Why Education?

Because the future world we want starts in our classrooms.

Quality education to unlock a brighter future for all

The classrooms of East Africa are filled with ambition. Dreams of becoming accountants and lawyers. Nurses and engineers. Teachers and doctors.

Every child has the right to a quality education, regardless of their economic status, gender, ability or location. Every child should have the opportunity to learn, in a safe and nurturing environment, about the world they live in, so they can become engaged global citizens, capable of transforming their ambitions into action.

A quality education is key to creating a fairer, more prosperous and healthy future not only for our children but for their families and their communities, for the millions within their countries and the billions across our shared planet. Education is at the heart of correcting the economic imbalances and inequalities of our world, unlocking the global potential for innovation, collaboration and a sustainable future.

The world’s teachers are the ones that will help get us there.

The future world we want starts in our classrooms

If we want to create a world that brings peace and prosperity to all people, as well as our shared planet, we need to make some changes. This means addressing the global challenges we face collectively such as poverty and inequality, climate change and environmental degradation, conflict and injustice.

The UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) provide a global blueprint through which governments, businesses, civil society and the general public can work together to tackle these challenges and achieve a better, more sustainable future. It recognises that each goal is interconnected, and that action in one area will affect outcomes in others.

Quality education is a particularly powerful goal, and is not only an integral part of sustainable development, but a key enabler for it. From ending poverty and food insecurity to cleaning up our industries and curbing global warming, the skills and knowledge our children gain now will play a vital role in how quickly, and how successfully, we reach a fairer, more sustainable world for all.  

 

Quality education for all:

  • enables people to obtain decent work and higher incomes, helping lift millions out of poverty 
  • enables girls and women to enter the job market, empowering them socially and economically
  • creates a diverse and skilled workforce that can respond to local and global challenges, boosting innovation, local jobs and economic growth 
  • improves people’s health, boosting nutrition and vaccination rates while lowering rates of child and maternal mortality, and HIV
  • creates industry innovation and investment that helps mitigate local impacts of climate change and stimulate green jobs and sustainable and inclusive growth.

 

The education context in Uganda

of Uganda’s population is below the age of 30

Uganda’s youth:

The population of Uganda is predicted to more than double over the next four decades, reaching 104 million by 2060. Over this time, 1.2 million new people will enter the workforce every year. By 2060, around 70% of the population will be of working age, with half living in urban areas (currently 76% live in rural areas). 

The quality of education that this growing, young population receives is crucial, today and over the next 40 years. All children must develop the skills they will need to enter this changing, urban and globalised world - skills like critical thinking, problem-solving and other high-level cognitive, interpersonal and social skills on top of foundational skills like literacy and numeracy.

In providing every child with a high quality education, we empower them to go on to attain their full potential and contribute to the economic growth that will help lift millions out of poverty. 

of children don't complete primary school

Education in Uganda:

The introduction of free primary education in 1997 brought with it a significant increase in attendance rates. Today, almost 90% of the population attend primary school. However, completion rates are lagging behind, with only 51% of children completing primary education. Children with disabilities remain largely excluded from formal schooling at every level due to shortages of trained special needs teachers and facilities.

The enrolment rate at pre-primary level is also very low (16%) and is made up almost entirely of middle and high-income families in urban areas. Although often overlooked (pre-primary education receives just 1.15% of total aid to education), Early Childhood Development is crucial in preparing children to enter school with the social and cognitive skills and competencies they need to progress through the system. 

Further work must be done to improve and sustain learning outcomes of all children, as well as widening access to pre-primary education. Providing teachers with ongoing training and support can help instill them with the confidence and skills to engage pupils and generate positive learning results in their classrooms. Doing so could help address the low motivation and high absenteeism currently seen in schools across the country. Strengthening the leadership capacity of Headteachers will contribute to improving the efficiency of school management, including enhanced monitoring and evaluation of both teacher performance and pupil progress against set standards. 

Engaging local communities can also help to encourage the enrolment of children in pre-primary education where possible, as well the enrolment of children with special needs into local schools.

living native languages are spoken in Uganda

A multilingual context: 

Uganda is a multilingual country in East Africa. There are forty living native languages in Uganda, which can be grouped into three main language families: Bantu, Central Sudanic, and Nilotic. Two additional languages spoken in the country come from the Kuliak language family. English was adopted during the country's colonial, and it remains an official language. Swahili, which has regional significance, is also an official and has also been adopted by the nation.