ALFORD Education program
One of the overall objective of this program is to support in government programs, guide, coordinate, regulate and promote quality education and sports to all persons in Uganda for national integration, individual and national development;
Economic context of the Plan
A critical problem facing Uganda is that it does not have enough men and women with the competencies needed to achieve its development goals. Yet the anticipated rate of economic growth (GDP) is not enough to expand the education system over the next ten years to meet the demands of a rapidly growing school-age population.
Government White Paper on Education
The 1992 Government White Paper on Education is the basis of official policy on the purposes and programs of education. While some of the programs have been revised as a result of intervening events, the White Paper's articulation of the purposes of Uganda's education system continues to be the supreme guidance for the sector. Its aims are to promote citizenship; moral, ethical, and spiritual values; promote scientific, technical and cultural knowledge, skills, and attitudes; eradicate literacy and equip individuals with basic skills and knowledge and with the ability to "contribute to the building of an integrated, self-sustaining and independent national economy."
International long-term commitments
Uganda has two sets of commitments to the international community that have an impact on its long-term plans. These are the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and the Education for All goals (EFA). The Plan is in line with these broad sets of goals.The Millennium Development Goal that is relevant to the Ministry of Education and Sports is to ensure that by 2015 boys and girls will be able to complete a full course of primary schooling and that gender disparities will be eliminated at the primary level by 2005 and at all levels by 2015. The Education for All goals (set in Jomtien in 1990 and reaffirmed in Dakar in 2000) include completion of free and compulsory primary education of good quality, equitable access by all children, elimination of gender disparities, and achievement of measurable learning outcomes, especially in literacy, numeracy, and essential life skills.
ALFORD Highest priority objectives
The Plan puts highest priority on solving three problems:
(a) Children are not learning basic skills in primary school. The focus on our strategic plan (2010-2015) was on getting all HIV/AIDS orphans 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 life skills - quality.
(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 is to help students acquire competencies they need to join the workforce and to continue their education. To achieve this objective, ALFORD will:
Support programs targeted to disadvantaged children and youth
ALFORD is working closely with disadvantaged communities and primary school services. There are many such communities, each with particular needs. They include dispersed communities, poor rural and poor urban communities. ALFORD have helped reach these communities with special projects. Although disadvantaged communities continue to benefit from the special attention, ALFORD will draft and implement a costed plan for extending to these programs.
Improve equity in the participation of girls and needy students
ALFORD will help to equip and improve post-primary school facilities, and it will improve equity in participation of girls and needy students by targeting school grants in needy areas and bursaries to individual students.
There are individual children throughout the country with special needs, due to hearing, vision, mobility, or other disabilities. The ALFORD will continue to conduct regular assessments of services to children with special needs, in an effort to implement its CBR approach of inclusive education and community intergration.It will also aim to partner with disabled people's organization (DPOs) to incorporate some schools for children with severe disabilities.
Guidelines for adopting new initiatives and projects
(a) ALFORD's education programs include a number of cross-cutting initiatives, such as girls' education, HIV/AIDS awareness and prevention, ICT, agricultural education, and sports activities. Similarly, the ALFORD's programs encompass special projects targeted toward particular groups of learners, including children in dispersed communities and in poor communities, orphans, children living in areas of conflict, and street children.
(b) The proposed initiative or project is in line with long-term goals of the MDGs and EFA?
The challenge of this plan is to accommodate more students at the post-primary and tertiary levels and to reach equitable levels of participation among families of all economic status and among rural and urban families.
Click on the image below for the entire plan in PDF.
