The educational system in Uganda is structured around 7 years of primary education, 6 years of secondary education (divided into 4 years of lower secondary and 2 years of upper secondary school) and 3-5 years of post-secondary education. The system has been in place since the 1960s. The school system is based around a predominance of public schools (government-run) and private schools. As in most such educational systems, there are obvious discrepancies in quality between the public and private schools, especially with regards to the urban/rural divide.

In 2007, Uganda became the first Sub-Saharan African country to introduce universal secondary education, which came 10 years after it introduced universal primary education. This has resulted in more pupils from primary school attending secondary school via government subsidies and it is widely recognised that Uganda has made very significant progress in providing access to schooling for primary and lower secondary aged children. Some private schools have also contributed to this pioneering system. Furthermore, this has resulted in the government building more schools and employing an increasing number of teaching staff. Furthermore, girls from poorer backgrounds have also seen their attendance in public schools increase considerably as a result.

The only flaw with the government’s investment in education seems to be that quantitative increases have not been met by qualitative increases. A number of obstacles are hampering the government’s attempts in terms of educational outputs: inadequate teaching space and material; a shortage of teachers; and inadequate disbursement of government funds.

Source: NUHA Foundation

For more information about Uganda, you can visit the country profiles at the World Health Organization and UNICEF.