Education Sector Strategic Plan 2004-2015 - Planipolis

Final ESSP
The modern workforce, toward which Uganda is heading in important industrial and
agricultural sectors, will require a different set of competencies than those taught
today. To succeed in the workplace, young people will require the ability to follow
written directions that assume an understanding of abstract concepts. They will need
to go beyond the basics of reading, writing, mathematics, and problem solving, and
many will need the ability to use computers at a basic level. Enterprises in every
sector, including modern agriculture, industry, and the public sector, will require
entering employees who know how to solve problems using rigorous methods of
problem identification, hypothesis formulation, data collection and analysis, and
reporting. Factory jobs and work in agriculture-based enterprises will demand the
ability to reason beyond repetition of mechanical operations, to make decisions
about treatments under varying conditions, to understand a business plan, to
communicate clearly in writing, to read complex instructions, and other such tasks.
Every person should be able to think critically - to make informed and competent
judgments about what others assert and about his or her own choices - and to clearly
communicate information and opinions.
2.2.2.3: Tertiary graduates prepared to be innovative, creative, and entrepreneurial in
the private and public sectors
Only 2.7% of Uganda’s youth between the ages of 19 and 25 are enrolled in higher
education institutes, yet demand for access to this level of the system exceeds what
is provided. 7 While this rate is expected to grow over the coming decade, it will
remain the case that few Ugandans hold higher education credentials. Thus, public
investment in higher education should be returned to society in the form of
productive participation in private enterprises and public service.
2.2.3 Objective 3: An effective and efficient education sector
The semi-annual performance reviews of the Education Sector Review meetings and
recent tracking studies of resource use reveal considerable inefficiencies and
wastage in the education system. This is of major concern, since the Ministry’s
financial resources are far below what it needs to meet its access and quality-related
objectives. In the past five years, the Ministry has made notable progress in
decentralizing primary and post-primary education services, but much remains to be
done before districts become effective managers of education. The Ministry has also
put into place a series of policies and programs that will assure quality of services,
but these plans have only begun to be implemented. It has also built the capacity of
its planning and operations staff to set targets, adopts strategies, and implement
interventions that move toward achieving objectives, but there is room for
improvement. Thus, one objective of the Plan is to correct these insufficiencies and
maintain an effective and efficient education sector and institutions.
7 Draft Strategic Plan for Higher Education, November 2003.
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