not want to support that, then keep quiet, and let the children suffer. Do not just talk. This is the second point. Seeking for homestead incomes and free education in Government schools. We have been begging since 1990, it is almost 30 years now. UPE, they put charges. If there are unmet costs, bring them. You are Members of Parliament, I am President here, you are there, and we budget together. You come from those areas. Come and we budget. Let us block all these other expenditures and provide free education for the children in the Government schools. Do not go and say, I am paying for children in my constituency. How many are you paying for? 10. How will 10 children in a constituency solve the problems apart from putting you in debt? You are killing yourself, you are killing the children, you are doing nothing. Listen to NRM. Just have free education in the Government schools. Those who have money to build private schools can go to private schools, the children of the rich. I started my school in Okwang, near my village in Baralegi. I had calculated there that if I could give capitation grant of so much, there would be no other school costs that are not met. The capitation grant is set, but I think they still charge school fees. I have got free schools in Kisozi. They do not pay any cost. They study. It can be done. So, free education, if we want our people to get out of poverty. About the infrastructure, I agree, especially the railway. Have we not repaired the railway line from Tororo to Gulu? Is it not repaired? They were repairing it. What happened? Works minister, Hon. Ecweru -

Thank you, Madam Speaker. Micah Lolem Akasile. I represent the people of Upe County in the Amudat District, a community, which still survives on a health centre II and has never seen something called a tarmac road. I am a yellow “Karachuna”

LIST OF MEMBERS ON THE COMMITTEE OF NATIONAL ECONOMY NO NAMES CONSTITUENCY SIGNATURE l 1 Hon. Ikojo Chairperson John Bosco, Bukedea County 1 2 Hon. Migadde Robert Ndugwa, Deputy CIP Buyuma Islands \ lc 3 Hon. Tibasiimwa Joram Ruranga Elderly 4 Hon. Opolot Simon Peter 5 Hon. Ayoo Tonny Kwnia County 6 Hon. Katali Loy 7 Hon. Avur Jane Pacuto Pakwach B Hon. Baba James Boliba I I Hon. Mutiwa Geofrey Eric B*^.totg- rNsgl ffi 10 Hon. Chelain Betty Louke \ 11 Hon. Byanyima Nathan Bukanga North t2 Hon. Lolem Micah Akasile UPE 13 Hon. Tlrinomujuni Francis Kazinr &u ll-n+uzt gf&-+ L4 Hon. Bahireira T\rmwekwase Sylvia 15 Hon. Waako Pegry Joy Elderly 16 Hon. Agaba Aisa t7 Hon. Natukunda Medius Rukungiri 1B Hon. Lochap Peterkhen 79 Hon. Were Godfrey Odero 20 Hon" Ayoo Jennifer Nalukwago 2T Hon. Awich Jane Kaberamaido A'*t-,'; 22 Hon. Atyang Stella 23 Hon. Lokwang Hillary IKI 24 Hon. Komol Joseph Midi Dodoth North

12721 THE ELEVENTH PARLIAMENT OF UGANDA FRIDAY, 12 APRIL 2024 research in education service and Shs 0.45 billion to disseminate the validated report of 2022 in the remaining regions. Vote 122: Kampala Capital City Authority (KCCA) The committee recommends that the Ministry of Finance, Planning and Economic Development commits an additional Shs l.525 billion to the revised capitation grants for UPE, USE/UPOLET and Special Needs Education subvention to KCCA schools and Shs 39.0 billion towards the construction of KCCA Phillip Omondi Stadium, which will act as a support facility for AFCON.

(8) Hosted 20 Turkish Travel Agents to a tourism experience of the South- Western region of Uganda in partnership with Embassy of Uganda in Turkey. (9) Produced tourism content in partnership with China-based Ugandan influencer, Rose Mary Adikini, and South African content creator and influencer, Mihlali Ndamase, for increased destination visibility. (10) Jointly promoted domestic events such as Kagulu Hilt climb, Karamoja Festival, Empango celebrations, the Theluji festival in the Rwenzori region, the Rolex Festival, Kyakaigo Motor Rally in Fort Portal, Ghetto Kids Tour of Western Uganda, Elgon Marathon, Pian Upe activation with Miss Uganda, Miss Tourism and Miss Deaf beauty pageants in partnership with tourism stakeholders (ll) Produced and disseminated 2,000 promotional giveaways for brand visibility (12) lO2rSOZ tourists visiting Museums and cultural heritage sites (13) Guided conservation education tours conducted for 4991572 visitors at UWEC against a target of 490,000. (14) 234,249 tourists were hosted in PAs against a target of 335,906. f,tr1 (. 6nn lw' \rP- ,& 11 ry llir.J* HK

11839 THE ELEVENTH PARLIAMENT OF UGANDA WEDNESDAY, 14 FEBRUARY 2024 These are the directives in the circular; 1. No school, private or government shall increase school fees for whatever reason without written authorisation from the Permanent Secretary, Minister of Education and Sports or from the Chief Administrative Officer or the Town Clerk. 2. Other cash and non-cash requirements outside the approved school fees structure are strictly prohibited. All non-cash items must be catered for in the school budget. 3. Schools implementing Universal Primary Education (UPE), Universal Secondary Education (USE) and universal post-O- level education and training shall strictly adhere to the policy implementation guidelines, where parents decide and agree to contribute towards an emergency in the school and permission is sought and granted by the Permanent Secretary. No learner shall be excluded from school on account of a parent’s failure to pay the agreed amount in accordance with section 9(3) of the Education Act, 2008. As soon as the emergency is resolved, the school shall stop charging the emergency fund. 4. Where a school board or school management committee has to employ additional teachers to those on payroll, permission shall be sought from the Permanent Secretary in case of secondary education and Chief Administrative Officer or the Town Clerk in case of primary schools to use part of the capitation grant towards the payment of the additional teachers. 5. In line with the above (4), head teachers are warned against employing additional teachers before all the teachers on payroll have been assigned the minimum required teaching load. All teachers without a minimum teaching load should be promptly reported to the ministry in case of secondary education or to the respective local government in case of primary schools for appropriate deployment. All schools must respect staff establishment ceilings for both teaching and non-teaching staff as provided by the Ministry of Public Service. 6. Private schools must adhere to the approved staff employment guidelines. They should formally recruit, contract and effectively manage and develop staff on reasonable employment terms. 7. All Government and Government- aided schools should desist from taking commercial loans. Any school applying for a loan must seek authorisation from the Ministry of Finance, Planning and Economic Development through the PS of the Ministry of Education and Sports, as provided for in the Public Finance Management Act, 2015. These guidelines have been widely circulated to institutions of learning across the country through local governments, Kampala City Council Authority, and the Directorate of Education standards. Mr Speaker, the Ministry of Education and Sports prepared a Cabinet Paper on school fees regulation. However, the Cabinet, in a quest to fulfil the pledge of free education for all, directed the Ministry of Education and Sports to submit another memo on compulsory comprehensive free universal education for all. It is important to note that the Cabinet under Minute 109(CT 2023), approved a list of unacceptable items, which schools are not allowed to charge, including fees for remedial learning and construction, indeed, the Cabinet, approved the comprehensive, compulsory free universal education for all. The ministry is currently embarking on the process of implementing compulsory free universal education for all and will brief the Parliament accordingly on the progress at an appropriate time.

