ANPPCAN Presentation on Teacher Absenteeism - Transparency ...

Protecting the children,
securing the future
Teacher Absenteeism in the
Iganga District of Uganda
ANSLEM WANDEGA, <strong>ANPPCAN</strong>
UGANDA CHAPTER

Introduction
‣ <strong>ANPPCAN</strong> Uganda is a non- government
organization that is committed to addressing the
problem of child abuse and neglect and
promoting the rights of children. It is part of
<strong>ANPPCAN</strong> Africa, a regional organization that
seeks to protect and promote the rights of
children in Africa. For over 16 years, <strong>ANPPCAN</strong>
Uganda has significantly contributed to raising
public awareness on child rights and empowered
both adults and children to seek redress when
violations against children occur.
Protecting the children,
securing the future

Introduction ct’d
‣ One of <strong>ANPPCAN</strong>’s major interventions is to
facilitate children’s access to their right to
education.
‣ <strong>ANPPCAN</strong> operates in 12 districts in Uganda
including, Kampala and its environs, Mukono,
Jinja, Iganga, Kamuli, Busia, Kitgum, Pader, Apac,
Arua, Rakai and Kasese.
‣ <strong>ANPPCAN</strong> was supported by TAP to undertake the
study on absenteeism in 30 education facilities
in Iganga district, Eastern Uganda
Protecting the children,
securing the future

Background to
UPE
‣ Uganda is one of the countries the world
over that have pledged to meet the MDGs
which aim at eradicating extreme poverty
and improving the conditions of the poor.
As a member, Uganda therefore has to
ensure universal primary education for all
children by 2015.
‣ In 1996, president Y.K Museveni
announced that four children of school
going age per family would benefit from
Protecting the children,
securing the future

Background ct’d
from free primary education, starting
from January 1997. This directive became
a policy known as UPE. It was seen as the
main tool for achieving the economic,
social and political objectives outlined in
the Ugandan Ministry of Education and
Sports policy document of 1998 in a
decentralized framework. Broadly, the
objectives of UPE are to:
Protecting the children,
securing the future

Background to
UPE ctd
o Establish, provide and maintain quality
education as the basis for promoting human
resource development;
o Provide the facilities and resources to enable
every child to enter and remain in school until
the primary school cycle of education is
complete;
o Make basic education accessible to the learner
and relevant to his or her needs, as well as
meeting national goals
o Make education equitable in order to eliminate
disparities and inequalities
Protecting the children,
securing the future

Background to
UPE ctd
o Ensure that education is affordable by the
majority of Ugandans
o Meet the objective of poverty eradication by
equipping every individual with basic skills
and knowledge.
‣ When the implementation of UPE started
in 1997, the registration limit of 4
children per family proved problematic,
particularly regarding the exact definition
of a family in the Ugandan context.
Eventually, the government removed this
Protecting the children,
securing the future

Background to
UPE ctd
restriction and allowed all children that wanted
primary education under the UPE program to
enroll. Under the program, the government of
Uganda abolished tuition fees and PTA charges
for primary education.
‣ To ensure access, the government instituted
complementary financing measures. Financing of
the education sector as a whole increased
significantly, from 2.1% GDP in 1995 to 4.8% of
GDP in 2000, while share of the education sector
in the national budget increased from 13.7% in
1990 to 24.7% in 1998.In the financial year
2005/6, government spent about 635.6bn Shs. on
Protecting the children,
securing the future

Background to UPE
ctd
making it the second largest funded sector
in the country.
‣ Uganda’s Education Sector Investment
Plan also makes it mandatory that not less
than 65% of the education budget must
fund primary education.
‣ UPE is also being implemented alongside
private school education, though the
latter is concentrated in the urban
centers.
Protecting the children,
securing the future

UPE Background
ct’d
‣ Despite the abolition of tuition and PTA charges,
primary education was not made entirely free,
since parents were still expected to contribute
exercise books, pens, uniform, bricks, and labour
for classroom construction through community
work. During the implementation stage however,
the government realised that parents were not
willing to contribute large amounts of bricks and
labour, partly because of the many other
demands on their time.
‣ The government has since then provided money
for construction of more classrooms, paying of
Protecting the children,
securing the future

