This follows the cessation of manual data collection from schools across the country to prepare for the new online-based Electronic Management Information System (EMIS). While government schools have swiftly complied with the new measure, many private institutions are lagging, writes YUDAYA NANGONZI.
The web-based EMIS was revamped to systematically provide accurate and timely information for evidence-based decision-making, planning, project development, and effective sector management. Since the rollout of the revised system in September 2022, all education institutions have been tasked to capture learner and parent details, teaching and non-teaching staff, and infrastructure, among others.
However, during a recent sensitization workshop for private schools on EMIS at Nakasero Primary School, it was evident that uptake has been a challenge at an institutional level. The commissioner of Education Planning at the ministry, Robert Bellarmine Okudi, observed that the response rate for private schools continues to remain low compared to their government counterparts.
“It is assumed that this is due to lack of knowledge and skills about EMIS and concerns by private institutions about the misuse of data by the government for taxation purposes. We have also received complaints about the requirement of the National Identification Number (NIN) deterring the comprehensive appreciation and ability of the schools to update the information on the system,” Okudi said.
The ministry now intends to issue a new registration deadline on EMIS that private schools must follow after the capacity-building workshops.
“We are working around the clock to assist private schools to register because we want comprehensive data by the end of 2024. This will be critical towards publishing the first [since 2017] ministry’s statistical abstract as of December 2024,” he said.
This Financial Year 2024/25, the budgets for capitation grants of government schools were determined by figures on EMIS at the primary and secondary levels.
According to Okudi, this greatly increased the uptake and utilization of the system by public institutions which had also lagged. Local governments submitted enrolment data of the public schools through EMIS while DEOs who weren’t proactive had late approvals of their grants. In government schools, verification of learners is ongoing and CAOs are expected to send updated lists to the ministry through EMIS.
CURRENT EMIS FIGURES
As of October 3, 2024, at least 13.3 million learners from 75,850 schools had been registered on EMIS. Of the total schools, 14,241 are government and 61,609 private. Statistics from the Education ministry indicate that there are still more males than females, at 6.8 million and 6.4 million, respectively.
The total number of registered staff in education institutions is 335,488. Of these, 286,289 are teaching staff, and 49,199 are non-teaching staff. At the institutional level, there are 22,837 private nursery schools, 43,892 primary schools (12,579 gov’t and 31,313 private), and 7,494 secondary schools (1,443 gov’t and 6,051 private). Private certificate-awarding institutions are 1,170 and only 169 are government.
At the diploma level, there are 69 private and 51 government institutions while there are 42 private and 13 government universities. International schools are only 94 countrywide.
NON-RESPONDING SCHOOLS
According to the EMIS figures, the number of learners in private schools uploaded on the system remains significantly low compared to that of government schools. Of the 30,199 schools without learner uploads, only 64 are government. At the primary level, the non-response rate for public schools stands at 0.2% and 59.6% for private schools.
In secondary schools, where only 11 public schools are non-responsive, at least 2,735 private schools are lagging. At the sensitization workshop, private proprietors acknowledged the delay in registration. However, many blamed parents, especially in international schools, who are unwilling to share their details.
At one Kampala-based private school with at least 50% foreign learners, a teacher in charge of registration who preferred anonymity said the children lack student passes, which are required by law to ease their registration on the system. Only one learner has a study pass at the school.
“Just like foreign nationals are issued with work permits, learners are also supposed to secure study passes but parents are reluctant to share the information. For refugees, the parents claim not to have their refugee numbers. I have tried convincing the parents for at least two years but they are not forthcoming. Maybe, the ministry needs to come out with specific penalties for such parents in private schools,” the teacher said.
This school has more than 300 foreign learners from countries such as Eritrea, South Sudan, India, Philippines, Kenya, Zimbabwe, and Congo without student passes and cannot be registered on EMIS as a requirement.
“Some parents claim the immigration system is hard on them and fear to share information. I believe these are just excuses from some parents. They are either too lazy to go to immigration offices or are illegally in the country,” the teacher added.
Another teacher said: “Some foreign parents – especially from war-affected countries – are not complying with the school authorities to register learners. We have registered the nationals easily but the hustle lies with foreign students. Some foreign parents genuinely said they were adamant about the study passes while others are afraid that school proprietors will leak their information to the government through EMIS.”
Meanwhile, the EMIS system deters schools from using the particulars of guardians to register learners without backing legal documents.
Okudi noted that some foreign parents were also hesitant to share their passport numbers as a requirement to register their children at schools.
“We will engage the ministry of Internal Affairs to see whether they can have a lasting solution. We may agree to give the learners temporary passes to have them uploaded on the system on time,” Okudi said, pledging further engagements with foreign parents to assess their fears. Out of the 94 international schools, only 1,756 learners from 29 schools have been registered.
MINISTER SPEAKS
The state minister for Higher Education, Dr John Muyingo, appealed to parents to share the necessary information with the schools. He, however, noted that on inception, the ministry missed a key step of sensitizing the private schools and rather directed them “to do what we wanted.”
“Schools have been giving lame excuses that they will be heavily taxed by the government using the EMIS. Now that they have been prepared, we expected better numbers on the system,” Muyingo said.
Asked about penalties for non-responding schools, Muyingo said: “I won’t use any force on the schools to register but incase a school does not respond, we shall follow the necessary laws in the Education sector to handle such cases. All children must be accommodated on the EMIS without fail and school proprietors should take this exercise seriously.”
Meanwhile, the ministry has also phased out physical licensing and registration of education institutions nationwide. All such processes shall be carried out on the EMIS which will further compel private institutions to embrace the new system. Currently, the online licensing system is being tested amongst various stakeholders before its actual rollout next year, 2025.
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