Uncertainty over the implementation of the new Advanced level (A- level) school curriculum will soon end, after the Ministry of Finance, Planning and Economic Development allocated Shs7.1 billion for its implementation.
The assurance was given after Members of Parliament sitting on the committee of Education and Sports put the Minister of State for Finance (Planning), Hon. Amos Lugoloobi to task to ensure that funds are allocated to the National Curriculum Development Centre to implement the new curriculum.
The Ministry of Education introduced a competence based syllabus for Ordinary level (O- level) and the pioneers of the syllabus were examined by the Uganda National Examination Board (UNEB) last year and have now advanced to A- level.
The Chairperson of the Committee on Education, Hon. James Kubeketerya said that implementation of the A- level curriculum is overdue and should be treated with urgency.
“This is non-negotiable; the matter cannot be debated. Money should be found to implement the new curriculum,” he said.
The MPs were meeting the Minister of State for Education (Higher Education), Hon. Chrysostom Muyingo, alongside Lugoloobi to consider the Ministry’s policy statement and budget estimates for the 2025/2026 financial year on Thursday, 03 April 2025.
Hon. Michael Timuzigu (NRM, Kajara County) added that it is unfortunate that only 15 teachers have so far been trained by UNEB on how to assess students under the new curriculum.
“UNEB was not given money to train more teachers to do assessment and this new curriculum is going on. There is an assumption by the Ministry of Finance that those 15 who have been trained are training others,” said Timuzigu.
Hon. Nathan Itungo (Indep, Kashari South County) said that the new curriculum requires continuous assessment but UNEB is constrained by lack of funds.
“We have students in senior five but we are still struggling with implementation of the new curriculum,” he said.
Lugoloobi however said that the Ministry of Finance has allocated Shs18 billion to facilitate UNEB to carry out continuous assessments and subsequent marking of final national examinations.
“We have supported UNEB and now they have even reduced cases of exam leakages,” Lugoloobi said.
The MPs also urged the Minister to consider harmonisation of salaries of all primary and secondary school teachers, following enhancement of salaries of teachers of science subjects.
Butemba County MP, Hon. Patrick Nyanzi raised concern that the Ministry of Education has not included the request in the 2025/2026 financial year’s budget.
“The two Ministers [Finance and Education] have been appearing before us and they said that even before salaries of science teachers were enhanced, there was a plan to increase that of arts teachers. The two Ministers are here, do they have news for us to deliver to arts teachers,” he said.
Lugoloobi said that government was grappling with closing funding gaps in the national budget.
“We still have a challenge with mobilising resources,” Lugoloobi said.
The Ministry of Education’s projected budget for the next financial year is Shs800 billion, and Minister Muyingo said out of that, Shs200 billion is external financing.
“All the additional resources provided to the Ministry are not discretionary but earmarked for specific activities. This implies that the fiscal space available to the Ministry to implement emerging priorities is still very limited,” Muyingo said.
He pointed out some of the unfunded and underfunded activities including implementation of free and compulsory Universal Primary Education, grant aiding of primary and secondary schools and re-purposing of primary teacher’s colleges.
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