Background to
UPE ctd
more teachers and purchase of requisite
instructional materials, especially text books.
‣ Stakeholders in the UPE Policy Implementation
o The Ministry of Education and Sports
o Local Authorities
o School Management Committees
‣ Progress
o
Strengths
• Increased access to UPE from 3.1 million pupils
in 1997-8.2 million pupils in 2009
• Increase in the number of schools from 13, 576
in 2005 to 14,179 in 2008
Protecting the children,
securing the future

Background to
UPE ctd
• Growth in the number of teachers with diplomas
from 2,905 in 2007 to 5, 397 in 2008.
• Three in every five pupils in lower have adequate
sitting space
• Literacy levels have increased to 69% at national
level
‣ The number of teachers reduced by
13.8% between 2007/8.
‣ The teacher pupil ratio increased from
1:50 in 2005 to 1:57 in 2008 as a result
of streamlining the teachers’ ceiling
Protecting the children,
securing the future

Background to
UPE ctd
‣ The pupil completion rate is still low. For
example out of the 1,712,420 pupils who
started P1 in 2002, only 516,890 pupils
sat in 2008 and an average 450,000 in
2007, representing only 27% and 26% of
the children only.
Protecting the children,
securing the future

Objectives
‣ Goal: To generate evidence to be used in
an advocacy campaign aimed at curbing
teacher absenteeism in public schools in
Uganda
‣ Specific Objectives
o To document the magnitude of teacher
absenteeism in UPE schools in Iganga district
o To identify causes of teacher absenteeism in
UPE schools in Iganga district
o To establish a relationship between teacher
Protecting the children,
securing the future

Objectives ct’d
absenteeism and pupil performance in UPE
schools in the district
o To identify existing initiatives to curb teacher
absenteeism within the district
o To identify and document best practices for
countering teacher absenteeism for synergy
and replication in other schools within the
district
Protecting the children,
securing the future

Methodology
‣ Study reached 620 people, i.e
Commissioner Pre-primary and Primary
Education, Assistant Commissioner
Children and Youth Affairs, District
Education Officer, Resident District
Commissioner, District Chairperson of the
Social Services Committee, District
Inspectors of Schools, School heads or
their deputies, parents, children,
members of the SMCs, CSO
representatives and community members.
Protecting the children,
securing the future

Methodology
‣ Study was conducted in 30 purposively
selected UPE schools located in 5 of the
19 sub-counties of Iganga district
‣ Schools were selected in a consultative
meeting with the district leadership (LC V,
RDC, CAO, DEO, DIS and District Planner)
based on their poor record of
performance in the Primary Leaving
Examinations conducted between 2006
and 2008
Protecting the children,
securing the future

Methodology
‣ Document review
o Secondary documents were reviewed
• To assess trends and magnitude of teacher
absenteeism within the selected schools
• Identify best practices
• Aid in the development of data collection tools
‣ Key Informant interviews
• Existing policies/guidelines on teacher absenteeism
• Knowledge/concern about teacher absenteeism
• Factors underlying teacher absenteeism
• Strategies employed to curb the problem
Protecting the children,
securing the future

Methodology
‣ Focus group discussions
o These were held with children, parents and
other community members to obtain
information on teacher absenteeism in the
schools in their areas.
Protecting the children,
securing the future

‣ Facility survey
Methodology
• Following the selection of the 30 education facilities,
a letter from the Chief Administrative Officer copied
to the Resident District Commissioner was sent
through the District Inspectors of schools to the
respective schools heads and chairpersons of the
school management committees to come along with
their school timetables for a consultative meeting
with <strong>ANPPCAN</strong> officials in Iganga town
• In a consultative meeting with school heads and
chairpersons of the school management committees
from the 30 schools, official school timetables with
names, dates, times and classes the respective
classroom teachers were expected to teach were
obtained by the study team to develop a register
Protecting the children,
securing the future

