A government's financial role in promoting education

I found an excellent article on the active role of government in Uganda in committing itself to pay for the pupils who failed last year's Primary Leaving Examinations. The article was rather controversial, suggesting that the Government's aid may be a waste of their resources in accomodating such pupils. Although a pupil's poor performance is often due to parental neglect in their children's education, does that not mean that the government should take an active role in promoting education? I'm curious to see if other African countries with similar educational structures, like Ghana and Nigeria, would be hesitant to involve their governments financially in aiding failing students...

Source: allAfrica.com, 8 February 2009: "Uganda: Govt to Pay for P7 Failures to Repeat"