A crackdown on ghost pupils in Universal Primary Education schools in Ntungamo District by the State House Anti-Corruption Unit has saved Shs600 million, district officials say.
The district Chief Administrative Officer, Mr Fedelis Kiiza, said on Monday that there were reports of corruption and existence of ghost learners in schools.
‘Through the crackdown we cleaned up school registers and started giving UPE grants according to the number of learners in each school. We started the exercise in 2025 and last financial year we had saved Shs600 million,’ Mr Kiiza said.
Mr Kiiza explained that the Shs600 million recovered was money that had been sent to schools exceeding actual enrollment, a scheme he said was done by some head teachers and officials from the district education department.
During the cleanup, officials found 140,000 ghost pupils on registers across different schools. Atleast 40 head teachers and some officials from the district education department were arrested and their cases are being handled by the anti-corruption court.
Mr Kiiza said the saved money is already being reinvested in infrastructure.
‘We have since started allocating funds according to numbers in the school registers. This has enabled us to get more money to improve infrastructure in some schools, 34 have been supported with twin desks and five with dilapidated buildings renovated,’ Mr Kiiza added.
He explained that the UPE grant is given directly to the district as a conditional grant, but the district has discretion to allocate the funds to different schools.
The district Chairperson, Mr Samuel Mucunguzi, who also serves as secretary for education and social services, said the district had stepped up efforts to check corruption and will leverage them to improve service delivery.
‘When we check on the misuse of government funds, services can easily reach our people, the challenge we have is that many of the people entrusted with authority do not want to change, corruption remains stuck in them,’ Mr Mucunguzi said.
He revealed that the district has launched an operation code named ‘Clean up’ intended to fight corruption and ensure transparency.
Mr Mucunguzi noted that the recovery of the funds is testimony that service delivery can improve if there is transparency and the fight against corruption is stepped up.
The district leadership, however, expressed concern that the education department still faces limited funding. Ntungamo has 242 government-aided schools.
‘We receive Shs5 billion for the 242 government aided schools but this is like a drop in the ocean, it is not enough. We appeal to the government for increased funding of UPE schools,’ Mr Kiiza said.
Currently the government provides Shs20,000 grant per pupil per annum under UPE, which breaks down to roughly Shs6,667 per term. Stakeholders in education have long argued the funding is insufficient.
Mr Denis Ntare, the district education officer, said over 90 percent of schools in the district lack necessary facilities including classrooms, teachers, books and desks.
‘We have many challenges in the education sector, we lack classroom space, the infrastructure is poor, the teachers are few, the scholastic materials are limited and all this frustrates our effort to improve service delivery,’ Mr Ntare said.