Essay about Primary Education in Uganda - A Policy Analysis

The country known as Uganda was once a British colony just like the majority of its neighbors in East Africa. It was initially intruded into by the Arab traders led by Speke and the British explorers led by Stanley in 1862 and 1875 respectively. They both paid homage to Mutesa who was the King (kabaka) of the Buganda. Uganda remained predominantly under the colony of the British until 1962 when they were granted internal self government by Britain (History World, 2011).

The success of MENA countries clearly shows that investing in early childhood education is an effective and efficient method of improving literacy. Moreover, Hanemann (2006) found that increased funding on primary education resulting from UN Millennium Development Goals has increased global attendance and eliminated the gender gap.

Imagine you are a nineteen-year-old living in the USA. You are homecoming queen, smart, and rather popular. You have a perfect boyfriend and perfect friends. You have an amazing little brother and parents who strive for your success. Monetarily wise, you have an abundance of wealth: a large house, plenty of food, and a nice car. You are living the American dream. Now imagine that you are again nineteen years old, but living in Uganda. You have little money, few belongings, no peers or mentors, and no education past high school. Instead, you are a single, homeschooling mother to eight girls, all under twelve years old, and all of which still struggle to even speak your language.

When it comes to the educational history of sub-Sahara Africa, it can be divided into three eras: the pre-colonial period; the colonial period; and the period after independence. African children in pre-colonial period, learnt how to survive life through experiences and instructions from their elders. Indigenous forms of education served the needs of the community as a whole, meaning African children, during that period learnt what they lived. Indigenous education systems also varied from one place to another, as different African cultures were present. Director Aïcha Bah-Diallo of the United

On an international level, many steps have been taken to ensure a trend of continual increase in the numbers of women who not only have access to an education but also do not drop out of school and progress beyond just primary schooling. In the last 5-10 years especially, great emphasis has been placed on the prioritization of the education of women in the agendas of countries and international organizations. In a 2013 press briefing, Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka, the Executive Director of the UN Entity for Gender Equity and the Empowerment of Women (UN Women) emphasized “facilitating access to education for women and girls is vital to lift millions out of poverty and must be a priority for Governments and international organizations.”

During the beginning of the current conflict, children were not able to attend school. Based on the needs of the children, and the external pressures, UNICEF in partnership with the Ministry of Education used a multifaceted approach to innovation. Six ‘remedial education’ worksheets covering four subject areas, math, science, Arabic and English Languages for students in grades 1-6 were developed.

Education comes with social benefits as well which can improve the situation of the poor, such as lower fertility and improved health care of children ("Poverty and Education"). "Poor people are often unable to obtain access to an adequate education, and without an adequate education people are often constrained to a life of poverty." - Servaas Van Der Berg. The absolutely poor in developing countries have low education levels. Some may not even have access to primary education or may not have completed their primary education, not realizing that it is important to reduce poverty. Education is often poorly measured, and the impacts do not always show up as statistically significant in cross- country growth regressions (Levine & Renelt, 1992). Africa’s education crisis makes media headlines and analysis by the Brookings Center for Universal Education (CUE) explains why this needs to change. Progress towards universal primary education has come to a halt and learning levels of children who are in school are poor as well. Using a Learning Barometer, CUE estimates that 61 million African children will reach adolescence lacking even the most basic literacy and numeracy skills, this will deprive a whole generation of opportunities to develop and escape poverty ("Poverty, Education, & Opportunity").

Once of the most significant differences between the Ugandan educational system and the American educational system that I saw was that access to education was so limited in Uganda. In 1997 Uganda initiated what they called Universal Primary Education (UPE), which aims to decrease poverty by making primary (elementary) school free, there by more accessible to it 's students. (Bategeka and Okurut, 2006). The problem with UPE is that the government decides what schools will be part of the UPE program. Which means, the more remote areas may not have a school that is supported by UPE in walking distance. There is no other form of transportation for these students, it is highly uncommon for a family to own a car, and if they 're extremely fortunate they may own a bicycle. This forces the students to go to a boarding school (Outreach Uganda, 2009). The boarding fees are around $2.00 in U.S. currency a semester. At first appeared to be very manageable to me until I was told while in Uganda that $2.00 in American currency converted to the Ugandan currency was roughly 2700 shillings That is more than my college tuition that theses families

