CREATE FOUNDATION & ACADEMY
Communities Rising, Evolving & Achieving Through Empowerment
PRE-PRIMARY EDUCATION STATISTICS
Source: EMIS enrollment and population data
As a result of Universal Primary Education (UPE) and reform efforts, primary school enrollment in Uganda doubled from 2.9 million in 1995 to 5.8 million by 1998. By 2016, enrollment had reached 8.3 million. Although enrollment gains have been dramatic, the completion rate has stalled for at least a decade, with only about 60% of learners completing primary school. RTI International conducted research that suggests this is due to problems that begin in the first few grades of primary school (and earlier). Primary 1 (P1) repetition is most often attributed to lack of access to early childhood educational opportunities.
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"Over 80% of the population cannot afford the fees charged for pre-primary education."
-NPA (2015)
"There are few children benefiting from institutionalized ECD centers, with the rest at home with parents who cannot address the ECD needs of those children."
-Uganda Ministry of Finance, Planning & Economic Development
CHALLENGES FACED IN UGANDA IN REGARDS TO EARLY CHILDHOOD EDUCATION:
1. Inappropriateness of Learning Materials
Although the Learning Framework specified
the kind of learning materials for pre-schools,
the appropriate materials were only found
in “high class” pre-schools. The rest used
improvised and sometimes primary education
instructional materials.4
In an interview by the Uganda Child Rights
NGO Network, one of the teachers in Mukono
District indicated that the scarcity of teachers
guide materials compelled some of them to
adopt primary textbooks for teaching their lessons.
2. Shortage of Qualified
Pre-Primary School Teachers
Pre-primary education has not attracted
many professionals making the few available
expensive to be hired by economically
struggling schools. By 2014, there were
15,332 qualified pre-primary teachers,
however most of the pre-qualified
pre-school teachers with child care skills are
only attracted by the high paying pre-schools
located in the urban centers leaving the rural
pre-schools with Senior Four and Primary
Seven leavers.
3. Poor Quality of Infrastructure;
Majority of the pre-primary school proprietors
lack adequate finances to put up requisite
structures for pre-primary schools especially in
rural areas. According to the Statistical Abstract
2014, 10,255 (66.6%) classrooms were
permanent and 5,133 (33.4%) were temporary.
There are inadequate pre-primary sanitation
facilities. There are only 31,292 latrine stances
of which 29.3% are for boys, 30.6% for girls,
12.2% shared by both male and female pupils
and, caregivers/teachers and 27.9% for teachers.