Lisa Huylebroeck
Universiteit Gent, Department of Conflict and Development Studies, Graduate Student
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.... more
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.
