Vertical tracking is key in checking the quality of public service delivery.

Published By;

Geoffrey.
Prpgrammes Coordinator KALI

—Education Sector:

Uganda is among the countries with high enrollment at lower primary;

Enrollment is at 8,337,069 million pupils ( 4168939 Males, 4168139Females)

But those who sat PLE in 2014 were 604.971 Compared to 907.082 who enrolled in P.1 in 2007, implying that 302.111 (33.3%)pupils had dropped out of school Within the seven years. Why this loss in retention?

By the end 2014/15, Enrollment was 6.4 million pupils. National budget notes 2015/16With introduction of UPE in Uganda, there was notable success in enrollment levels which necessitated construction of more classroom and latrines at school to accommodate and serve the high population. Government has constructed structures to handle this challenge, but there is still much to be done.

During monitoring, 11 P/S were visit and these included; Mpondwe,Kamasasa,Mundongo,Ndongo SDA,Nyamighere,Katojo,Nyabugando Parents,Bwera Church,Isango ,Kyempara & St.Komponi were reached in the sub counties of; MLTC,Karambi,Isango,Bwera and Nyakiyumbu.

—  Enrollments in most schools does not match with the available infrastructure and facilities needed to handle such big numbers. These include: class rooms, desks, latrine stances, teachers and teaching materials. For example: At Kamasasa p.school in MLTC, total enrolment is 1925 (M=911,F=1014). Latrine pupil ratio is 1:151 for boys & 1:338 for girls, compare to the recommended 1:40. the school has 38trs

—  Mpondwe primary school could soon become a model school . For these last 3yrs, the school has recovered from great shock of no grade (from 2007-2011,only 2 grades) Yet in the last three years, the school has been able to get 12 grade I and 96 in grade II. the school provides porriedge to all pupils and has build a mordern WASH ROOM for girls. However, over 60% in each class of P.1,p2 and P3 seat down
this is affecting academic performance in one way or an other.

 Bellow is a newly build wash room for girls at Mpondwe P/C.

In Isango primary, Pupils of three class rooms study under trees within the compound, this endangers the life of pupils and teachers especially during the rain and wind season. However, parents are building but this will take time to be used.

 

—  Drop out rate & absenteeism are increasing especially  girls in upper primary  eg. Kamasasa p/s since last yr , 20 girls (4 p7,10 p6 & 10 p5) & 10 boys from P6 and P5. this is cross cutting schools in Bukonzo west on market days.

—  Change rooms for girl child, apart from Mpondwe Primary school, the other ten P/S did not have.

—  Pupils latrine stance ratio is high. The lowest of the 11 schools visited was 1:80.5 at Bwera Church P/S.

—  Parents have not fully taken up their role as stipulated in the UPE policy in all the 11 schools visited. This de-motivates teachers & hence poor performance.

—  Mass promotion of pupils by the government to reduce on double spending on the same pupils in the same classes. This has witnessed poor performance in most schools visited.

—  Schools where head teachers are cooperating with teachers & PTA committees like; Nyabugando parents ,Mpondwe P/S,Katojo & Bwera church have been  able to try through the tough challenges.

—  According to Kasese district office of inspector of schools the following schools did not have female teachers by march 2015. and during the vertical tracking, we confirmed to some of them that there were no female teachers yet. These include; Buhuhira, Ibunda SDA, Kasambya SDA, Nyunga, Nyakanengo, Kaswa, Kyamiza, Bunyandiko, Kaghando, Kasangali, Muyina, Kalingwe, Kihungu, Buhyoka, Nyamisule, Kyondo and Kiraro. These schools are mostly located in hard to reach areas and prone to poor academic performance and sanitary facilities especially for a girl child

Midday Meals: It should be noted that under the UPE Program, the parents/guardians are required to provide lunch for their children while at school. However not all parents are doing this. Lack of lunch provision is one of the leading factors contributing to poor pupil performance in most government aided schools compared to private where lunch is provided.

—  Note: Mpondwe P/S has improved in performance and enrolment due to porridge to every child daily and motivation to teachers e.g. 1000= for lunch to every teacher on a daily basis.

—  Most school that have evidence of improved performance have introduce lunch to candidate classes.

HEALTH SECTOR:

 

The current Buhunga Muyagha H/C II Nurses complained of too much heat during dry season which is not good for drugs.

During the post‐independence era (1962‐1971) Uganda was one of the countries with best health indices and a vibrant health care system in Africa. Two decades of civil unrest followed and the health care system collapsed. After the war, GoU started reconstruction and rehabilitation programs first focusing on putting in place the political and economic environment conducive to growth. Since early 1990s, GoU has given high priority to improvement of the health status of people as evident in the development and implementation of the first NHP and the Health Sector Strategic Plans (HSSP) I and II. However, some challenges still exists.

In the 2015/16 budget proposals the health budget has been cut by Sh. 317.4 from 1.28 1 trillions. to 1.27 trillion

—  What is the implication of this budget cut on the health sector? will Uganda meet the MDG target?

—  KALI visited 7 health centers of Bikunya,Karambi,Mushenene,Buhunga muyagha,Ihandiro,Nyakimasa & Bwera hospital randomly selected in bukonzo west.

—  Concern were on attendance of health workers, availability of drugs, sanitation and patient’s satisfaction, accessibility of maternity services by women with disabilities. (special delivery beds)

Bwera Hospital, a lot of patients have been received at the hospital from across DRC who were not intended beneficiaries by the ministry of health allocations. According to the MS Bwera Dr. Sekitto Jonathan at Bwera Hospital 6 % of patients received at hospital between October and December 2014 were from DRC). In the month of January 2015, 4543 patients were received at OPD of which 84 patients were from DRC (1.8%).

—  Few medical workers in most rural health workers

—  According to the National health policy, there are minimum standards of numbers of health workers that are supposed to be at health center II, III, IV and hospitals. Monitoring findings showed that the number of medical workers at the units do not conform to the minimum standards. Eg. Buhungamuyagha H/C.II has two workers but only one active nurse supported by VHT.

—  During spot check at the unit, records show that (Mr. Maate Milton) the in charge since 1/7/2015 to 15^th sept, he had worked for 5 days. (1/7/2015, 1/8/2015, 10/8/2015, 27/8/2015 and 1/9/2015) while interactions with the nurse & VHT’s the in-charge handles PHC funds alone. I have never signed for any renumiration. He just gives me when he wants to give me. The VHT in buhunga muyagha narrates.

 At Nyakimasa H/C.II,

—  Health center is one of the new ones with no medical vote yet. It receives from other units in the HSD.

—  Unit has 4 staff including the health assistant of Bwera S/C

—  Construction of the unit costed around 90,000,000 million shillings including the latrine. However, the crack  in the latrine wall after one year of construction shows there is something wrong.

—  Latrine has developed  wide crack which needs urgent attention yet center has no PHC funds to help mitigate such an urgent crack.

—  Health unit has no regular access to water. There is a rain harvesting tank but not connected to the building.

 

 

 

Annet (in Orange dress) a Nurse  who was on duty was quoted saying; “I now fear to use this latrine because it may sink or Fall in side”