Thank you, Mr Speaker. I would also like to associate myself with the honourable minister’s report. However, the issue of skilling does not come out. For instance, in the greater Ankole region, we have only one skilling centre, which sometimes admits about 10 students from every district. I think it is extremely inadequate, given that we have big numbers that would like to partake of this opportunity. If you could give more information about skilling and what the policy pertains, I would be very grateful. Secondly and lastly, Mr Speaker, I tried to stand up, but I did not catch your eye. Nonetheless, I would like to inform this House. We may not have needed to go to that extent because Kanyaryeru primary and secondary schools were started during my time as the Chief Administrative Officer (CAO) of Mbarara District, at that time. These schools do not and are not in any way owned by the President ( Interjections) - I did ask for some permission. They are not in any way owned by the President. They are just a seed school and a UPE school in that particular subcounty. (Interjections) I beg, honestly – (Interjections)- If you want to get proper information, get to me.

Mr Speaker, I would like to thank the minister for the statement. However, I have two issues to raise. The first one is that the ministry is giving one examination period, but we are aware that there are children who will sit and not pass even the second time. There are children who may be sick and not available to sit this exam this one time. What is the proposal of the Government for this category of students? Will they be provided with another opportunity to sit? It cannot be a one-off and then you close out the rest of the people. Secondly, we are talking about the new curriculum, but when I look at the primary school in my village; Makoma, Bulidha Subcounty, a UPE school, the teachers do not have materials for the new curriculum.

Thank you, Mr Speaker. Yesterday schools reopened for the first term and we have been getting calls from many of these schools regarding the capitation grant. This money has not gone to the schools, as it should be. Some UPE schools are yet to open; the capitation grant is money that is meant to empower the operations of the school - pay utility bills like electricity, water, and scholastic materials - and the general operations of these schools. Once this money is not availed to the schools, how do we expect them to operate? As I am saying, some have not opened yet because of this challenge. I do not know why we delay sending this money and want it to go along the way, yet we knew about when the term opens. The money should go first for the school to be able to open and operate. It would be prudent to establish whether it is a challenge with the Ministry of Finance, Ministry of Education or

11642 THE CIVIL AVIATION AUTHORITY (AMENDMENT) BILL, 2023 Ministry of Local Government, where this is habited? It would be important to know and find a very quick remedy for these schools to operate. Relatedly, again this capitation grant - and it is good that we are handling the budget process - it is too little money. When you have Shs 20,000 per Universal Primary Education (UPE) pupil per year - not per term but per year - and expect good standards from these schools - We expect these children to operate and compete at the international level; it is not possible. The magic will not happen. I hope that we can review this because if we are talking about securing the future of these young people, you secure it by investing in education. This capitation grant does not make sense at all. Finally, again related to schools, we have been reached out to - and I am sure a good number of colleagues here - by teachers in schools; arts teachers. Government passed a policy and said; “We want to focus on sciences.” That is a good thing because we are in the artificial intelligence (AI) age. However, it is problematic when we think that arts are not important. You have a science teacher earning about Shs 4 million shillings. That is at the degree level. Their arts counterpart is earning Shs 1.2 million. They are both teachers at the same level. They teach the same hours, they sit in the same staff room and we expect them to operate well. It cannot happen. These arts teachers feel marginalised and yet we expect a good output from them. We expect them to teach for the same amount of time that the science teachers do teach and when they do not deliver, we complain. I think it is high time the Government revisited this. Yes, let us focus on the sciences - in fact, I think that the best way to focus on science is; one, to pay the teachers better – but not just the science teachers. However, as you are trying to do that, a number of these Universal Secondary Education (USE) schools do not have laboratories. Some of these students meet test tubes, burettes or Bunsen burners for the first time in a final examination. You have been seeing the performance of these Government-funded schools. It is poor, simply because we are not putting our money where our mouth is. Hopefully, the Government can wake up to the reality of these issues. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr Speaker. Next week, schools are beginning and it was the position of this House that schools should be given Capitation Grant two weeks before the term begins. As we talk now, there is nothing sent from finance to schools. I do not know whether the Ministry of Education and Sports, Ministry of Finance, Planning and Economic Development, and fellow Members of Parliament have taken time to study the results of last year’s Primary Leaving Examinations (PLE). It is our schools – Mr Speaker, schools begin with preparation. Private schools are busy preparing for next week’s beginning, but Universal Primary Education (UPE) and Universal Secondary Education (USE) schools are going to start by slashing gardens and the school compound. I would like to know whether the Ministry of Finance, Planning and Economic Development has sent money to schools as was directed by Parliament so that the head teachers are not blamed. At the end of the day, RDCs will arrest the head teachers yet the failure is on the Government. I would like to know whether and why they have failed to send funds to UPE and USE schools so that the teachers are prepared to teach our children where we have the biggest number of children in this country. Thank you.

Madam Speaker, I beg to designate the following honourable members to the standing Committee on National Economy: 1. Hon. Ikojo John Bosco – Chairperson; and 2. Hon. Robert Migadde - Deputy Chairperson. The following are designated as members: 1. Hon. Joram Ruranga - Elderly; 2. Hon. Simon Peter Opolot - Kanyum; 3. Hon. Tonny Ayoo - Kwania; 4. Hon. Joy Katali - Jinja; 5. Hon. Jane Avur Pacuto - Pakwach; 6. Hon. James Baba Boliba - Koboko; 7. Hon. Geoffrey Eric Mutiwa – Bunyole West; 8. Hon. Betty Chelain - Amudat; 9. Hon. Nathan Byanyima – Bukanga North; 10. Hon. Micah Lolem - Upe; 11. Hon. Francis Kazini Twinomujuni - Buhaguzi; 12. Hon. Sylvia Bahireira Tumwekwase - Kamwenge; 13. Hon. Peggy Joy Waako – Elderly; 14. Hon. Aisa Agaba – Bugangaizi East; 15. Hon. Midius Natukunda - Rukungiri; 16. Hon. Peterkhen Lochap - Bokora; 17. Hon. Godfrey Were Odero – Samia Bugwe South; 18. Hon. Jennifer Ayoo - Kalki; 19. Hon. Jane Awich - Kaberamaido; 20. Hon. Stella Atyang - Moroto; 21. Hon. Hillary Lokwang – Napore West; 22. Hon. Joseph Komol – Dodoth North; 23. Hon. Alex Byarugaba - Isingiro; 24. Hon. Naome Kibaaju – Sheema North; 25. Hon. Moses Ogwal Goli – Dokolo North; 26. Hon. Juliet Achayo Lodou – Ngora County; 27. Hon. Simon Peter Wokorach – Aswa County; 28. Hon. Bashir Lubega – Mubende Muncipality; 29. Hon. Agnes Taaka - Bugiri; 30. Hon. Sylvia Vicky Awas - Nabilatuk; 31. Hon. Henry Maurice Kibalya – Bugabula South; 32. Hon. Oliver Katwesigye - Buhweju; 33. Hon. Stephen Kangwagye - Bukanga; and 34. Hon. Abdi Fadhil Kisos Chemaswet - Soi. I beg to designate.

