UPE

There is Universal Primary Education (UPE) in Uganda, well in theory. UPE is the concept that makes primary school free and therefore accessible to all children. Often the programs focus on the girl-child because when there isn’t enough money for parents to send all their children to school, the girls loose out.

While UPE is technically free, like in Canada there are fees associated with these public schools. The more fees you pay, the better the school. Most parents would rather not send their children to school then send them to one that is completely free. They see these government schools as a waste of time and useless. However, a school worth 20,000 USH ($11 CAN) will have classes sizes of over 50 students. A school that costs 50,000 USH will have significantly smaller class sizes and much better teachers.

Primary Education ends at P7, or when children turn 13. After that education becomes more expensive; there are no free secondary schools. Most of the youth in the city of Kampala have parents that can afford to send them, however as soon as you reach the suburbs most of the adults you meet have P7 education, especially women.

Another interesting aspect to schools in Uganda is the boarding aspect. Another lingering effect of colonial rule is the boarding school. Children as young as 4 or 5 are packed up and shipped off to school across the city (or the country). Parents can only visit occasionally; once a month for young kids and once a semester for senior students.

I dropped off one of the girls I have been living with at her school on Sunday. It is a pretty basic set up. She shares a small room with five other girls in a dorm building. Across the small grassy compound are the classrooms, there are no glass in any of the windows and no doors. But this is a good school for the money, she learns lots, and as we left her, she was very happy about being back with her friends.