Department of Conflict and Development Studies

In follow-up to Universal Primary Education (UPE), the Government of Uganda introduced in 2007 its Universal Secondary Education (USE) policy in order to increase access to quality secondary education for economically vulnerable families. While the effects of UPE have been analysed extensively, this is not the case for USE. By using quantitative and qualitative data, this paper aims to explore the impact of USE on educational attainment and performance. The paper shows that the impact of USE is mixed, as the increase in educational attainment remained slow and educational performance declined after the implementation of USE. It is explained how USE plays a primarily political role, because of which the actual improvement of service delivery is secondary. This leads to a situation in which congested classrooms and reduced teacher compensation are key-elements, all negatively affecting motivation of the key-actors involved, and ultimately influencing educational performance. Although the USE program was designed with co-responsibility of parents, schools and government in mind , it was implemented without sufficient attention to local school realities. Consequently, the intention of increasing access to quality education through USE has not been achieved to date.

Hartal, the general strike or total shutdown, is one of the defining features of politics in Bangladesh. While opposition parties proclaim it is one of their only weapons to put pressure on the ruling party, Bangladeshi middle classes and the international (donor) community view hartal as essentially disruptive. Focusing on the local organisation of hartal at the ward level, this article argues that hartal plays a crucial role in the organisation of the local power structure in Bangladesh. By considering hartal as a complex political performance, we are able to show that hartals offer unique opportunities for local party organisers to show, maintain and improve their position in the local power structure. Addressing a multi-levelled audience, it enables them to gain access to beneficial patronage relationships with the party (leadership) at the local, regional and national levels. The willingness to take risk and the ability to recruit hartal participants offers important markers to establish and improve these relationships. As such, efforts to move away from hartal to ‘less disruptive’ forms of protest are misguided.