KAMPALA, May 31 (Xinhua) -- The World Bank has urged Uganda to increase investment in education if the country is to develop human capital and sustain strong economic growth.
In its latest edition of the Uganda Economic Update released here on Thursday, the Bank said that the east African country needs about 2 billion U.S. dollars of additional public funds till 2025 to ensure that all children complete primary schools and acquire basic literacy, numeracy and skills.
This financial need might be halved if solid education system improvement measures are implemented in line with best international experience, it said.
"Such measures include providing better pre-primary learning opportunities for poor children, eliminating repetition and dropouts, reducing the number of subjects taught at secondary schools, optimizing teacher workload," the report said.
Compared with other countries in the east African country, Uganda spends only 2.6 percent of Gross Domestic Product on education, lower than 3.2 percent to 5.2 percent spent by Kenya, Tanzania, Rwanda, Burundi, the bank said.
It recommended that Uganda increase public spending on education from current 10 percent of the national budget to the regional average of 16 percent by 2025.
