The National Economic Empowerment Dialogue (NEED) party has accused the government of Uganda of weakening public schools by underfunding programmes including Universal Primary Education (UPE) and Universal Secondary Education (USE).

According to Godfrey Ssetumba, the NEED National Organising Secretary, the quality of public schools has shrunk due to the ownership of some private schools by some people in government offices who have concentrated on developing their schools to earn more money, leaving public schools in a sorry state.

“There is a crew of people that have made our education so expensive instead of making it a public service. As we speak now, we don’t know whether we have public or private education,” Ssetuma said.

He made the remarks during the weekly press conference held at NEED Party headquarters in Kampala on Monday, February 12, 2024.

He added that most of the public schools do not have enough infrastructure, including chairs and toilets, among others, and teachers always threaten to demonstrate because of low payments, weird accommodations, and poor meals. According to Ssetumba, such things have led to poor performance in public schools.