Best A-Level schools to send your child to

Schools that have a proven track record of producing top performers both at 0-Level and A-Level usually dominate university admissions.

It is every parent’s wish to enroll a child in a school where academic excellence is guaranteed.

There are schools with proven track record of producing top performers both at O-Level and A-Level every year and they are the same institutions that usually dominate university admissions, either government or private.

For instance, Mengo Secondary School, which was number three in posting many government-sponsored candidates to public universities last year, also topped the list of private sponsored students with 203 students, followed by Lubiri Secondary School (192), St. Mary’s SS Kitende (183), Namirembe Hillside (166) and Old Kampala Secondary School (156).

Although many parents have a bad perception about day schools, some like Lubiri Secondary School, Mengo Secondary School and Old Kampala have proved their worth among the league of giant schools at least in the last five years.

Public university admission records show that Lubiri Secondary School has been taking a lion’s share of government scholarships in the last two academic years. In the 2012/13 academic year, it secured 300 slots, and in 2011/12 it had 318 slots up from 213 in 2010/11 academic year.

Varsity admission
Ironically, many schools that took many government-sponsored slots last year are the same that dominated the first eight positions of schools with the highest number of private-sponsored students.

These include: Lubiri Secondary School, Mengo Secondary School, Gombe Secondary School, Namirembe Hillside, St Mary’s Secondary School Kitende, East High School, Buddo Secondary School and Valley College-Bushenyi.
The latter is indeed the only upcountry school that has maintained its position in the top 10 schools that send many students to universities both on government and private sponsorship programmes.

The Minister of Education, Ms Jessica Alupo, said in earlier interview that once the government’s loan scheme is introduced, it will enable more unprivileged students access higher education .

Currently, the government sponsors 4,000 students every year at the five public universities, of which 896 slots go to districts under the quota system.

Each district used to get 11 scholarships, but following the increased number of districts from 80 in 2009 to over 100, the figure reduced to eight.

assenkabirwa@ug.nationmedia.com