The government of Uganda has allocated 4.2 billion Shillings towards mapping of educational institutions in the country. The exercise will result in a comprehensive list of schools and educational institutions and their locations, stored on a central customized Global Positioning System (GPS) software.
The exercise will be undertaken by the Uganda Bureau of Statistics (UBOS) in conjunction with the Ministry of Education and Sports. According to UBOS Information Officer Joshua Mubulire Ssekalegga, the exercise will begin in April and will run for the next two months.
Ssekalegga says that assembled teams of field staffs, comprising of UBOS enumerators will be guided by Parish Chiefs and Town Agents, to physical locations of the schools where they will capture the required data using GPS devices.
He explains that the exercise intends to understand the distribution of both licensed and unlicensed education institutions across the country, the acreage of land they are occupying and subsequently, guide government’s proper planning for the sector.
He adds that this is a broad census exercise that will as well involve capturing all details of the education institutions, student and staff population figures and sanitation levels, for purposes of generating a fully-fledged education sector statistical database.
Ssekalegga adds that exercise has been piloted in three districts of Wakiso, Kampala and Mukono, urging the rest of the country to support its success.
Masaka Resident District Commissioner Herman Ssentongo urged school administrators to cooperate with their teams and provide valid details adding that the teams are not on a fault finding exercise.
However, John Male, a director of Kiwangala Progressive Primary School says that the government could be intending to use the collected data to harass schools. The exercise is supported by the Department for International Development (DFID) through the project of Strengthening Education Systems for Improved Learning (SESIL).
– URN