Thank you, Madam Speaker. I congratulate you and wish you a happy birthday. Last Wednesday, I was privileged to officiate one of the activities to mark the 16 Days of Activism against Gender-Based Violence in Bugiri District. I thank the minister for the report; however, the young women and girls had issues that I would like to put forward for the Government to intervene. The first is about those who have dropped out of school due to pregnancy and bearing children. When some give birth, they are chased away by their parents from home. They said that much as the Government has provided Universal Primary Education (UPE) and Universal Secondary Education (USE); some have failed to go back to school because of the fees charged in most schools almost to the level of private schools. They request the Government to intervene in that matter. The other is the –

…children were supposed to attend school without paying fees. However, every UPE school charges Shs 100,000 per term which is too much for them to pay. The other –

Thank you, Mr Speaker, for the opportunity. Mine goes to the Minister of Education and Sports. In Kazo District, we have so many dilapidated Government schools. The UPE programme has failed because of the lack of enough teachers in the schools. We have so many private teachers who need to be paid by the parents and once the parents fail to pay then the teachers will not teach. Then those parents who cannot afford to pay, their children get out of school. That is why you find in Kazo, I do not know elsewhere, we have so many dropouts. What plans do you have for such schools? Thank you.

Honourable members, I want you to listen. The law is very clear that the minister has to bring regulations; unless if we are not implementing the law. You are talking about Universal Primary Education (UPE), but we are not talking about it alone; we are talking about primary, secondary and tertiary education. We want regulations, even if it is free, the regulations must be in place because it is demanded by the law.

Thank you, Madam Speaker. I support the report from the committee. I was privileged to serve on the Committee on Education and Sports at the time this law was being made. We did a lot of benchmarking where we thought the law was going to help the people. However, there is one thing that this House needs to sit back and rethink. We have scholarships, Government sponsorship, and this law. I think, as Ugandans, if we are to have a balanced country, we need to go in and put our feet on the ground and say that everybody should go for a loan scheme. This is because with the way things are happening, the children of the rich are the ones who are given scholarships to go out of this country. Nobody has come here to tell us how many scholarships we get. When it comes to sponsorships in the universities, it is the children of the rich that go to good schools who get those sponsorships. The loan scheme is left to the poor. Madam Speaker, the Government has given us the opportunity of UPE and USE where our children are studying for free. Why don’t we make it uniform for everybody to pay for university education? If the children of the poor - (Interruption)

Hon. Namugga, I thought you were a beneficiary of UPE. At least I know you as a beneficiary of UPE. Hon. Amero, do not mind. Hon. Namugga is a beneficiary of UPE. (Laughter)

Thank you, Madam Speaker. On the same note, I thank the committee for the good work they have done. There is a report that shows that out of every 10 people in Uganda, only one works in the formal sector. We are taking our children to school but where are the jobs? These are children of poor people. In Uganda, to get work, you need to have connections. Do not expect Ojok from Pader to know a commissioner or a permanent secretary to give you a job connection. It is that hard. These children are meant to pay back that money and it can be straining. We thank the Government for UPE but these children have grown into men. What plan and policy does the Government have? Why don’t we pick these children who have performed well and employ them? They will use the salary we are paying them to pay back part of the loan and use the other part to take care of their old ones. This is my only deliberation. Thank you, Madam Speaker.

Mr Speaker, what is the problem? The problem is that many children drop out of school before completing their primary education, with only about 40 per cent of the pupils who enrol for primary one completing primary seven. Additionally, only one in four children who start primary school make it to secondary school. Fourty per cent of the girls are married off before their 18 th birthday and the teenage pregnancy rate is still very high at 25 per cent. As we all know, child marriage and teenage pregnancy lead to negative health consequences and many of these girls drop out of school, which affects their future socio-economic prospects. Mr Speaker, the high cost of education is also a challenge. A comprehensive evaluation of UPE in 2018 found that spending on education by the poorest 20 per cent of households grew by 11 per cent. Some of the cost drivers include meals, uniforms and educational materials. In addition, child labour is still a challenge in Uganda. According to the National Labour

9431 THE ELEVENTH PARLIAMENT OF UGANDA THURSDAY, 6 JULY 2023 Force Survey of 2021 by UBOS, 40 per cent of children aged 5-17 years were in child labour, excluding household chores, with more males than females. On average, children spent 43 hours per week on work (girls, 47 hours; boys, 38 hours). Engagement in child labour leaves children with limited time and energy for schooling. Policy measures in response to the prevailing population dynamics in the context of the theme Mr Speaker, the Government has implemented policies and programmes to improve access to education and enhance the quality of our education. In 1997, the Government introduced the Universal Primary Education (UPE) programme to make basic education accessible to every child, and in 2007, the Government introduced Universal Secondary Education (USE) to increase access to secondary education for economically vulnerable children. The UPE programme has significantly improved school enrolment from 2.5 million learners, in 1996, to 10.8 million, in 2020. Due to the introduction of USE at the secondary level, enrolment increased to two million learners in 2019 from 1.2 million in 2010. Mr Speaker, in 2014, the Government introduced a student’s loan scheme for higher education to ensure equal access to university education opportunities. Eighteen public and private universities are eligible for the loan scheme. The student’s loan scheme is in addition to the government bursaries for highly qualifying students at higher education institution. In addition –

Thank you, Mr Speaker. On that very issue, leaders should stand up in their respective areas, and ensure that Universal Primary Education (UPE) and Universal Secondary Education (USE) are fulfilled to their core so that Ugandans access free education and envision the President’s action. The President emphasised the need to invest more in ICT research and other science subjects. Whereas we would have this realised, it is important that as a Parliament, we encourage the Government to invest in early childhood development. This is because most of the UPE and USE schools do not have prerequisites for early childhood development. Probably, this is the genesis of having substandard degree holders today. That is one of the issues that we call upon the Government to take upon and address in bettering the education of Uganda. The President also recommitted the investment in stadiums as a way of promoting the sports industry. This is one of the industries that is centralised in the development of young people and an alternative to the high unemployment rates we have in the country. We would like to applaud the President for that and call upon the Attorney-General and the Ministry of Gender, Labour and Social Development to fast-track the President’s directive on working on the copyrights law that has had many in the arts industry endangered and many that are grappling over their right and how best they can earn from their employment. On the issue of health, the President emphasised the use of radio programmes to speak on the importance of nutrition. Uganda as a country, over time, has had an increase in the lifespan but as we speak, there is silent research that is indicating a decline in our nutritional levels. This is not good for the country. It is very important that nutrition is taken seriously. Right from the prenatal stage, we need to Ugandans that the backbone is agriculture and nutrition can definitely not be any of our problems. Lastly, the President called upon Ugandans to fight the danger of malaria. Malaria has been one of the diseases claiming many lives of Ugandans and Africa in general. Until today, we still do not have a sustainable to end malaria. I think that is one of the issues that is still taking many lives of young people. As the Ministry is Health is putting in a lot of effort to ensure that malaria is eradicated, it also is incumbent upon us as leaders to continuously sensitise the community about the dangers of malaria.

Thank you, Mr Speaker. On that very issue, leaders should stand up in their respective areas, and ensure that Universal Primary Education (UPE) and Universal Secondary Education (USE) are fulfilled to their core so that Ugandans access free education and envision the President’s action. The President emphasised the need to invest more in ICT research and other science subjects. Whereas we would have this realised, it is important that as a Parliament, we encourage the Government to invest in early childhood development. This is because most of the UPE and USE schools do not have prerequisites for early childhood development. Probably, this is the genesis of having substandard degree holders today. That is one of the issues that we call upon the Government to take upon and address in bettering the education of Uganda. The President also recommitted the investment in stadiums as a way of promoting the sports industry. This is one of the industries that is centralised in the development of young people and an alternative to the high unemployment rates we have in the country. We would like to applaud the President for that and call upon the Attorney-General and the Ministry of Gender, Labour and Social Development to fast-track the President’s directive on working on the copyrights law that has had many in the arts industry endangered and many that are grappling over their right and how best they can earn from their employment. On the issue of health, the President emphasised the use of radio programmes to speak on the importance of nutrition. Uganda as a country, over time, has had an increase in the lifespan but as we speak, there is silent research that is indicating a decline in our nutritional levels. This is not good for the country. It is very important that nutrition is taken seriously. Right from the prenatal stage, we need to Ugandans that the backbone is agriculture and nutrition can definitely not be any of our problems. Lastly, the President called upon Ugandans to fight the danger of malaria. Malaria has been one of the diseases claiming many lives of Ugandans and Africa in general. Until today, we still do not have a sustainable to end malaria. I think that is one of the issues that is still taking many lives of young people. As the Ministry is Health is putting in a lot of effort to ensure that malaria is eradicated, it also is incumbent upon us as leaders to continuously sensitise the community about the dangers of malaria.

