Kitgum District Education Department is set to verify school enrolment figures across the district following allegations that some head teachers are inflating learner numbers to obtain higher government funding.
Kitgum Resident District Commissioner Jimmy Ssegawa Ebil said the verification exercise will start when schools reopen for the third term on Monday September 14th.
Ebil said he had personally reviewed enrolment records for schools in the district and got concerned with the discrepancies. “We are coming to verify the numbers before any action is taken,” he said.
He urged head teachers to voluntarily provide accurate figures, warning that inflated enrolment could amount to cheating government and expose those responsible to serious consequences.“Give us the correct numbers yourself for the figures you inflate will bring you problems,” Ebil said.
Ebil cited one school in Labongo Amida West Sub county, where the official enrolment was reportedly about 700 learners, yet the actual, real population was 86.
He added that there is a case in which a head teacher defended questionable figures by saying they had been inherited from a previous administrator.
“He inherited the number from the previous head teacher but he has not stopped it,” Ebil said, adding that both the former and current administrators could be held accountable if the figures were found to have been deliberately falsified.
The RDC said inflated enrolment figures undermine government planning because they can distort decisions on teacher deployment, school funding and other education resources.
He warned that the forthcoming verification exercise would establish the actual learner population in Kitgum schools and provide the basis for determining whether discrepancies are administrative errors or deliberate falsification.
Kitgum District Education Officer Anthony Lam Lawot also stressed the need for schools to maintain accurate records, saying reliable data is essential for planning, resource allocation and accountability.
He directed head teachers to ensure that admission registers, learner attendance records, assessment records and other school documents are kept accurately and updated. “Accurate data is critical for planning, resource allocation and accountability,” Lawot said.
He also directed schools to record learner attendance daily through the Teacher Effectiveness and Learner Achievement system and use the information to identify absenteeism and dropout patterns. The concerns come at a time when Kitgum is already facing a shortage of more than 400 teachers-URN. Give us feedback on this story through our email: kamwokyatimes@gmail.com