Education is the ‘base’ for all successful countries. Reading the Rainbow Troops by Andrea Hirata has caused me to see this by changed my view on education and the reason for the struggles of education in developing countries. First the content, more specifically how the characters and key events deal with issues in education will be discussed. Then, I will explain how my research help me understand the reason behind the problems in education and other lessons that I have learned from the research. Finally, I will comment on what I believes needs to be done to move the issue in the right direction. Along with this I will explain how I will do my part to change the issue. By examining the content, the research and my plans of action, it is clear the real problems of education are not commonly known. Once the world knows the root of the problem we as a human race can take the steps needed to provide a solution.

The major goal of MDG is to ensure that by 2015, both boys and girls are able to complete full primary courses across the globe. Notably, the net enrollment of children has significantly increased from 80% in 1990 to 88% in 2005. Most of this happened after 1999. Although the sub-Saharan Africa has the lowest percentage of enrollment, there has been significant progress since 1999. Children from rural areas and poor families have the largest percentage of children who are unlikely to join primary school. On the other hand, girls form the greatest percentage of children not likely to enroll in primary school is at 57% (United Nations, 2006, p. 3).

Although using non-profit organizations to aid developing countries will help children access and advance in their education, it will delay the goal of universal primary education for all, achieving it later than expected. For example, as these non-profit organizations hurry to get children into the classroom, there is too little focus on the quality of the education. The curricula often lack clear targets, are overloaded with subjects, do not meet the learning needs of the children, ignore cultural and regional factors, and put across distorted or stereotypical images of male and female social roles. Other frequently encountered problems are a failure to bring teaching times and curricula into line with the everyday lives of children and outdated teaching methods. Group work, independent learning, critical thought and problem solving, the use of new technologies, and the development of life skills tend to be neglected. As a result, pupils lack the crucial knowledge and skills that will later give them the confidence to make their way in the labor market ("The Situation in"). In addition to disregarding the quality of the education, using non-profit organizations to aid developing countries will create problems in the education system. For example, as the organizations help assist these developing

Some of the world’s poorest countries, with some of the highest child labor and illiteracy rates lie in Sub Saharan Africa. People generally associate the region only with poor economic conditions and all of the social disorder that goes along with 3rd World Status. While some of this reputation is deserved, many people are also failing to see the vast potential for this part of the world. There are several factors that African governments should look into if they want to effectively and efficiently revamp this areas quality of life. One way to do so is by improving the more crucial aspects to healthy functioning region, for example, allowing children to possess their natural rights to a decent education. This could influence an increase

The percentage of girls who complete primary school in sub-Saharan Africa is among one of the lowest in the world, compared to the higher percentages of girls completing primary school in areas such as New Zealand. For most girls in Africa, very few of them continue into Secondary and Tertiary schools, let alone persist in their education past the age of eleven. 
According to UIS data, in sub-Saharan Africa, 9.5 million girls will never set foot in a classroom compared to 5 million boys. Some of those children might start their education at a later age, but many more will remain entirely un-educated, especially females.

As a result of decades of war, Afghanistan has a large population who has not received any formal education. According to United Nations, the adult literacy rate is about 38 percent; meaning, that more 60 percent of adults in Afghanistan are illiterate. Throughout Afghanistan, the “mean years of schooling” in years is about three and half. Seeing this statistics is sadden but a great motivator for improving education in Afghanistan. Another important statistic is the pupil-teacher ratio; which describes the number of students per teacher. And according to the United Nations, that ratio is about 46:1; which is significantly higher than what would allow the teacher to fully meet the needs of the students. While statistics are fantastic in getting a glimpse of the problem, it does not show the full picture.

Save the Children Denmark’s “Alternative Basic Education Project” was implemented in the Amhara Region of Ethiopia. While this is not a pastoralist region, it provided Save the Children and the Ethiopian government many insights to non-formal education models and many organizations began implementing Alternative Basic Education Center’s in the Afar and Somali regions following this