Madam Speaker, National Curriculum Development Centre (NCDC) or the Examination Board will always depend on the curriculum you have given them, whether you teach the subjects or not; they always stick to the syllabus. That is why in Uganda, you find UPE students failing miserably and those in the city passing because in Kampala and municipalities, they can afford to buy these books from any market. Therefore, UNEB cannot be questioned and the NCDC cannot be faulted because for them, they have put up the curriculum and set the examinations in that form. However, the people in the Ministry of Education are the ones supposed to come out and fight for it because it is their ministry. There are things we cannot talk about here; but honourable minister, your promise is legitimate as long as the Speaker accepts it.

9101 THE ELEVENTH PARLIAMENT OF UGANDA WEDNESDAY, 24 MAY 2023 In the cattle corridor - the Members of Parliament were there the other day - you saw people with nice houses in Goma and income, even when the infrastructure is not there. You saw the very bad road, but the people have income. Therefore, every leader calling himself a leader - even these religious leaders, the cultural leaders like these who are here – Please, if you do not see the importance of metamorphosis - metamorphosis is a biological process in insects. An insect starts as an egg, the egg hatches and it becomes a caterpillar; the caterpillar changes and then becomes a pupa; then, it becomes a mature butterfly. In biology, it is called “metamorphosis.” That is the same thing with society. We must be clear that we work for social metamorphosis of African societies because that is where the problem is. The middle class women who live in the town here do not carry children on their back -(Laughter) Mama Janet has never carried children on her back. Even when we were in exile, we were pushing our children in these small “ wheelbarrows” -(Laughter). You have got a few people where the children are being pushed in those small - whatever they are - those motor vehicles. They have piped water and use gas cookers and electric cookers. Then, you have your people blowing into the fire -(Laughter)- this is not acceptable. It is a betrayal and we say that we are leaders, “Your Excellency, right honourable…” (Laughter ) You cannot have peasants producing younger peasants on increasingly fragmented agricultural plots and think that you are not an enemy of your country, if as a leader, you do not see this and combat it. You should not be leaders into futurelessness to our people. You can see, in Latin America, people are running away. They walk on foot to go to America and yet Latin America is one of the richest parts of the world in terms of natural resources, but the problem is the leadership. In the United States of America, they had leaders who could think about how to transform their country while in South America, they are busy with other things. Africa should not be like that. Education I am about to conclude; so, do not worry. I have another 10 pages or something -(Laughter)- because you are the ones who invited me. The NRM Government introduced UPE and USE programmes in order to ensure that no child of school-going age misses out on schooling, on account of school fees. These programmes were created to provide free education, especially for the poor families that cannot afford to pay the school fees. It is, therefore, unacceptable for school authorities to demand fees from the poor parents. The Government will not tolerate this practice. Education must be totally free in Government schools. The local leaders must enforce this when we give them renewed orders after an internal review, to find out the obstacles hitherto. We are going to review and issue fresh orders. Once these fresh orders are given, please, I do not expect any deviation from what we shall tell you to do. The literacy rate is currently 76 per cent while overall, school enrolment is at 85 per cent. The demand for free primary and secondary education has increased significantly, which is overwhelming the current education infrastructure. Part of the problem is that private schools have increased school fees, making Government schools more attractive. To meet the increase in demand for free education, the Government is now rehabilitating the primary schools and the traditional Government secondary schools. These include 18 secondary schools such as: 1. St Peter’s College, Tororo; 2. St Henry’s College, Masaka; 3. Mvara Secondary School, Arua; 4. Nabisunsa Girls’ Secondary School Kampala; 5. Kabalega Secondary School, Masindi;

Thank you, Mr Speaker. I would like to draw the attention of the House to the grant-aided schools. I thank the committee for putting that in the budget. The primary school that appeared on social media, where there was one teacher in a class of about 500 pupils, is in my constituency. We really need to aid these primary schools so that we get more classroom blocks for them. It is more appealing when we continue to see retooling in the budgets that have been read. If you put all these figures together into the educational sector, I think we will be able to get more school blocks for these institutions. Secondly, there are schools on the border of Terego and Madi-Okollo; Ocea Primary School, Odobu Primary School and Ariwa Primary School. Their UPE funds go to Madi-Okollo and then the salaries come to Terego. This is the third quarter running and this has been happening for a full year. It is total confusion; we do not know where these schools belong. Therefore, it will be wise, as the ministry is here today tabling the budget, for us to know where these schools lie; where the fund is going. Thank you, Mr Speaker.

Thank you, Mr Speaker. First of all, I thank the committee for coming up with this report. However, the report is not comprehensive in that it has not considered the traditional schools properly because I have seen Shs 15 billion being allocated to the traditional schools. All of us, Members, have got very old schools, which have no structures but their teachers are earning. For example, I have about three town councils without schools and one has a very old school. Another serious issue is the loan scheme. We can all agree that the loan scheme is not doing us a favour in the country. When you look at the names that come, they are actually the names of people who are able to pay their school fees in the universities. In the last list that came out, the entire Kween – I even went ahead to look at the entire Sebei. The entire Sebei, I think, had five beneficiaries only. That was really shocking. Finally, I managed to move around our UPE schools last week. I got shocked. Even as we plan and say that we are improving education, we are not doing it. There are no funds for exams in the UPE schools. There is even no cup of porridge for any child there. There is completely – (Member timed out.)

UMI UNATU UNEB UNESCO UPE UPPET UPOLET USE UVQF WB Uganda Management Institute Uganda National Association of Teachers' Unions Uga.nda National Examinations Board Unlted Nations Educational, Scientific and Or8anlzatron Universal Pnmary Education Universal Post Prlmary Educatron and Trainrng Universal Post O-kvel Education and Training Universal Secondary Education Cultural Uganda Vocational Qual World Bank ifications Framework , # W M / lt

