Buyende, Uganda: The Resident District Commissioner (RDC) for Buyende, Paul Mwidu Kalikwani, has launched an investigation into alleged ghost pupils in government schools after uncovering what he described as widespread inflation of enrolment figures aimed at attracting higher capitation grants.
Kalikwani revealed the findings during a parents’ and stakeholders’ meeting at Wandago Primary School in Ndalike Parish, where education leaders gathered to discuss ways of improving academic performance and accountability.
Without disclosing the total number of affected schools, the RDC said preliminary findings indicate that ghost pupils have become a common problem in several government-aided schools across the district.
“My office has ascertained that this has become a common practice of recent in some schools amongst headteachers with an ill intention of inflating school number of children for purposes of attracting a bigger capitation grant. This is ridiculous and unacceptable,” Kalikwani said.
He noted that the enrolment figures submitted by some schools do not correspond with the actual number of learners attending classes.
The RDC announced that his office would conduct a comprehensive audit to establish the actual number of pupils enrolled in schools and compare it with the government funding received under the Universal Primary Education (UPE) programme.
“This is an issue I will audit to the dot and ascertain the total funding received and the corresponding number of pupils,” he said.
At Wandago Primary School, Headteacher Mande Frank Ronald admitted that the school’s official records do not reflect the actual learner population. “The official register currently indicates a total of 1,236 pupils, whereas the actual count stands at 635, a discrepancy that I find perplexing,” Mande said.
He disclosed that the school is facing serious financial difficulties despite government releasing capitation grants for the first two school terms.
According to Mande, he inherited debts from his predecessor after being instructed by the School Management Committee (SMC) chairperson to pay Shs4 million towards outstanding obligations.
“I am currently operating the school on a borrowing basis and I harbor concerns regarding the acquisition of funds, as information from the Education Department confirms that payments for the two terms have been processed. It is regrettable that I have been in this situation for the past four weeks,” he said.
The headteacher further alleged that his predecessor established a private school near Wandago Primary School, which he believes may have contributed to manipulation of enrolment figures.
“I suspect that the school adjacent to ours served as a significant influence in attracting pupils to this school and following his transfer, there was a marked and rapid decline in enrollment numbers,” he added.
School Management Committee Chairperson Yoweri Ibanda backed the headteacher’s concerns, confirming that the current learner population is significantly lower than the figures appearing in official records.
RDC Kalikwani cautioned school administrators against treating public schools as personal property and stressed that proper accountability must accompany leadership transitions. “Stop treating educational institutions as personal properties. It is imperative to transfer both liabilities and assets to the incoming head teacher to ensure proper accountability,” he said.
He pledged to pursue the matter until all missing funds are accounted for and returned to the school’s accounts where necessary.
National Concern
Ghost pupils have remained one of the longstanding challenges affecting Uganda’s education sector, with inflated enrolment figures resulting in the diversion and misallocation of billions of shillings meant for teaching and learning.
According to estimates by the Ministry of Finance, Planning and Economic Development, ghost pupils cost Ugandan taxpayers approximately Shs41 billion (about US$11 million) every year through fraudulent capitation grant claims.
To address the challenge, the Ministry of Education and Sports rolled out the upgraded Education Management Information System (EMIS) in 2022 to capture accurate learner data, improve school planning, strengthen accountability and eliminate ghost learners from government records.
Despite the reforms, cases of inflated enrolment continue to emerge in some districts, prompting renewed calls for stricter monitoring and periodic verification of school registers.
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