Assessment of the Contribution of UPE on the Performance of Pupils in PLE in Uganda: A Case Study in Kiboga D.A.S Primary School in Kiboga District

Abstract

Uganda was a British protectorate from 1894 until October 9th 1962 when it gained her independence. Prior to independence, formal education was introduced by the missionaries in 1877, and was modeled along the British system of education. Uganda follows a 7-4-2-4 model of education, with seven years of primary education, 4 years in lower secondary, 2 years of upper secondary and 4 years of tertiary education. The higher education is composed of universities, national teachers colleges, colleges of commerce, technical colleges, training institutions, and other tertiary institutions. At each level, there is a national selection examination which feeds a centrally administered process of distributed successful candidates among the available next levels (MoES 1999:4) From the time Uganda gained her independence in 1962, about half a million pupils had enrolled at primary level which number steadily increased to 800,000 in 1971 in about 2,900 schools. In the preceding years, primary pupils’ enrolment increased to about 2.1 million in about 7,000 schools. In this period, (1971-1985) while enrolment increased, there was no direct co-relation with increase in the number of schools or classrooms. The period (1971-1985) was characterized by decline in the gross domestic product and a general decline in the share of the education sector in the national budget from 3.4% to 1.4% by then primary education was reaching only 50% of the school going age group (MoES 1999:6). This study is about the contribution of UPE to the performance of pupils in PLE in Kiboga District and the main objective is to find out whether there is any influence of UPE on performance of the pupils in PLE since its implementation. This study is relevant to the development studies since it evaluates the second Millennium Development Goal (Universal Primary Education) at district level in the one of the African development countries (Uganda). The information contained therein will add to the existing knowledge in the field of universal primary education on pupils’ performance.