Thcsc under rclcases under thc development component have greatly affccted plans by the commission to ptocure computcrs, furniture, vchicles, CT cqurpment and Kick start construction of ticir premlses. Recommeadatloln ?lhc Cotnrntttee n oomt c d,a ttrg.t MFPED allor,a,te, thc @fitr,alstloa an addltlonal UShc S.IEn to ttlck ,tata @n&tu&loa oJ lts lt,,cmt*s atd, tor t 4@llrtg the Comrnlscioa. Votc 122 Krrrpela Clty Councll Authotlty-KCCA rl lardcqu.t€ fundlng to Educatioa.trd SPort. dcpartaclt The Committec observcs that whercas the adjustmcnt of the unlt cost for the UPE and USE/UPOLET capitation grants was effected for all local Govetnmcnts n FY2Ol9l2O UShc 1.3bn for KCCA was ncver bcen effectcd even after a conFrrmatron by PS/ST MFPED that the adjustment in allocation would be cffectcd n F12O2O /21. This Commrttcc was informcd that this shortfall by MFPED has ncvcr been allocatcd. The Committee furthcr observes that in Fy2O22/23, KCCA reccived a wagc bi,ll supplcmentary of USha l6ba to cater for salaries of science teachers, however thrs has not been incorporated in the budget for F12O23/24 thus creatrng a shortfall rn the wage brll. The Authonty rcqurres additional seed schools in the city given the incrcasing number of learners hence cxcrting pressure on thc few existing one. Thc Authority seeks construction ofa sc'ed secondary school in Lubaga. Narkawa and Kawempc Divrsions to handle thc increasing numbcr of studcnts artd ease on the numbcr of students per class. Construction of the Phrllip Omondr Stadrum has a shortfall of UBhr 6bin and yet thrs M rs a multr-year projcct. #"/fl $ 47

14/A? 16 0r I I Shortfa.tl on paymcnt of scicncc tcachers' lalancs Provi3ron of revrsed unrt of caPltahon Sranta to UPE,USE/ UPOLB:T and SNE Construcbon of a Secd Secondary School rn Nakawa drvrgron Rcmoval of asbesto3 and rcfurbishment of lO schools Construction of clas6rooms at Renovation of claasrooms at Krtante Rcnovatron of claesrooms at Krbuyc Renovation of clarsrooms at I(CCA Rcnovation of claasrooms at ST Ponsiano K-vamula P/S Prinary school Construct of KCCA Phihp Omondr Stadrtrm Totrl ts ro KCCA schml8 Primary school Ntinda rubvcntlon 8ran h c ooI s hool B u Sc u C.om m n acqa fotrl totrl totrl Shortfall wa8 allocatcd as supplemcntaq/ ln FY2022/23 and thrs has not becn incorporated rn budgct for 1Y2023 24. Capitation Crant3 to achools ln KCCA l3 3 2.5 0.5 o.6 o.2 to offcr qual itv cducatlon lmprove on thc classroom puptl ratto3 0.3 to offcr oualrtv €ducatron lmproye on thc cla3sroom pupil ratlos o4 to 'fo rmprovc on Spofts facilltlea wtthrn 6 the c-rty' - - 30,tr r Thc Commiarion hac bccn given 3bn thrs t Y 2022123 to klck start thc process of constructron of thc o(icc block howcvcr, this fund has bccn cut n thc trl 2023/24 Funde allocatcd for constructton and S1 s.l Allof,atcs NCIIE a dcvelopment budgat of UShs Sbn to cnablc the Council I Retoollng to cnablc procurcmcnt of computcra and ollicc furniture and p(rcure computcrs and offrce cqulPm('nt, ptocur€ vchrcles for thc ficld and cmbark on tt8 lnfrasttuctural t infraatructurc dcaclo mcnt, 5 Recutmcnt of itronat Sta(f 126 MFPIJO aUocates thc Councrl UShi 2bn appropnatc.l rn ttt2o22/23 for r€cruitmcnt of a(ldrttonal stalf but not rcleaaed

a aganda Notional Extminatlons Board O bsematio ns/ Iss ues ruise d The Commiaee sought to eflablish: a) Whether Uganda National Examination Board has any approach in rcgard to catering for children with special needs during exams. b) Whether the Board has aligned their unfunded priorities in ordcr. c) Whether there arc any pending mergers within the Ministry of Education and Sports. d) An account on how the Board monitors the funds that schools charge pcr student for registration. e) An account on how the board adheres to the Govemment principle of buy Uganda, sell Uganda. f) Cive information of how much funds the Board Charges for registration. g) Whether the Board publiciscs the fees it charges for registration. h) An account as to why the Personnel involved in marking of exams are underpaid. i) Explain as to why rcgardless of the incrcase in the number of both UPE and USE students. the resource envelope allocated to the Board has not increascd. Rcsponscs to the issues/ observetions; Uganda National Examuntnns Board a) The Board faces a dilemma that most of its activities are intcrtwined. b) The Chairperson prayed that the amount of money al locarcd by the Govemment matches with the number of UPE and USE students. c) Informed the Commitrce that the Fees charged by UNEB arc published and circulated in the media and that any person who charges over and above the fees charged commits an offense. d) Further informed the Committee that the rest of the responscs shall be submitted in writing. Representauve from the Min$,ry of Edrcatrcn and Sprts a) Capital grants and subventions werc cut by 80 percent by the Ministry of Education and Sports. Min.4- Adjournment The meeting was adjourned at 5:00pm to 14fr April,2023 at 9:00pm. Recorded by: W'q Ninsiima Diana Oleny COMMITTEE CLERK Confirmed by T weslgye John Ntamuhiira, MP CHAIRPERSON 3

Shortfall on palrment of science teach€rs' salarles Total L4.44? 16.01 1 Shortfall was allocated as supplementary n FY2O22 /23 and thrs has not bcen rncorporated ln budget for FY2023124. Provisron of revised unlt of capltation grants to UPE,USE/UPOLET and SNE subventron gants to KCCA schools 1.3 Capitatron Grants to schools in KCCA were not reviscd like other LGs Constructron of a Seed Secondary School m Nakawa division 3 Improve on the classroom pupil ratlos to offer oualitv educatron. Removal of asbestos and refurbishment of 1O schools 25 To ensure safetv of learners Construction of classrooms at Ntinda Pnmarv School 0.5 lmprove on the classroom puprl ratios to offer oualitv educatron. Renovation of classrooms at Krtante Pnmary school 0.6 Improve on the classroom pupil ratlos to offer quahty educatron. Rcnovatron of classrooms at Krbuy€ Pnmary School o.2 Improve on the classroom pupil ratlos to oller quahty education R€novatron of classrooms at KCCA Buscga Communitv Pnmary School 0.3 Improve on the classroom pupil ratros to oller quahty educatron. Renovation of classrooms at ST.Ponerano Kyamula P/S Pnmary echool o4 Improve on the classroom pup ratlos to oller ouahty education Construct of KCCA Philip Omondi Stadrum 6 Construction of Office Block Totel 30.81r 51 To rmprove on Sports facilities within I'he Commrssron has been grven 3bn thrs FY 2022 123 to krck start the process of constructlon of the office block however, thrs fund has been cut in the FY 2023124. Funds allocated for constructron and the cl rctool Retooling to enable procurcmcnt of computers and office furniture and infrastructure development. Totrl s.l 5 Allocates NCHE a development budget of UShs 5bn to enable the Council procure computers and olTrce cquipment, procure vehicles for the field and embark on its infrastructural developm€nt. Recruitment of Addrtronal Staff t .26 MFPED allocates the Council UShs 2bn appropriated in FY2o22l23 for recruitment of additronal staff but not released Totrl 6.26

Thank you, Mr Speaker. Universal Primary Education (UPE) started in 1997. The Government gave a fee to particular schools, most especially those that are in municipalities, whereby a child from primary one to primary four was meant to pay Shs 18,000. From primary four to primary seven, the child was supposed to pay Shs 22,400. That was the practice from 1997 for the last 26 years. This money was supposed to cater for particular areas such as teachers’ accommodation, electricity, water and other utilities. Recently, we heard the Minister of Education and Sports on radio and at the Uganda Media Centre, stating that they are abolishing all the money that was being paid by parents in all schools, and that the Government is going to meet the costs for every child. Mr Speaker, I would like to know from the Government, where this money is going to come from. Has Parliament been briefed? Is it within the budget allocation?

