Education Sector Strategic Plan 2004-2015 - Planipolis

2.0 POLICY OBJECTIVES
Final ESSP
Policy objectives that meet the broad requirements of the Millennium Development
Goals, Education for All goals, and the Ministry’s mission must be broad and all
encompassing. This is because the provision of education is a systemic challenge,
and all aspects of the system must function interactively. It must provide access at
the primary level for all children and at post-primary levels for qualified students; it
must provide quality instructional programs. Providing access and quality depends
upon an efficient use of limited resources. Thus the objectives of the Education
Sector Strategic Plan are necessarily broad and comprehensive.
2.1 Highest priority objectives
The Plan puts highest priority on solving three problems:
(a) Children are not learning basic skills in primary school. The focus of the first
strategic plan (1998-2003) was on getting all children into primary school -
access. The focus of this plan at the primary level is to help pupils in primary
school learn the basic skills of literacy and numeracy and life skills - quality. To
achieve this objective (2.1) the Ministry will:
(i) Make the curriculum feasible and practical,
(ii) Adopt effective methods of instruction and train teachers in their use,
(iii) Devote more instructional time; consolidate other vocational and other
subjects into less time,
(iv) Examine pupils only in reading, writing, and math.
(b) Students are not acquiring the skills and knowledge they need for either the world
of work or further education. At the post-primary level, the bifurcated system
between academic preparation for higher education and vocational training for
technician jobs is not appropriate for Uganda’s national development needs. A
key objective of this plan (2.2) is to help students acquire competencies they need
to join the workforce and to continue their education. To achieve this objective,
the Ministry will:
(i) Revise the curriculum to and improve instruction and assessment.
(ii) Make more efficient use of resources.
(iii) Reconfigure the post-primary sector, and centre Business, Technical and
Vocational Education and Training (BTVET) on a qualifications
framework.
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