Janet Museveni calls for more govt scholarships

The government, through the Ministry of Education and Sports, is considering plans to increase access to tertiary and higher learning through the government scholarship programme.

According to the ministry spokesperson, Mr Dennis Mugimba, population dynamics have changed, warranting a need to consider adjusting the much-needed scholarship programme, from the current 4,000 slots given in to government scholarship recipients.

“The instruction we were given by the First Lady and minister of Education and Sports, Janet Museveni, is to do a comprehensive review of the bursary, merit-based and quota system for access to higher education,” Mr Mugimba explained the basis for the instruction to journalists at the Uganda Media Centre in Kampala on Wednesday.

“The directive was based on two factors; one, that there are districts which by land size and population are much bigger than those created out of a sub-county or county,” he added.

“Two, that the district quota system would be the most preferred equitable mode of distribution of scholarships; and three, that since we came up with the allocation of 4,000 merit-based slots for bursaries, the population dynamics has changed.”

In 1986, all the 1,239 students admitted to Makerere University were on government bursaries. In 2005, the government increased university bursaries to 4,000 slots, of which 1,000 were ring-fenced for affirmative action to increase equity through the district quota (896 slots) system, persons with disabilities (64 slots) and sports (40 slots), whereas 3,000 remained centralised merit-based bursaries.

Mr Mugimba said the issue at hand has financial implications and that the proposals to be developed by the Education ministry will be taken to the Cabinet for further consideration before a decision is made.

“After cabinet has cleared that, we shall come back to the public and state the new position on this quota system. We heard the outcry that the merit base of 3,000 is disproportionate and that more slots should go to the district quota system. We shall cross that bridge once we interface with cabinet," he explained.

The ministry has indicated that it is still intent on maintaining the affirmative bonus points for girls as they remain under-represented in higher education opportunities.

Today universities (both public and private) graduate 40,000 students annually compared to about 1,000 in 1986.