Mr Speaker, for the benefit of Hon. Ssewungu and the other Members, like the Government Chief Whip has communicated, this matter was debated in Cabinet. In 1997, UPE and then USE were initiated with the view that there would be free and compulsory primary and secondary education. However, for various reasons, along the way, parents have been paying fees. Therefore, the discussion - and I communicated to the public as the Minister for Information - that beginning Financial Year 2024/2025, the Government shall be introducing free and compulsory primary and secondary education services. It will be for the other financial years as well. However, when the time comes, we shall come officially to the House and make that presentation through the Ministry of Education and Sports.

Thank you, Mr Speaker. I also want to thank the minister for the statement about the SDGs. My concern is about SDG No.4, which is education. I would like to thank the Government and the ministry for trying to preach the word of enrolling students or our young people down there for Universal Primary Education (UPE) and Universal Secondary Education (USE). However, I want them to note that these Government schools have no space. Back in the 1990s, they had space because we were very few, but now, we are very many; mostly the youth. We have given birth - our students are studying in a very unpleasant situation.

! Provrde sex educatron to adolescents r e. drscuss health rrsks of un protected sex, teenage pregnancies, HIV and other Sexually Transmitted Drseases. F Improve and contrnue to support the UPE and USE programmes to encourage 'Education for all' ! Strffen and put more-strict penalties for traffrc offenders. 4 5 6 Goal4 on Quality Education. As measured from proficrency levels rn readmg and n mathematics, the average proficrency rn lrteracy for P3 reduced from 50 percent n FY 201-8 /1-9 to 49 9 percent n FY 2019 /20, rvhile that of P6 rncreased from 53 percent rn FY 2018 /'19 to 53'l percent in 2019/20. There rvas also an rncrease rn the complehon rate among Prrmary students (P 7) from 63 percent rn 2019 to 67 percent rn 2020 There was a dechne in completion rate among Lower Secondary students (S4) from 34 percent rn 2079 to 32 percent n 2020 Accordrng to the National Service Delivery Survey (NSDS) 2021 report, 45% of household respondents rated the quality of teachrng at prlmary schools attended by household members as good. A higher percentage of respondents rn urban areas (48 percent) rated the qualrty of teachrng as good compared to those rn rural areas (45 percent) The Ugandan Government should contnue to scale up fundrng to the educatron sector and strengthen inspection, monitonng and reportrng of nterventrons 24

Thank you, Madam Speaker. I would like to take this opportunity to ask a question to the Prime Minister. In Uganda, one in every seven children is an orphan. In addition, about 3.5 million children are orphans to HIV/AIDS. In our communities, the care for these orphans is not clear. I want to give an example of education. When they go to school - yes, we have Universal Primary Education (UPE) and Universal Secondary Education (USE), but there many other needs like scholastic materials, uniforms and the rest that these orphans need. The orphans are not cared for; it is “To Whom It May Concern.” When it comes to university or other tertiary institutions - I know there is an affirmative action for women, they are given 1.5 points at university entry. However, the orphans are not thought about. Madam Speaker, how can the Government support these vulnerable children through education? If it means having some memorandum of understanding with even PRIME MINISTER’S TIME

Madam Speaker, I am wondering whether the Member is also talking about senior orphans like you and I. (Laughter). Anyhow, this is a matter we need to think through because a number of our children have failed to go to school. Though Government has put in place a number of interventions like UPE and USE, still, there are orphans who do not have scholastic materials to enable them go to school. We need to think through this with the Minister of Education and Sports.

! Provrde sex educatron to adolescents r e. drscuss health rrsks of un protected sex, teenage pregnancies, HIV and other Sexually Transmitted Drseases. F Improve and contrnue to support the UPE and USE programmes to encourage 'Education for all' ! Strffen and put more-strict penalties for traffrc offenders. 4 5 6 Goal4 on Quality Education. As measured from proficrency levels rn readmg and n mathematics, the average proficrency rn lrteracy for P3 reduced from 50 percent n FY 201-8 /1-9 to 49 9 percent n FY 2019 /20, rvhile that of P6 rncreased from 53 percent rn FY 2018 /'19 to 53'l percent in 2019/20. There rvas also an rncrease rn the complehon rate among Prrmary students (P 7) from 63 percent rn 2019 to 67 percent rn 2020 There was a dechne in completion rate among Lower Secondary students (S4) from 34 percent rn 2079 to 32 percent n 2020 Accordrng to the National Service Delivery Survey (NSDS) 2021 report, 45% of household respondents rated the quality of teachrng at prlmary schools attended by household members as good. A higher percentage of respondents rn urban areas (48 percent) rated the qualrty of teachrng as good compared to those rn rural areas (45 percent) The Ugandan Government should contnue to scale up fundrng to the educatron sector and strengthen inspection, monitonng and reportrng of nterventrons 24

7356 SELECT COMMITTEE REPORT ON THE STATE OF AFFAIRS IN NSSF [The Speaker] COMMUNICATION FROM THE CHAIR tenure of office and removal of members of the committees from office, meetings and creation of the sub-committees. The involvement of the vendors in the management of public markets has been responsible for fuelling conflicts in the market that arises from exorbitant charges that are imposed on the vendors, unnecessary illegal levies and dues on the vendors, creation of landlords in the markets, unfair and unreasonable electricity, water and garbage fees, creation of factions among the traders, and multiple ownership of the stores. Civil servants in the local governments have also been conniving with the committees to embezzle money belonging to the Government revenue and generally engaged in corrupt practices. Local authorities should manage public markets directly without direct involvement of the vendors in the day-to-day management of the market. Therefore, the above clauses should be deleted. 3. Section 28(3)(b), the word “committee” should be deleted. 4. Section 30: Allocation of shops, pitch or stalls in the public market; Clause 30(3) should be amended to give the administrative authority powers to determine the composition of the allocation committee and its mandate. Therefore, in accordance with Article 91(3)(b) of the Constitution, I hereby return the Markets Bill, 2021 to Parliament for reconsideration of the sections as mentioned above. Signed by the President, Yoweri Kaguta Museveni.” Honourable members, upon receipt of this letter of this Bill, I referred the Bill to the committee and the committee is ready to report back. They have finished with their work; we shall be receiving the Bill later in the day. Honourable members, Article 34(2) of the Constitution of the Republic of Uganda entitles all our children to basic education, which responsibility is bestowed on the State and the parents. However, we have continued receiving complaints from a number of schools on how school fees have been hiked. We need to have a school fees policy in place for school fees to be harmonised. We know we are in a free market economy but we cannot get all the school fees from the parents. Remember we have UPE and USE; we have a right to education; so, we should allow children to study. It is only children of the rich people that are studying; the poor people’s children are not studying. The dropout rate is very high. The girl-children are getting married early. We need to regulate the issue of school fees. Government needs to come up with a policy on how we can make sure that school fees are regulated and nobody is charged high fees. It is actually exploitation. Tomorrow, we are going to celebrate International Women’s Day. Therefore, we will be receiving a report from the Minister of Gender, Labour and Social Development, who has delegated the Government Chief Whip to present the report on the issue of women. No woman should be left behind. We need inclusion of all the women in terms of empowerment, agriculture, innovation and creativity. All women should be involved in whatever is being done in the economy. We really must thank the Government that many women are, at least, somewhere. (Applause) Even in Parliament here. (Laughter) Honourable members, yesterday, I made a public declaration of my income, assets and liabilities. I want you, as leaders of the people, to go and declare - Hon. Nandala-Mafabi, go and declare your income and assets. Honourable members, please go and declare as per the Leadership Code Act. We should lead by example. Earlier today, we received the sad news of the demise of Justice Kenneth Kakuru, former Justice of the Constitutional Court. The deceased served with distinction. On behalf of Parliament and on my own behalf, we convey our heartfelt condolences to the family and to the Judiciary. May we rise to observe a moment of silence.

