This archive report was first published on 29 August 2021.
Uganda's Education Sector in Crisis ¶
As of August 29, 2021, Uganda's education sector is facing a severe crisis due to an 18-month lockdown, affecting over 15 million school children.
The lockdown, imposed in March 2020, has seen all education institutions closed, with the majority of public schools remaining shut. While some high-end private and public schools have implemented online learning, many public schools enrolling children from poor families remain closed.
Studies have shown that only 20 percent of households received printed learning materials, exacerbating the crisis. Experts now warn that the education sector is in a state of inequality, with the majority of school children shut out of any form of studying.
“Digital learning is okay, but we were not ready for it,” says Asadu Kirabira, Chairman of National Private Education Institutions Association. “In the private sector, we tend to be faster than the government – albeit haphazardly. We took it as an intervention to bridge the learning gap, but how far can it go?”
Dr Mary Goretti Nakabugo, executive director of Uwezo Uganda, a not-for-profit organisation promoting equitable quality education, argues that delayed reopening will plunge the sector into a deeper human resource crisis.
“Long closure is a crisis at different levels,” Dr Nakabugo says. “Teachers have quit and gone into other trades. So when you reopen, you are going to face a crisis of shortage of teaching staff. And then you have a crisis of children who have dropped out of school.”
The government, however, remains adamant, pegging reopening on vaccination targets. President Yoweri Museveni stated in his July 31 address to the nation that schools will remain closed until sufficient vaccination of the eligible population and children aged 12-18 years old has taken shape.
Experts argue that these vaccination targets cannot be attained soon, as children are wasting away. Dr Nakabugo warns that Uganda is losing a generation and that immediate action is needed to address the crisis.
Uganda's neighbours, such as Kenya, Tanzania, and South Sudan, have reopened their schools, while Rwanda reopened after a spike in Covid-19 infections. Dr Nakabugo suggests that Uganda should follow a similar approach, testing and isolating cases rather than shutting down the entire education system.
