KAMPALA — Parliament has adopted a motion calling for a review of the government's undergraduate sponsorship programme to increase the number of university slots allocated under the district quota scheme, in a move aimed at expanding access to higher education for poor, disadvantaged and underprivileged students.
The motion, moved by Bardege-Layibi MP Martin Ojara Mapenduzi, seeks to reform the current allocation system, arguing that the district quota scheme no longer effectively addresses educational inequalities because allocations are largely based on district population.
Mapenduzi told Parliament that although the district quota scheme was introduced in 2004 to promote equitable access to higher education, rural districts continue to receive fewer government sponsorship slots because of their smaller populations, undermining the scheme's objective of reducing disparities in access to university education.
Under the current government sponsorship arrangement, 4,000 students are admitted annually to public universities.
Of these, 3,000 slots, representing 75 percent, are allocated under the national merit scheme, while 896 of the remaining 1,000 slots are reserved for the district quota scheme.
The remaining 104 slots are shared between the sports scheme, which takes 40 students, and the special needs scheme, which admits 64 students.
However, the State Minister for Higher Education, John Chrysostom Muyingo, told Parliament that government sponsorship under the district quota system extends beyond the 896 places referenced in the motion.
"Following the enactment of the Higher Education Students' Financing Scheme, a greater number of students have been sponsored. In the current academic year, 1,228 out of the 2,048 students selected to benefit under the scheme were admitted using the district quota system," Muyingo said.
Despite the minister's clarification, MPs backed the proposal, maintaining that the current allocation formula continues to disadvantage students from rural and underserved districts, contrary to the quota scheme's intended purpose of bridging inequalities in access to higher education.
The motion was adopted with amendments after Muyingo assured the House that the government would consider and implement Parliament's recommendations, subject to the availability of resources.
