KIU, Western Campus – The Ministry of Education budget for 2020/2021 has been increased by 248.5 billion from the 2019/2020 budget allocation but the percentage of the Ministry’s budget to the national budget reduced by 0.3%.

In the 2019/2020 Financial Year, the government allocated 3,397.6 million shillings to the sector but this was increased to 3,646.1 million in 2020/2021, according to the national budget read by Finance Minister Matia Kasaija at Parliament, yesterday June 11.

This represents 10.1% of the national budget, down from 10.4% last financial year. 

The Minister of Education Janet Kataaha Museveni on January 16, 2020, while appearing before the House Education Committee of Parliament, said that this year’s education budget was expected to shrink by 111.17 billion, according to a Daily monitor report.

She attributed this to the expected reduction in the donor-funded projects that were expected to exit the public investment plan. 

However, the Ministry’s budget has instead increased by 248.5 billion, something that will come as a welcome development to the Minister and other stakeholders in the Education sector.

The Dean for the School of Business and Management at KIU Western Campus, Michael Manyange welcomed the increase in the Ministry’s budget.

“The allocation is relevant to enhance equitable access to education and training to all levels of the economy. This can provide quality, efficiency and relevance towards economic development,” Manyange said.

“The additional money can help to build capacity in vocational training for future self-sustainability in Uganda,” Manyange added.

Manyange also said the education sector is critical to the country’s overall development because it has linkages to almost all sectors in the economy.

“People who work in almost all the sectors of the economy have to be trained to ensure that the country has a highly-skilled workforce to ensure efficiency in service and product delivery all over, “ Manyange said.

“That is why the sector deserves even more allocations, especially in higher learning – in the fields of research and innovation. This is what can help take our economy to the next level,” Manyange added.

According to the 2020/2021 National Budget Framework Paper, this year's programme objective for Higher Education is to "provide high quality higher education and make it equitably accessible to all qualified Ugandans"