Lessons from Uganda's Kupaa digital school management project

Seated in his office, the District Education Officer of Iganga District, Baker Kasadha, scrolls through different folders on his handheld tablet, flicking through hundreds of school records from 2017 to 2022.

"Imagine how many paper files these would have been," he wonders, shaking his head while smiling, "This is what Kupaa showed me, that digitization no longer is a luxury but a necessity."

The Kupaa App

Kupaa was a digital school management software that enabled administrative record management such as learner enrolment and teacher attendance, financial record management including all cash inflows and outflows, and digital payments. The App was designed for android-enabled gadgets and could be downloaded from the google play store. It used a combination of technologies, including SMS/USSD, web interface and cloud computing.

By logging onto the App, a school user could create a unique code and demographics for each child, record school contributions for each child as well as record teacher attendance with reasons for absentia as applicable.

Kupaa was initially piloted in four districts in 2016, then rolled out to seven districts in 2017: Kamuli, Iganga, Bugweri and Kassanda in eastern Uganda, and Mubende, Kyegegwa and Kibaale in western Uganda. By June 2022, 913 schools in these districts were using Kupaa.

Each school received one small handheld device, commonly known as a tablet, through which three trained users had password-restricted access to record-keeping platforms for categorized school finances, teacher attendance and student enrolment.

Following a radio sensitization campaign and in-school induction meetings, parents started utilizing the App for school contributions and fee payments. Teddy Abigaba, at Kajuma Village in Matale Sub County in Kibaale District, used Kupaa to pay fees for their two children in two different schools after learning about the App on the radio.

"I didn't need any transport to go the bank; I would simply load money on my mobile money account, use the school code, my child's code, and the amount to be paid," Teddy says. "Initially, I would go to a mobile money agent to do this for me until I learnt to do so myself. Each time I got some money, I would make a deposit on fees."

Schools enjoyed the increase in convenience even more. Zaina Kasiko, the bursar at Bupadhengo Primary School, Nawanyago Sub County, in Kamuli District, notes that she used to travel 34 km to the bank twice a week to deposit school money. With Kupaa, this was eliminated. "All payments went straight to a safe cloud storage; we could easily track what had been received." No shilling was lost compared to previously, when some cash trails between the students, teacher and bursar reportedly disappeared.

Leaving no child behind

Kupaa's payment system was effective in leaving no child behind; by enabling payments of school contributions as low as UGX2,000 ((US$0.51), vulnerable families, particularly farmers with seasonal income, could keep their children in school. Parents could start making fees instalments weeks in advance of the school opening and continue through each term.

Rosemary Rugamba Rwanyange, the Quality Education Manager at UNICEF Uganda, highlights that Kupaa was a direct fit in UNICEF's Basic Education and Adolescent Development programme that emphasises solutions through technology for development to ensure that for every child, there is an opportunity to learn.

At Kirigwajjo Secondary School in Karuguza, Kibaale District, the school stopped sending learners home for fees but would simply send reminder messages to the registered phone numbers of the parent or guardian. This, coupled with enhanced teacher attendance, improved learner retention and performance. The parents too warmed up to Kupaa's efficiency, and the head teacher reports that the school received an average of UGX28 million US$7,247) termly in school contributions via the App.

Adoption of technology in schools

An inspector of schools and Kupaa focal person for Mubende District, Ssaka Roberts, notes that there has been a mindset change among the schools towards digital technology, and more schools are adopting digital platforms. He reports that despite initial hesitancy, as school administrators feared that Kupaa was a government tracking tool, over time, they realised that they could better monitor financial inflows and outflows. This helped them to plan and comply better with government reporting requirements. Roberts notes that though Kupaa closed in June, schools still are using the tablets for financial and administrative record keeping, and a number are migrating the information to newly purchased laptop and desktop computers. "It is worthwhile investing in digital technology," Roberts reflects.

While heartily thanking UNICEF and Mastercard for the innovative concept, the Senior Education Officer in the Department of Basic Education and Kupaa focal person at the Ministry of Education, Musa Birungi, couldn't agree more. He notes there was a significant improvement in teacher attendance and learner enrolment due to Kupaa and that many teachers accessed information and communication technology (ICT) for the first time.

"The quality education initiative of the Ministry of Education comprises four key pillars: learner, teacher, management and governance," Musa highlights, adding, "Kupaa greatly contributed to the integration of those pillars." To that end, he confirmed that the Ministry of Education and Sports will incorporate the good practices from Kupaa in current and future education management information systems to improve education sector performance, meaning the legacy of the Kupaa App shall continue to play a part in enhancing the learning experience of Ugandan children.