Education access trends in Uganda

This paper analyzes access trends to education in Uganda from the time universal primary education (UPE) was introduced in 1997, based on Articles 30 and 34 of the 1995 Ugandan Constitution. With UPE in place, rein-forced by the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) advocat-ing for education in all societies globally and the Dakar Education for All (EFA) targets, there has been a dra-matic increase in gross enrollment rates (GERs) right from pre-primary, primary, and secondary through to post-secondary levels both in government and privately owned schools. Even the girl-child-boy imbalance in GERs has to some extent been corrected. In fact, in a number of cases, studies indicate that recruitment of girls sur-passed that of boys significantly. The Uganda Ministry of Education and Sports (MoES) witnessed significant rise in enrollments that the Ministry is struggling to cope with. Along the way studies show the big numbers have plummeted throughout the education system, particularly affecting the girl-child whose numbers are steadily re-ducing. This is a wakeup call that must be addressed. First, the Government (the Ministry of Education and Sports in particular), needs to follow up and capture these trends to establish the most up to date figures. Second-ly, the reasons behind falling numbers and intervention measures need to be established. Lastly there is a critical need and urgency to find long lasting solutions to these negative developments since education is a key sector that drives national development. Key words: Education sector, Students enrolment, Uganda, Universal Primary Education, Universal Secondary Education