Methodology
‣ Based on the register drawn, three un announced
visits were made to each of the selected schools.
During the visits, the enumerators met with the
head teachers and where they were absent, their
deputies or the teachers in charge to foremost up
date the register given at the consultative meeting.
‣ Head teachers or their representatives were then
asked to go through the register to indicate whether
the mentioned teacher was present or not. If the
head teacher or the representative indicated that a
teacher was absent, he / she was further asked why
that particular teacher was absent on that particular
day.
Protecting the children,
securing the future

Methodology
‣ After the interview with the either the head teacher
or their representative was completed, the
enumerators started interviewing teachers enlisted
on the register, one at a go to a minimum of six
teachers per school (based on the total number of
teachers employed at the school).
‣ Teachers’ records were also accessed from the head
teachers to verify whether the reasons given by
particular teachers were actually those that
appeared on the records in the head teachers’ or
their representatives’ offices.
‣ Visits were conducted between 8:30-4:00 pm,
excluding break and lunch times
Protecting the children,
securing the future

Methodology
‣ A teacher or head teacher was considered to be
absent when at the time of the un announced
visit, he / she could not be physically seen in the
school teaching a class she / he was supposed to
be teaching as stipulated on the register and was
away for reasons given other than official leave,
transfer, reassignment to teach a different class
or do administrative tasks
Protecting the children,
securing the future

Background to
Iganga district
‣ It is located in the South Eastern part of
Uganda. It borders Mayuge, Namutumba,
Jinja and Kaliro.
‣ It has 3 counties and 19 sub-counties, 115
parishes and 644 villages
‣ Has a population of 540,939 people.
‣ Population growth rate is 3.4%, 0.2% above
the national average
‣ There are 248 UPE schools
‣ Has a shortfall of 100 teachers
Protecting the children,
securing the future

Iganga
‣ Total enrollment is 132,858 pupils
‣ On average, schools have under enrolled
by 2,230 pupils
‣ Some schools have over enrolled by over
400 pupils.
‣ 506 teachers are undergoing training
‣ Between 2006 and 2009, 5,310 passed in
first grade, 31,476 in second grade,
26,688 in third grade, 19,442 in fourth
grade, 7268 in grade X (did not sit) and
Protecting the children,
securing the future

Iganga district
27,768 failures in division U. In other
words, a total of 117,952 pupils who sat
for exams between 2006-2009 in the
district who failed to join a secondary
school or any other institution of learning
‣ 3.6% of the 70,266 pupils who failed in
the country came from Iganga district.
‣ Gross enrollment rate is 120 children
‣ Net enrolment is 102
‣ Gross intake is 120
‣ Net intake is 59
Protecting the children,
securing the future

Iganga district
‣ Teacher pupil ratio was 1: 63 in 2008
‣ Pupil classroom ratio was 85:1 in 2008
Protecting the children,
securing the future

Magnitude
A total, 561 teachers were registered to
teach in the 30 schools
Visit
Absenteeism rates per visit
Percentage
First Visit 48.5
Second visit 46.5%
Third visit 35.8%
Average 43.6%
Protecting the children,
securing the future

Magnitude
‣ 51% of the teachers absent were female
compared to 49% male
‣ Interviews with CSO’s and communities revealed
that in a school of 6 teachers, 2 are absent for at
least 3 days and the rest are either absent on the
first or last days of the term or last days of the
month or both
Protecting the children,
securing the future

Findings
‣ Head teacher absenteeism
Visit
Percentage
First Visit 30%
Second visit 20%
Third visit 9%
Average 19.7%
Protecting the children,
securing the future

Causes of teacher
absenteeism
‣ A total of 236 teachers were interviewed
on what the causes were and findings
were as follows:
o 40.7% said that their colleagues absent
themselves to engage in IGAs and supplement
their incomes
o 28.4% said that their colleagues absent
themselves to attend to domestic problems
o 19.9% said that their colleagues get absent
because of transport problems
o 10.6% said that their colleagues get absent to go
and collect salaries
Protecting the children,
securing the future

Causes of teacher
absenteeism
‣ An interview with 30 head teacher or their
representatives revealed the following:-
o 33.3% of the teachers are absent due to sickness
o 13.3% are absent because they are engaging in
income generating activities
o 6.7% are absent because they are doing farming
especially during the rainy season
o 6.7% are absent because they are attending events
such as marriage ceremonies, funerals, etc
o 3.3% are absent when they go to banks to
withdraw their monthly pay
Protecting the children,
securing the future