7143 THE ELEVENTH PARLIAMENT OF UGANDA THURSDAY, 2 FEBRUARY 2023 the report was worked on earlier. However, there are still very fundamental issues on the inspectorate of schools. Education financing Not only has Government continued to provide meagre capitation grants, miserably failed to deliver on UPE and USE, but it has also participated in making education a business. Today, the education sector has been liberalised like any other player in the business world. Private school owners dream of fees thresholds and implement the same as and when they wish. Parents and guardians are left at nobody’s mercy, let alone their cries falling on deaf ears. Even with the provision of fees payable and Government’s contribution in the Education (Primary Schools Fees) Regulations, the Act is not sufficient enough to adequately address the issue of school fees. Private schools constitute 100 per cent of the early childhood development and are largely located in urban areas. This contributes to the tax base of the country, annual subscription to the NSSF and to national development by employing Ugandans as teachers and non- teaching staff. Despite this contribution, these early childhood development centres are wholesomely privately owned. The role of the inspectorate of schools department in the education ministry and local governments The inspectorate function under the Directorate of Education Standards (DES) has a core mandate of ensuring quality education in both public and private primary and secondary schools in Uganda. Under Section 25 (1)(b) of the Education (Pre-Primary, Primary and Post- Primary) Act, 2008, an inspector of schools is mandated to: “Inspect and provide a report to the Permanent Secretary, the District Education Officer and the relevant foundation body, in a format prescribed by the Director of Education Standards with respect to the school or any aspect of it, including any building, workshop, hostel or kitchen used in connection with the education institution.” Inspectors of schools have a key role of quality control in schools as appointed by the Education Service Commission or District Service Commission. Underfunding of this department has crippled its functionality to the detriment of the education sector. Mr Speaker, when you go to districts and ask the education inspectors if they know how much private schools or even Government- aided schools charge parents, they will never tell you because there is not much funding. I think we need to correct such issues because even if we amend the laws, but do not fund education, we will not be able to change much. As I conclude, I mentioned capitation grant, but today, for a child in a UPE school, the Government spends a maximum Shs 333 a day. This is because for a year, at a maximum – if it does not fluctuate – the Government sends Shs 20,000. For three terms, if you choose 60 days, that is Shs 6,000 per term. How can you say you are going to curb fees increment in schools if they are charging other fees on the side? How are we going to have quality education if each child costs Shs 333 at the highest and at times it fluctuates to Shs 200? These are questions we need to ask ourselves as legislators. Consideration for an effective education policy 1. This Parliament should enact a law for fees regulation as this is very fundamental. It has happened in India and other countries. If the committee took time to compare -

Thank you very much, Mr Speaker. When I went to school a few years ago, it was the capacity of your brain that took you to a good school. Recently, it is the capacity of your pocket that takes you to a good school. Consequently, the children of the poor, who are intelligent, will not find a good school. Even the schools that we have now abandoned to the Universal Primary Education (UPE) and Universal Secondary Education (USE) schools - the other day, the Prime Minister was in my district and I want to thank her for what she contributed to our church. I have heard the President say that anybody who goes to a UPE school should not pay any shilling. However, how much does the Government contribute? Shs 55,000 in a USE school and Shs 7,000 or Shs 10,000 in a primary school – and you are saying the parents should not pay anything. The alternatives are these schools we are talking about, which are not affordable. I thank the Prime Minister for encouraging parents not to pay, but I would also ask her that we increase Government’s contribution from Shs 55,000 to a bigger figure such that you can find education when you go to a USE school. That is when we can tell parents not to pay anything. However, as of now, there is no education taking place in UPE schools because the teachers are not teaching. They opt to sell their land to go to Ntare School, which charges Shs 2 million when – (Member timed out.)

7153 THE ELEVENTH PARLIAMENT OF UGANDA THURSDAY, 2 FEBRUARY 2023 Mr Speaker, Governments collapse differently; (Laughter) some collapse suddenly, others in a series. The chairperson of the committee and his team have no crime; they are making a report on the obtaining voids in this sector. The first death of the sector was visited on the planning component. Do you have a planning department in this ministry? Do they plan? When you have this sector run impulsively, we are debating the consequences of impulsive planning. You wake up and say, “We are increasing pay for science teachers.” This week, I received a petition from head teachers that are science teachers and their deputies. In the increment, they were not included. So, who is doing the planning? Who occasioned this kind of anarchy in planning? So, Science head teachers are not science teachers? We have a Ministry of Education and Sports and a big planning department; planning chaos in the sector. Mr Speaker, we have debated UPE and USE; I do not want to really bore the House, but we do not even meet the regional average in subvention education. The regional is at $15 per year and we are at $3 in UPE per child per year. We do not even spur with the region’s weakest economies. Mr Speaker, this report –

7159 THE ELEVENTH PARLIAMENT OF UGANDA THURSDAY, 2 FEBRUARY 2023 Mr Speaker, No.6 was a question from Hon. Lillian Aber, the Woman Representative, Kitgum District. Her point was that on Friday, 27 January 2023, the Uganda National Examinations Board (UNEB) released the Primary Leaving Examinations (PLE) results for the academic year 2022. A total of 117,953 candidates did not get the required grades to join secondary education. Among them were 97,109 candidates who were ungraded and 20,844 candidates had Division X. Both groups were below 4 th grade, which is the minimum grade with which one can join secondary education. Her prayer is that I inform this august House of the Government’s plan for the 117,953 candidates. Mr Speaker, my response is that the Government introduced the free UPE programme so that the children of Uganda can attain basic education and skills. Out of the 832,654 candidates who sat PLE last year, 714,702 candidates qualified to join Senior One. A total of 117,953 did not qualify. The failure to attain the required grades is attributed to the adverse effects of the COVID-19 pandemic that forced schools to be on and off due to the lockdown. The candidates, who did not attain required grades to join secondary schools, have several options to take. The immediate option is for them to repeat the class and sit for the Primary Leaving Examinations for the Academic Year 2023. Secondly, the Government encourages the parents of the candidates who failed PLE to enrol them in other training and skilling programmes. The Government has in place the formal and non-formal vocational education systems in which they can enrol. The non-formal vocational system caters for the ungraded students and those who failed to sit are referred to as “absentees”. They enrol in a technical institute for a modular course in a programme of their choice. There are over 500 modular programmes assessed at over 300 assessment centres under the Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) subsector. The programme includes Art and Design, Tailoring, Science related vocational occupations in the field of Agriculture, and technology among others. Mr Speaker, for example, a child who attains a modular transcript related to agriculture in any of the above vocational programmes qualifies to join an agriculture-related programme at a vocational school for six months, which will be equated to Primary Seven. The non-formal education assessment of candidates is by the Directorate of Industrial Training (DIT) under the Ministry of Education and Sports. A child is awarded a modular transcript, which is equivalent to a PLE certificate under the Uganda Vocational Qualifications Framework (UVQF) which is provided for under Business, Technology, Vocational Education and Training (BTVET) Act of 2008 hence, a recognised qualification under section 20 of the Act. With such a certificate, a child qualifies to join formal vocational education. It is, therefore, imperative to note that a child with a PLE certificate or a modular transcript can either join a technical school or a vocational school where they study for three years and get the Uganda Junior Technical Certificate (UJTC) equivalent to UCE. The Uganda Junior Technical Certificate is awarded by the Uganda Business and Technical Examination Board (UBTEB), a body under the Ministry of Education and Sports. At the same level, a child can obtain a level one certificate under the Uganda Vocational Qualifications Framework (UVQF) awarded by the Directorate of Industrial Training under the Ministry of Education and Sports. The child can progress and get Level 2 and 3 certificates, which come with experience. Hence, the child can either join the world of work or can proceed to a technical institute for further upgrading. With Level 3, a student can join a technical institute and study for two years, after which

