An Exploration of Funding Avenues in Technical, Vocational Education and Training That Promote Gender Equity of Students in Uganda

Abstract

The realisation of gender equity through education and training has captured global and national attention. Despite the multiple strategies for achieving gender equity in Technical Vocational Education and Training (TVET), studies have revealed that funding challenges continue to hamper its realisation in TVET institutes. Thus, this study explored funding avenues in TVET that promote gender equity of students in TVET institutes in Uganda. A descriptive survey design with quantitative and qualitative approaches was used to collect, analyse and present study findings. 260 informants including institutional leaders, instructors, students, district leaders, ministry officials, and civil society gender advocates participated in this study. Purposive, convenient, and stratified random sampling techniques were used in selecting the study informants. Questionnaire and interview guides were used to collect the desired data. The quantitative data was cleaned, coded, and entered into Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) software version 21 for analysis. Percentage, mean, and standard deviations were used to present the quantitative data. Thematic method and verbatim reporting were used to analyse and present qualitative data respectively. The results revealed that: privatisation of TVET access, increasing TVET budgets, timely and adequate government grants, timely and adequate staff remunerations, bursaries and scholarships, public-private partnerships, affirmative strategies, and boosting parents' income, promote gender equity of students. The study recommended that supportive loan schemes for TVET students be instated, capital grants per student need to be increased, with a slightly higher amount for females to meet their sanitary needs, capital grants to TVET institutes should be dispatched before the start of new terms/semesters, incorporation of the gender lens in the allocation of bursaries and scholarships, encouraging policy formulation and memoranda of understanding between institutes and industries, building linkages with other institutions and seeking donor funding from organisations.