Hundreds of bursars from more than 30 districts in Eastern Uganda have gathered in Tororo District for a major training on digital financial management systems. The programme is focused on improving accountability, transparency, and efficiency in how school funds are managed across different levels of education institutions.The participants, drawn from primary, secondary, and tertiary institutions, are meeting under the Uganda National Bursars’ Association.
The training is aimed at helping school financial officers move away from traditional manual bookkeeping methods and adopt modern digital systems that can improve accuracy and reduce financial risks.Organisers of the programme say the shift to digital financial management has become urgent because many schools still depend on manual records, which are often vulnerable to errors, missing information, and weak monitoring.
They believe digital systems will strengthen financial control and improve how school fees and other resources are managed.During the training, the Principal Human Resource Officer at the Ministry of Public Service, Stella Aarakit, took participants through key financial management areas. These included budget preparation in line with government programmes, procurement processes, and proper management and disposal of assets in public institutions, all aimed at improving compliance and accountability.Stakeholders in the education sector say that many schools have struggled with financial losses due to poor record keeping systems.
They noted that digital tools would help reduce these challenges by ensuring that financial transactions are properly recorded, stored, and easily retrieved when needed.Moses Meregulwa, Head of Education Sector at SurePay, said the introduction of digital financial systems would greatly improve the security of school funds. He explained that such systems would help prevent situations where school fees collected from parents are misused or diverted away from their intended purposes.The bursars who attended the training expressed optimism about the new approach, saying it would make their work easier and more efficient.
They noted that digital systems would eliminate the long-standing problem of lost records and make financial reporting more reliable and faster to handle.The Chairperson of the Uganda National Bursars’ Association, Henry Tasaga, said the training also provided an opportunity for bursars to raise concerns about their welfare. He highlighted issues such as low salaries compared to the large financial responsibilities they handle, and called for government to review their job structure to better reflect their workload.
