National Perspective

Uganda Vision 2040 provides development footpaths and strategies to operationalize Uganda’s Vision statement which is “A Transformed Ugandan Society from a Peasant to a Modern and Prosperous Country within 30 years” as approved by Cabinet in 2007. It aims at transforming Uganda from a predominantly peasant and low-income country to a competitive upper middle-income country. The Vision 2040 is conceptualized around strengthening the fundamentals of the economy to harness the abundant opportunities around the country. The identified opportunities include: oil and gas, tourism, minerals, ICT business, abundant labour force, geographical location and trade, water resources, industrialization, and agriculture among others that are to date considerably under exploited. Achieving the transformational goal will thus depend on the country’s capacity to strengthen the fundamentals including: infrastructure (energy, transport, water, oil and gas, and ICT); Science, Technology, Engineering and Innovation (STEI); land use and management; urbanisation; human resource; and peace, security and defense. Education remains the only fundamental and sustainable intervention of building Uganda’s human resource capacity required to harness the abundant opportunities around the country and achieve the transformational goal of “A Transformed Ugandan Society from a Peasant to a Modern and Prosperous Country within 30 years”. Accelerating government reforms in the education system and the curriculum to obtain a globally competitive human resource with skills relevant to the development paradigm is underpinned as one of the key strategies and policy reforms to achieve Uganda’s Vision 2030.

The NPIII goal is “increased household incomes and improved quality of life”, and industrialization as main vehicle for achieving this goal. Five broad objectives are proposed as framework in which this goal is to be achieved and these are: a) Enhance value addition in Key Growth Opportunities (Agriculture, Tourism, Minerals, Oil and Gas and Knowledge) b) Strengthening the private sector to drive growth and create jobs c) Increasing stock and quality of productive infrastructure d) Increasing productivity, inclusiveness and wellbeing of population and e) Strengthening the role of the public sector in growth and development process.

To achieve the five objectives effectively and efficiently, the NDPIII identified several development strategies and the include; 1) Maintaining Peace, Security and Good Governance 2) Maintaining stable macroeconomic environment as an anchor for economic growth and development 3) Reducing the cost of doing business to attract foreign direct investment (FDI) and enhance competitiveness of domestically produced goods and services, both at local and international markets 4) Import Replacement and Export Promotion Strategy 5) Commercialization of agriculture 6) Harnessing the Tourism potential 6) Promotion of Science, Technology, Engineering, Innovation (STEI) and a Knowledge driven economy 7) Mineral Beneficiation and Oil refining 8) Revisiting the role of the Government in strategic areas of the economy 9) Promotion of Private Sector Investment (Domestic Investment and Foreign Direct Investment) 10) Mindset change to promote citizens’ focus on development 11) Exploiting opportunities of Urbanization to drive growth 12) Improving the wellbeing and productivity of the population by improving the quality of education and health service delivery; reforming vocational education; and increasing social protection through initiatives like health insurance schemes 13) Increasing Domestic Revenue Mobilization 14) Promotion of Social Services based on the Parish Model and 15) Climate change adaptation and environmental management.

Uganda’s Education and Sports Sector has grown over the past three decades under the leadership of the NRM Government. The Education and Sports sector is responsible for the delivery of equitable, relevant and quality education, training and sports services for all. The sector comprises of seven sub-sectors namely: (i) Pre-Primary and Primary Education (ii) Secondary Education (iii) Business, Technical, Vocational Education and Training (BTVET) (iv) Teacher Instructor Education and Training (v) Higher Education and (vii) Physical Education and Sports. The key stakeholders include Government, Private Sector, CSOs and Development Partners. The Government, through the Ministry of Education, Science, Technology and Sports, relevant Line Ministries and Local Governments, sets the standards, provides technical guidance, supports, coordinates, monitors and evaluates policies and regulates the sector players. Other public institutions in regulation, standard setting and delivery of education services include; the National Council for Higher Education, National Council of Sports, National Council for Science and Technology, National Curriculum Development Centre, Education Service Commission, National Examination Bodies, Directorate of Education Standards, Professional Institutions and public education, training and research institutions, Private sector and CSOs.