Uganda’s school dropout hits graphically more deeply upon the realisation that on average 31,000 pupils drop out of school daily.
Put differently, out of every 10 pupils who enrol in primary one, only about six (60 per cent) complete the primary cycle – below the UNESCO target of 90 per cent. The number continues to dwindle at higher education levels.
Barely seven per cent of those who start primary school make it to tertiary or university education some 15 years later. At the launch of the National Accelerated Education Programme (AEP) recently at Hotel Africana, Dr Kedrace Turyagyenda, permanent secretary, ministry of Education and Sports, said the school dropout rate is a worrying ‘national crisis’ because an uneducated population is a bedrock of insecurity and criminality.
Moreover, she said, with such a young population, with more than 50 per cent being below the age of 18 and about 75 per cent below the age of 35, more than ever, quality education now must become the centre of Uganda’s Vision 2040 so as to transform from a peasantry to a modern, prosperous country.
“We are a nation of children and young people. Those of us who are above 75 are the marginalised group – the 25%. But it is upon us, the marginalised group, to do what we can to enable the 75% to acquire the appropriate competences and the right values and attitudes that contribute to the development not only of themselves but also of their families, their communities and this nation,” she said.
The AEP guidelines offer alternative education to children, adolescents or youth who may have never attended or dropped out of school for various reasons, including poverty, conflict, crisis or other constraints.
Developed after several years of research and study and adopted from the 2017 Accelerated Education policy under the guidance of the Uganda National Examinations Board (Uneb) and the National Curriculum Development Centre (NCDC), who were curiously absent at the launch, AEP provides a comprehensive framework upon which learning can be accelerated for out-of-school learners.
The guidelines define an out-of-school learner as a learner who has spent more than one year out of school or a learner who has never attended school before.
The guidelines are organised along seven critical areas: learner education, enrolment, retention and support; curriculum, pedagogy and assessment; teaching and learning environment; teacher recruitment, professional development and support; management and community participation and ownership, monitoring and evaluation, research and evidence; and policy, funding and sustainability – offering exclusivity, flexibility and quality teaching and learning approaches.
Turyagyenda stressed that the key to Uganda’s development and leap into the middle economy may not necessarily be dependent on how much oil the country is trying to get out of the ground or the amorphous gold deposits that were recently discovered but, rather, on the quality of the products of the education system.
At the same event, War Child Canada, in partnership with the Mastercard Foundation, announced funding worth over $3.8 million to support university, A-level, and TVET scholarships under the Bridge Project, running until 2027.
Since 2022, the project has established 34 AEP centres and enrolled 7,606 learners (3,408 female and 4,198 male). It has offered 1,432 A-level scholarships, trained 306 teachers and 36 teaching assistants, and supported several youth enterprises in crafts, paper recycling, and liquid soap production, which have collectively earned Shs 5.2 billion.
AGE ENTRY AND STUDIES
The expected age of entry into the primary level is six years, and 12-13 for secondary level entry. Under AEP, the minimum entry level is 10 and the maximum is 18 years.
Otherwise, those above 18 years are encouraged to opt for vocational education, adult literacy/numeracy programmes or other livelihood opportunities. For secondary, the minimum entry age is 15 and the maximum is 25 years, although exceptional circumstances can be considered upon consultation with the community.
Earlier accelerated initiatives, such as Alternative Basic Education for Karamoja (ABEK), Basic Education for Urban Poverty Areas (BEUPA), Complementary Opportunities for Primary Education (COPE), and CHANCE, targeted vulnerable and conflict-affected learners but lacked the coordination that AEP now seeks to provide.
Without the guidelines, Turyagyenda said, the government and development partners were “moving as uncoordinated soldiers.”
While AEP mainly targets refugees, orphans, child mothers, children with disabilities, and child-headed households, its flexible timetable allows classes on weekends and holidays to accommodate learners’ daily responsibilities.
It states that learning should only happen at the time and place that suits the learners and must be considerate of their other responsibilities. The AEP curriculum includes all core subjects, is competency-based and focuses on learning outcomes through the use of formative and summative assessments.
Dr Cleophus Mugenyi, commissioner of Basic Education, ministry of education, said the vision of the ministry is to provide quality education and sports, and refugees need to be integrated into the country’s education and offered the same education opportunities.
“It’s very dangerous to have unskilled youth who could contribute to crime as well as to the development of the country,” he said.
He added that refugees come from different backgrounds, and AEP offers them the opportunity to be integrated into the country’s education programme. He said over 3,000 teachers have been directly employed under the AEP, and the scholarships have offered an opportunity for bright students to get the opportunity to proceed with their education.
Primary AEPs consist of three levels: Level 1 (P.1-P.3), Level 2 (P.4-P.5) and Level 3 (P.6-P.7) – focusing on basic literacy and numeracy as well as English language acquisition. For secondary, Level 1 is equivalent to S.1 and S.2, and Level 2 (S.3-S.4) offers learning with multiple entry and exit points.
Secondary AEP focuses mostly on the acquisition of knowledge in all core examinable and non-examinable subjects.
TEACHERS AND COMMUNITY INVOLVEMENT
Due to the variance and uniqueness of their learners, all AEP teachers receive harmonised orientation, continuous mentoring, counselling and supportive practices.
Recruitment of classroom assistants is also encouraged to help mostly in situations where the mother-tongue language is needed.
Sarah Bugoosi Kibooli, the commissioner for Special Needs and Inclusive Education at the ministry of Education, said the exponential growth in Uganda’s population hasn’t matched the economy’s capacity. Yet every child deserves access to quality education and leadership.
