Buganda, the country’s most school-dense region, has recorded the lowest school inspection coverage for the third consecutive year, raising questions about how effectively local governments are using available inspectors and resources.
The latest Ministry of Education and Sports inspection report shows that only 5,077 of the region’s 14,476 schools were inspected during the period under review, representing about 35 per cent coverage. The national standard requires local governments to inspect at least 75 per cent of schools. To meet that target, inspectors in Buganda would have needed to visit about 10,860 schools, roughly 5,780 more than they managed.
Frances Atima, the Chief Education Officer in charge of Education Standards and Quality Assurance at the Directorate of Education Standards (DES), described the figures as concerning. Nationally, inspection coverage stood at 49 per cent in the first term and 52 per cent in the second term, both below the 75 per cent benchmark. Northern Uganda recorded 68 per cent coverage, Western Uganda 63 per cent and Eastern Uganda 53 per cent.
Atima acknowledged that some districts face genuine staffing shortages. However, she said the ministry’s analysis also found cases where the available workforce and funding should have supported far more inspections than were recorded.
School inspection is the government’s main external quality-assurance mechanism. Under the Education Act, DES is responsible for setting and reviewing education standards, assessing compliance and providing information to guide improvements.
At district and municipal levels, inspectors conduct routine visits using the Basic Requirements and Minimum Standards (BRMS). They also use the Integrated Inspection System, or e-Inspection, a digital platform designed to capture inspection data and improve accountability. The ministry expects inspectors to conduct regular visits, document their findings and provide schools with feedback and recommendations.
However, the latest figures point to a significant gap between those expectations and what is happening on the ground. The inspection report estimates inspection capacity based on the number of inspectors available and the number of working days in a school term. The model assumes that two inspectors can jointly inspect one school per day during roughly 60 days available for inspection.
Mubende Municipality, for example, has 120 schools and was expected to achieve 95 per cent coverage. However, inspectors visited only about 26 schools, representing 22 per cent coverage. Mpigi, with 438 schools, was projected to achieve 82 per cent coverage but was inspected at only 23 per cent.
The gap was even wider in Kira Municipality. It has 163 schools and an estimated capacity for 180 inspections, yet inspectors visited only about 18 schools, representing 11 per cent coverage. Rakai has 354 schools and an estimated inspection capacity of 480 visits but achieved only 36 per cent coverage. Kyotera, with 490 schools and capacity for about 420 inspections, managed only 22 per cent.
“This indicates that simply increasing the number of inspectors may not solve the inspection coverage problem. Likely other constraints are affecting the conversion of capacity into actual inspections,” the report says. However, Atima said the figures should prompt local governments to examine how inspectors spend their working time and how inspection resources are being converted into actual field visits. The data also highlights a structural challenge in densely populated urban and peri-urban local governments.
Wakiso has 2,297 schools but an estimated inspection capacity of only 480 visits. It inspected just 6 per cent of its schools. Kampala has 1,669 schools and an estimated capacity of about 660 inspections, yet it also recorded 6 per cent coverage, while Nansana Municipality has 834 schools and an estimated capacity of 120 inspections, and achieved 11 per cent coverage.
The figures show why staffing alone cannot explain the problem in some areas. Even if Wakiso completed all 480 inspections possible under the current capacity model, it would reach only about 21 per cent of its schools, still far below the 75 per cent national standard. Wakiso and Kampala alone account for 3,966 schools, more than a quarter of all schools in the region.
The figures suggest that local governments with large and highly concentrated school populations face a different planning challenge from smaller districts. However, the regional data also includes examples of local governments where inspectors achieved relatively high coverage despite limited staffing.
Kiboga has one inspector responsible for about 150 schools. The inspector was expected to cover 60 schools but managed to reach nearly 140. Similarly, Bukomansimbi inspected all its government schools but reached only about half of its private schools. Mukono inspected 73 per cent of its 592 schools, while Ssembabule reached 68 per cent.
The ministry’s data also shows limited inspection of private schools in several local governments. In some districts, inspectors did not visit a single private school during the period under review. Atima said this leaves a significant number of learners outside the regular quality-assurance system.
She cited Kira Municipality, where she said inspectors had not visited any private schools despite the municipality having a high concentration of schools, many of them located close to one another and within easy reach of the municipal headquarters.
“The concern is not only how many schools are inspected. We also need to know which schools are being inspected. If inspectors concentrate on government schools and leave private schools untouched, many learners are still outside the quality-assurance system,” Atima said.
There are also concerns about what happens after an inspector visits a school. Atima said some schools receive little or no written feedback following inspection visits, yet, she adds, the purpose of inspection is not simply to record a visit but to identify weaknesses, advise school managers and follow up on whether recommended improvements have been implemented.
Inspectors on the ground, however, point to a different set of challenges, saying low coverage is also linked to inadequate funding, transport and staffing.
Anitah Namayanja, the Mukono District Inspector of Schools, said inspectors often have to work with resources that are insufficient for the size of their workload. She called for an increase in the inspection grant, regular professional training for inspectors and provision of transport to enable them to reach schools across the district.
“Inspectors are expected to cover many schools, but without adequate facilitation, transport and funding, regular inspection becomes difficult. We need the resources to move to schools, assess what is happening and follow up on the gaps we identify,” Namayanja said.
James Etiang, an inspector in Butambala District, also identified transport as a major constraint. He said some schools were difficult to reach because inspectors lacked reliable transport, adding that regular school inspections required adequate transport support from the ministry-URN. Give us feedback on this story through our email: kamwokyatimes@gmail.com
