Uganda has made significant progress in education, but there is still a lot of room for improvement. In 1999, Uganda passed it’s Universal Primary Education initiative with the goal of offering free primary education to all residents. This initiative effectively raised the number of primary school students from two million in 1986 to over six million in 1999. Unfortunately, tripling the number of students in primary schools strained the system and many schools struggle to find supplies, maintain facilities and train teachers. Theses problems are almost always magnified in Uganda’s most rural and poor regions. It is for this reason that many international charities offer potential donors the opportunity to sponsor a needy child or orphan. These sponsorships generally range from $175 per year for primary school students to $325 per year for secondary school students. These sponsorships often provide for textbooks, school supplies, lunches and can even help open and maintain much needed schools in Uganda’s rural regions.
Currently, four out of five primary school age children are enrolled in educational programs. That number drops off to only twenty percent for children thirteen and older. The latest figures suggest a teacher to pupil ratio of 1 to 48 for primary schools and 1 to 30 for secondary schools. Our goal is increase the quality of the educational experience for all ages while encouraging older children to remain in school.