Causes of teacher
absenteeism
‣ 40% of the community members said that most
teachers fake illnesses as they can actually be seen
walking around in the village and doing their other
work
‣ 20% of the community members also said that most
teachers are absent because of the distance from
their homes to schools, especially during rainy
season
‣ 10% of the community members also said that most
teachers are absent because their head teachers are
also absent
‣ Others said that most teachers are absent because
they have gone to collect a salary in town
Protecting the children,
securing the future

Causes of teacher
absenteeism
‣ Inadequacies in inspection cause teacher
absenteeism. Teachers and head teachers with
connection to the top district officials had access
to information on inspection dates and could
choose to appear in school or inform others about
the impending inspection. A total of 9,013 out of
14,179 schools in the country were inspected at
least once a term.
‣ All respondents said that teacher absenteeism was
partly to blame on low teacher pay. As a matter of
fact, most (35.2%) of those interviewed said that
they were living with more than 6 people in their
homes and 41.9% said that they are the sole bread
winners in their homes.
Protecting the children,
securing the future

Causes of teacher
absenteeism
‣ Transport was found to be a cause of teacher
absenteeism. 48.3% of the teachers interviewed
reside between 2-5 kilometers away from the school,
27.5% reside some 5 kms away from the school
while 23.7% reside less than 2 kilometers from the
school. Accommodation had been given to only 8.9%
of the teachers who were involved in the study with
the rest either renting or coming from their own
homes
‣ In terms of hours of travel to school, most (19.6%) of
the teachers said that they travel for more than 5
hours to school, 7.6% for more than 4 hours, 12.3%
between 2-4 hours and 17.8% between 1-2 hours and
the rest for less than 1 hour
Protecting the children,
securing the future

Causes of teacher
absenteeism
‣ Weak disciplinary measures taken against
absentee teachers are also partly
responsible for teacher absenteeism.
16.7% of the head teachers interviewed
said that they advice teachers who are
absent not to do it again, 80% give them a
warning letter while 3.3% report them to
the school management committees.
Protecting the children,
securing the future

Teacher
absenteeism and
pupil performance
‣ To establish this relationship, records were
reviewed, teachers and head teachers who had
been at the school for more than three years were
asked to comment on the trends of teacher
absenteeism and how these have affected pupil
performance in their respective schools.
‣ Teachers said that they had been absent from the
school at least once since they were recruited for
one reason or the other.
‣ 6.7% of the head teachers said that teacher
absenteeism has been very often been occurring in
their schools in the past 5 years, 3.3% said that it
has often been occurring in their school 86.7% said
that it has
Protecting the children,
securing the future

Teacher
absenteeism and
pupil performance
been rarely occurring in the past 5 years in their
schools and 3.3% said that it has been very rarely
occurring in their schools in the past five years.
‣ 40% of the head teachers said that the quality of
teaching and learning had improved in their
schools, 46.7% said that it had slightly improved,
10% said that it has remained the same and 3.3%
said that it had become worse.
‣ 80% of the children interviewed said that their
grades became low when their teachers were
absent because of non completion of the
syllabus.
Protecting the children,
securing the future

Teacher
absenteeism and
pupil performance
‣ Between 2007 and 2009, 2,122 pupils had sat for
PLE and 65 had passed in first grade, 1084 in
second grade, 166 in third grade, 673 in fourth
grade, 69 in division X and 65 in Division U.
‣ Teacher absenteeism was found to be partly
responsible for poor pupil academic performance
in the selected schools
Protecting the children,
securing the future

Existing
initiatives to curb
absenteeism
‣ Use of school inspections. 37% of the
schools had been inspected within the
month of the visit, 23.3% six months
before, 13.3% a year before the visit.
‣ Head teacher supervision. 50% of the head
teachers observe classes once in a week,
6.7% twice in a week, 20% thrice a week
and 23.3% every day.
‣ Use of school registers. This was being
practices in very few schools
Protecting the children,
securing the future

