Revised Education Sector Strategic Plan 2007-2015

Abstract

The Education Sector Strategic Plan 2004-2015 The Education Sector Strategic Plan (ESSP) 2004-2015 was prepared in 2003 to provide a framework for policy analysis and budgeting. It was aimed at addressing three critical concerns: • Primary schools were not providing many Ugandan children with literacy, numeracy and basic life skills. • Secondary schools were not producing graduates with the skills and knowledge required to enter the workforce or pursue tertiary education. Universities and technical institutes were neither affording students from disadvantaged backgrounds access to tertiary education nor responding adequately to the aspirations of a growing number of qualified secondary school graduates. The ESSP 2004-2015 was underpinned by a mathematical model of the education system that produced internally consistent estimates of enrollments, resource requirements and investment needs. The model followed each cohort of children from birth until its last member left the education system as either a dropout or graduate. The total population to be served was determined by demographic forces - the total population, birth rates and survival rates and by policies regarding access to education. Targets for the ratio of students to classrooms, teachers and instructional materials defined total input requirements. A perpetual inventory of available inputs was maintained by estimating losses to the stock of inputs due to physical depreciation, mortality or retirement, and additions through investment and training. The difference between the number of inputs required (classrooms, teachers, textbooks, etc) and the stock available then represented targets for further investment. The re-costing of this ESSP has been necessitated by recent key and critical policy reforms in the sector.