DELAY IN UPE FUND DISBURSEMENT AFFECTS SCHOOL ACTIVITIES IN YUMBE

A teacher of Kena Valley Primary school conducting lesson in P.7 class on Thursday.  PHOTO/ROBERT ELEMA 

By Robert Elema

Yumbe 

Delayed disbursement of Universal Primary Education (UPE) funds is affecting the smooth running of schools in Yumbe District, with head teachers saying they are struggling to meet basic operational needs.

The schools depend on UPE grants to support day-to-day activities, including procurement of teaching and learning materials, minor repairs, sanitation and other administrative requirements.

However, head teachers say delays in receiving the funds have left some schools unable to implement planned activities on time.

In some of the schools, head teachers have resorted to borrowing some materials like chalks from the neighboring schools.

Speaking to this publication on Tuesday, Mr Kasule Ewago, the head teacher of Koka Primary school said, the situation is not good in the school.

“I am telling you; things are not easy in school. Scholastic materials like pens, scheme of work and lesson plan books, pens, chalks are out of stock. Yesterday I borrowed some chalk from the neighboring school,” he said.

“The support staff such as watchmen and the cook are pressurizing me on the issue of their wages. Teachers are equally doing without meals in the school,” he added.

He said, it’s not yet clear when the funds would be disbursed to the school accounts.

The shortage of materials in some schools also signals the issue of planning in such institutions where some of the stakeholders urge the head teachers to plan ahead of time to avoid such challenges.

Ms. Naima Anguko Favour, the head teacher of Aringa Primary school says, her school is not badly off because they had procured some boxes of chalk last term and that they have balance of a box of chalk which is helping them this term.

She said there are other activities that need money to address them but their implementation has become hard.

“We would request the office of Education Department to help us to release the capitation grant to run the school activities. We are currently preparing for Independence Day celebrations but funds are not there to put some of the things right like repair of drums among other issues,” she said.

Mr Yassin Sudd Salim, the head teacher of Kulinga Primary School said, the situation of the schools in Yumbe District are different from the schools in down countries.

He said the parent support in down country schools is a lot but in Yumbe and West Nile region in general, they solely depend on the UPE capitation grant.

“The delay in disbursement of the capitation grant has had a great effect in many schools. Schools in the settlement catchment area are fair because they have NGO support but schools that are far away from these settlement catchment areas are in problems including my school,” he said.

Even Maintaining the toilets to standards has become difficult because the chemicals are not stored for long. We buy chemicals and use them termly and now maintenance of these toilets is a challenge,” he said.

Mr Sudi suggests that, Education Department should go ahead and disburse the capitation grants other than waiting for the completion of head counting of the learners in an effort to establish enrolment.

Responding to these issues, Mr Rasul Luriga, the Yumbe District Education Officer said, they received a circular from the ministry instructing them that they should not disburse the UPE funds until they verify every learner in every school.

“We can’t send the money when we haven’t verified the learners physically in the schools. We started the counting last term but we haven’t finalized,” he said.

He said, they will use the next two weeks for finishing the head counting and once the learners are verified, they will send the money to school accounts.

“I advise the head teachers who are facing challenges of scholastic materials to use available communication links to lobby because when you assure them that the money will come, the suppliers can help you,” he said.

Mr Luriga said, the head counting is expected to be completed in the second week of October, so schools are likely to receive the UPE grants in the mid of October, 2026.

As schools continue to wait for the delayed UPE funds, head teachers and other stakeholders fear that prolonged delays could further disrupt learning and other essential school activities.

Written by newsroom-radiopacis