6210 PRIME MINISTER’S TIME A total of 1,572 schools had been cleared by 27 September 2022. Head teachers who have challenges have also been handled differently. I want to report that there is no school that has been denied examination materials, as alleged. Madam Speaker, Secondary Science and Mathematics Teachers (SESEMAT), is a programme that started in 2005 between the Japanese Government and the Government of Uganda, through the Ministry of Education and Sports, to improve the teachers’ delivery, which would, in turn, lead to improvement in the performance of science and mathematics education. This intervention was started in 2005 and underwent three phases and thereafter, JICA phased out. For the sustainability of the programme, a fee of Shs 1,000 was levied on each student. Due to the non-commitment of the head teachers in remitting these funds, it was decided to tag the collection of UNEB materials to the certificate remittance of SESEMAT funds, as it was seen as the most suitable alternative to boost these collections because it targets both private and Government-aided schools. Because COVID-19 left schools closed and, therefore, no collections from students were made for the years 2020 and 2021. These years were waived off and the collections being demanded are for those of the current year 2022 and the arrears of 2019, if any. The Ministry of Education and Sports is engaging all head teachers in the country. Hon. Joseph Ruyonga, Member of Parliament, Hoima West, Hoima City stated that Government of Uganda has, over time, prioritised education reforms as an anchor of socio-economic transformation and development, as demonstrated in the various policy reforms, such as the Universal Primary Education (UPE) of 1997, and the Universal Secondary Education (USE) of 2007, among others. The introduction of UPE has led to increased demand for secondary education services by learners who complete the Primary Seven level. Nyarugabo Seed Secondary School, located in Nyarugabo Cell, Kiduma Ward, Busiisi Division in Hoima West started a community school in 2019. In June 2020, the Church of Uganda Bunyoro- Kitara Diocese donated 6.9 acres of land to the then Hoima Municipality and the land title was transferred to the names of Hoima Municipal Council, Nyarugabo Seed Secondary School. The school has 114 students from Senior One to Senior Four, studying from a community hall. The school was supposed to be constructed by the World Bank under the Uganda Secondary Education Expansion Project and all the necessary documents were submitted, including the land title. The council had been assured that the school was included in the Financial Year 2020/2021 budget. His prayer is that: can I please update this House on the status of this project? Madam Speaker, my response is that the Government, through the Ministry of Education and Sports, is waiting for a no-objection from the World Bank before commencing the procurement process under the Uganda Secondary Expansion Project. Question No.6 is from Hon. Moses Kabuusu, Member of Parliament, Kyamuswa, Kalangala District. The Government of Uganda obtained a loan to construct seed secondary schools in all subcounties in the country. As a result, Nekemia Memorial Secondary School was built in Buuvu Island – I think it is Buvuma –(Interjection)- okay, let me read it as it is; Buuvu Island in Kyamuswa County in Kalangala District, in the first phase under Uganda Inter-Governmental Fiscal Transfer Programme (UGIFT) and was meant to be officially opened early this year, which has not happened. It is now the third term and there is no sign of the school opening. His prayer is to know when Nekemia Seed Secondary School in Buuvu Island in Kyamuswa County in Kalangala District will be opened, as there is no substantive head

Thank you, Mr Speaker, and I thank you for your communication. I am responding on matters arising from your communication because I raised those matters here. The issue is that when you raise some of them, they are not handled. Recently, I raised a number of issues on matters concerning education, especially on the closure of teacher training colleges, but the ministers have refused to come here. I raised matters concerning salary disparities; what is going to be done to these teachers who are likely to give us bad results? And the only thing I have heard recently, Mr Speaker, was the Prime Minister coming out to say that they are going to ask parents to pay for milk at school at Shs 20,000, yet Government is paying Shs 10,000 per child per year for school fees. How do you expect parents who have not been paying money, and whom you have been giving Shs 10,000 per UPE child per year, to pay Shs 20,000 for lunch? IN THE PARLIAMENT OF UGANDA Official Report of the Proceedings of Parliament SECOND SESSION - 32ND SITTING - FIRST MEETING Parliament met at 2.16 p.m., at Parliament House, Kampala. PRAYERS (The Deputy Speaker, Mr Thomas Tayebwa, in the Chair.) The House was called to order. COMMUNICATION FROM THE CHAIR

No, not everything he has said. As a Committee on Education and Sports, unfortunately my chair is there, we handled this matter in the committee about e-registration and we said that because of the challenges we are facing, let the two move hand in hand. For a UPE child, Government is paying for them Shs 10,000 per child per year. Now, this P.7 candidate is spending over Shs 100,000 to register on the e-system. The minister can testify here that UNEB has never taken training of these head teachers and those in charge of registering students on the e-system. So, we said that as you move on, let us have the two moving concurrently. Those who can afford can move on and those who cannot afford stay on the manual system. Let us take a region like Karamoja. I have been to Karamoja. We have visited these places and you will hardly find a computer in some areas. And children are –

Absolutely, Madam Speaker. But you see the problem with education, there are classes of schools that will not argue because they also have their number. When you come to private schools, their advanced stages are well known to all of us. Then there are those particular UPE schools where I have a lot of interest. Then lastly, I pray to the minister, through you, Madam Speaker, that some of these issues like the one raised by the honourable member about the technical institute - as a committee, we have done a lot of work and I would like to thank you for interdicting the head teacher. However, the committee should take keen interest in going back. Sometimes, there must be a presumption of innocence. A number of schools are striking now. I heard of one in Mbarara. In Masaka we had one at Blessed Sacrament Kimaanya and others. We should go back to our committee and get more usefulness from the committee to handle those disputes as they come in. Thank you.

4352 PRIME MINISTER’S TIME have gone through. It has had an impact on the parents, teachers plus the students. You will get the sad information, after the results are out, because you will get to know that a big number stayed out because of those hurdles. Universal Primary Education schools are supposed to pay nothing. If they are paying Shs 150,000 for e-registration, it is as if they have paid for UPE funds for the last seven years. Are you getting me? So, you either make it free as you gave it to them or not. Otherwise, if you put a charge on parents, children are going to stay without studying next year and they will not be paying because they cannot afford. You know very well you are not buying reports for schools and reports are paid for by parents. Those who cannot afford do not get reports in UPE schools. These are facts you cannot run away from; whether in Alebtong or Kalungu. These are known everywhere. Let us take that keen interest, as the Speaker said, and have a win-win situation. Once parents are impacted on paying, with this lockdown and the economy, that is why you are going – those are the questions. You started with one million children in P.1 but at pre- registration in P.7, you have less than 600,000 children. Where are the 400,000 disappearing to? One of the factors might also be that one. This is in good spirit.