Best practices
‣ The following are the approaches being
used to reduce teacher absenteeism
• Introduced school registers (63.3%)
• Changed school administration (3.3%)
• Encouraged community involvement (3.3%)
• Recruited highly qualified staff (3.3%)
• Increased inspection visits (3.3%)
• Parents cooperation (3.3%)
• Introduced allowances for teachers (3.3%)
• Increased supervision at school level by SMCs and
head teachers (3.3%)
• Elected a new SMC (6.7%)
Protecting the children,
securing the future

Recommendations
‣ Strengthen inspection. Inspectorate departments
at national and district level should be
strengthened with more man power and finances.
Inspections are ideally supposed to be abrupt but
in some instances, before the inspector reached a
school, information on the visit had been already
leaked to the teachers and they would rush to
attend to their classes. A heavy penalty to punish
those who share such sensitive information should
be clearly spelt out and enforced
‣ Strengthen local accountability mechanisms.
Head teachers should increase the times they
monitor classes to at least twice in a week and
should also be checking for absenteeism
Protecting the children,
securing the future

Recommendations
‣ There is need for strong SMCs since where they
were strong, absenteeism was low due to constant
monitoring
‣ Punish non compliant school heads. There is need
for stronger penalties for head teachers who do not
effectively supervise their staff.
‣ Teacher transfers. Teachers who stay at the school
for 20 years should be transferred. Young head
teachers fear to punish such teachers because they
have served for long and understand all the
dynamics in that school.
Protecting the children,
securing the future

Recommendations
‣ Empower children and communities to
monitor teacher absenteeism
‣ Provide accommodation for teachers at
the schools.
‣ Provide meals for teachers.
‣ Ensure timely distribution of instructional
materials
‣ Increase salaries for teachers in rural
areas.
Protecting the children,
securing the future

Recommendations
‣ Leaves. It was found out that some teachers were
out of the school because they were sick. There is a
need for school administrators to ensure that
teachers who go are absent because they are sick
submit proof of medical treatment from a
recognized health institution upon return. This will
discourage faking of “sickness” by teachers as
reported by the communities.
‣ District officials should engage private sector
providers to extend banking services to teachers
in rural areas.
‣ Appoint teachers and head teachers on contract
Protecting the children,
securing the future

Way Forward
‣ Meeting to validate and disseminate
findings at district level (targeting
District Political and Technical Staff
concerned with education service
delivery, Head Teachers, Teachers, SMC’s,
Children, Teachers’ Unions, CSO’s, etc
‣ Public Dialogue on Teacher
Absenteeism at national level: To
disseminate findings at national level but
also engage key actors (Parliamentary
Social Services Committee Members,
Protecting the children,
securing the future

Way Forward
Parliamentary Budget Committee
Members, Uganda Parliamentary
Committee for Children, Primary
Education, Ministry of Finance, Planning
and Economic Development, Minister of
Education and Sports, State Minister for
Primary Education, Commissioner and
Directors for Pre-Primary and Primary
Education, Education Funding Group
(EFAG) Members, Media, CSO’s and UN
Protecting the children,
securing the future

Way Forward
Agencies on teacher absenteeism in
Iganga district and Uganda as a country
‣ Follow up meetings with the key issues
identified during engagements both at
local and national levels (As an
organization but also through established
coalitions-EFAG, FENU, UNICEF Education
Sub-cluster)
‣ Multi-media campaign with messages on
teacher absenteeism(Press conferences,
Protecting the children,
securing the future

Way Forward
posters, T-shirts, Caps, Radio and TV talk
shows and spots, News and Opinion
Articles in the Leading Newspapers
Organize DAC Celebrations with a focus
on teacher absenteeism in Iganga district
‣ Produce and disseminate 500 copies of
the report to education officials at district
and national level and also higher
institutions of learning
‣ Effectively participate in the Education
Protecting the children,
securing the future

Way Forward
Sector Review meeting for 2010-2011 to
profile issues that appeared in the report
‣ Train and support 30 children and 10
focal teachers to monitor levels of
absenteeism in 10 of the selected 30
schools
Protecting the children,
securing the future

THANK YOU
Protecting the children,
securing the future