Ugandans Give Govt Mixed Marks On Education, See It As a Priority to Address

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30 December 2024
Afrobarometer (Accra)
By Stevenson Ssevume Male and Stella Amalo

More than half voice dissatisfaction with their district or city council's efforts to provide education services at the local level.

Key findings

  • Schools are unevenly distributed across the country: The share of Ugandans who live within walking distance of a school ranges from more than nine in 10 in Kampala (100%) and the Western (96%) and Central (92%) regions to only about half (52%) in the North.
  • Among adults who had contact with a public school during the preceding year, 36% said they found it difficult to obtain the services they needed, and 29% said they had to pay a bribe. Both proportions increased between 2015 and 2022.
  • While more than four in 10 Ugandans have secondary (33%) or post-secondary (11%) education, one in 10 citizens (10%) have no formal schooling. Women, rural residents, older citizens, and inhabitants of the Northern Region are more likely to lack formal education than their various counterparts.
  • Nearly two-thirds (64%) of Ugandans say school-age children in their community are "somewhat frequently" or "very frequently" not in school.
  • In some cases, girls face additional hurdles to attending school: One-sixth (16%) of Ugandans say families in their community "often" or "always" prioritise boys' education and prevent girls from going to school, and 36% say teachers commonly discriminate against girls, harass them, or ask them for sexual favours.
  • Education ranks second among the most important problems that Ugandans want their government to address.
  • A majority (58%) of citizens say the national government is performing "fairly well" or "very well" on meeting educational needs.
  • But more than half (52%) say they are dissatisfied with their district or city council's efforts to provide education services at the local level.
  • More than six in 10 respondents (64%) are disappointed with the government's efforts to minimise disruptions to children's education during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Like many countries around the world, Uganda strives to match increases in access to education with improvements in learning outcomes (Kasirye, Nakato, Kahunde, Atwine, & Mugume, 2023). In line with the United Nations' (2015) Sustainable Development Goal No. 4, the government has a stated commitment to provide inclusive, equitable, and quality education as the basis for improving people's lives and achieving sustainable development (UNICEF, 2024).

Uganda introduced a policy aimed at universal access to primary education in 1997, which saw primary school enrolment rates reach 84% for the poorest quintile of households by 2004 (Uganda Media Centre, 2022) and raised overall primary school enrolment to 95% by 2013 (World Bank, 2020).

However, the basic education sector still suffers inadequacies in learning infrastructure, low teacher-to-pupil ratios, and a lack of learning materials (Economic Policy Research Centre, 2023). Despite the progress in enrolment, primary school completion rates remain low: just 52% for boys and 54% for girls as of 2017 (UNESCO, 2024). Moreover, COVID-19 reversed some of the progress the country had made, resulting in enormous inequalities in schooling access, as initially only 10% of children could return to the classroom when schools reopened (UNICEF, 2021).

Even when Ugandan learners complete primary school, they may not be acquiring basic competencies. For example, a national learning assessment in 2021 found that one-fourth of Primary 3 learners could read nothing at Primary 2 level, while another one-fourth could only sound out letters and read no words. In addition, one-tenth of Primary 3 learners were unable to solve numeracy tasks at Primary 2 level (Kasirye et al., 2023). These findings highlight fundamental barriers to learning, including poverty and inadequate government investment in the education sector (UNESCO, 2024; Office of the Prime Minister, 2021).

Afrobarometer survey findings show that while a majority of Ugandans approve of the national government's performance on addressing educational needs, more than half are dissatisfied with their local district or city council charged with implementing education programmes at the local level. In citizens' eyes, education still ranks as the second-biggest concern requiring government intervention.

Access to education varies widely by region: Citizens in the North are far less likely than those in the Central Region or the capital to live within walking distance of a school and to have progressed beyond primary school.

Stevenson Ssevume Male Stevenson Ssevume Male is an associate researcher with Hatchile Consult Ltd. in Kampala, Uganda.

Stella Amalo Stella Amalo is a research assistant with Hatchile Consult Ltd.

Read the original article on Afrobarometer.

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