construction in the context of the Poverty Action Plan. There are two main challenges under this programme; mobilizing more funding to put the required number of classrooms in place and strengthening the capacity to supervise the project. The School facilities Grant (SFG) focuses on building teachers‟ houses. 8.1.3 Provision of Instructional Materials A plan for investment in and replacement of instructional materials is being implemented. The aim is to maintain a ratio of 1 textbook for every 3 pupils for all the four core subjects. The Ministry of Education and Sports has procured textbooks for four core subjects in primary schools. By February 2000, the pupil: textbook ratio was 1:7 and 1:5 for Science/Social Studies and Maths/ English subjects respectively. In order to improve on performance of this programme, a strategy for decentralized textbook procurement is in place. The main challenge here is to obtain resources for additional textbooks for implementation of the new primary school curriculum. 8.1.3 Primary School Curriculum Review Government has developed a new primary school curriculum introduced in all primary schools in January, 2000 starting with primary 1 to 4. The new syllabus has four core subjects; English, Mathematics; Social Studies and Science. In order to make the curriculum more relevant, Government through its MoES has developed a new Primary School Curriculum to cover seven subjects – Agriculture, Business and Entrepreneurship, Kiswahili, Mother Tongue, Music and Dance, Primary Technology and Art and Religious Education. This is intended to build the child beyond academics but also to be able to contribute to the livelihood in their community. In addition, it is an attempt to have one language spoken in the East African region if all the children grow up using it. 8.1.4 Education for Girl child Initiatives undertaken to increase enrolment and retention of girls have been developed by government and are being implemented. Such initiatives include the National Strategy on Girls‟ Education, measures to make primary schools „girl friendly‟ like provision of separate toilet facilities for boys and girls; the UPE and other programmes to improve access to education by children with special needs. Corporal punishment in schools has been abolished by the Ministry of Education and Sports although the enforcement is still difficult. A summary of education statistics is presented in Table 4 above. Government through the Ministry of Education and Sports, other line ministries, NGOs CSOs and development partners has been active in implementing initiatives in girls‟ education. Over 127 broad activities/interventions are currently devoted to improving education and welfare of the girl child. Shortcomings identified with regard to implementation of activities devoted to improving the education and welfare of the girl child are little co-ordination among the players, insufficient tackling of the critical areas of socio-cultural constraints to girls‟ education, and inadequate access to education by destitute and children with disability and limited access to gender disaggregated information to effectively identify problems and solutions. A national strategy and plan of action for girls‟ education has been developed and was launched in June 2000, with support from UNICEF. The overall goal of the strategy is: „‟ All girls in Uganda (including the destitute and girls with disabilities) will have full access to educational opportunities and will be supported by their families, schools communities, Government and the private sector to participate fully in gender-balanced education programmes in order to attain their maximum potential as equal and effective citizens.‟‟ The strategy guides 28