Pupils stand in the queue as they wait to enter their classrooms at Akuca Witim Primary School, Oyam District on March 7, 2024. PHOTO | BILL OKETCH
Chronic absenteeism – defined as learners missing 10 percent or more of school – has emerged as a serious challenge in northern Uganda.
While data from several Universal Primary Education (UPE) schools across the north, once a war-torn region, shows that enrolment of learners has greatly increased, the situation on the ground is considerably different.
A mini survey conducted by this publication in 32 sampled schools in Alebtong, Arua, Kole, Oyam districts from April 10 to 12 shows that 19,712 pupils enrolled for Primary Three, Four and Five at the beginning of Term One.
However, only 8,836 learners were present at the study areas during the assessment, while 10,876 were absent or unaccounted for.
Driving factors
Some of the contributing factors are parents’ negative attitude towards education, the high cost of education, the lack of government support for the school feeding programme, parents engaging children in agricultural activities and other forms of child labour, and poor sanitation in schools.
Ms Beatrice Okello, the Oyam District secretary for education, highlighted that many learners do not attend school regularly during the rainy season because parents engage them in agricultural activities.
“We have done a lot of community mobilisation and sensitisation, but parents are not listening to us. They don’t even want to make a small contribution towards their children’s education," she said, adding, "The majority of them want the school to be responsible for the provision of even books and pens to the learners.”
Our findings show that 414 learners (199 boys and 215 girls) enrolled in Primary Three at the beginning of Term One at Acokara Primary School, Otwal Sub-county in Oyam District. The school registered 388 pupils (198 boys and 190 girls) in Primary Four and 175 (98 boys and 77 girls) in Primary Five.
However, on April 10, only 96 (49 boys and 47 girls) were present in the Primary Three class. In the Primary Four class, there were 102 learners (59 boys and 43 girls), and only 81 (49 boys and 32 girls) attended lessons in Primary Five.
Our computation shows that of the 977 pupils enrolled across Primary Three, Four and Five, only 279 were accounted for. At least 698 pupils in the three classes remain unaccounted for.
In some schools, the registers are not up to date. At Ayomapwono Primary School, Aber Sub-county, also in Oyam, pupils’ attendance was last recorded on March 19. The total enrolment at the school stands at 1,337. But on March 19, only 843 pupils (426 boys and 417 girls) were present, while 494 learners were unaccounted. The chairperson of the school management committee (SMC) of Ayomapwono,
Mr Paul Aloca, said parents’ negative attitude towards education has affected pupils’ attendance and learning outcomes. He added that this is made worse when learners are sent back home for failing to pay Parent-Teacher Association (PTA) funds.
At Aloni Primary School, Iceme Sub-county in Oyam District, official data shows that at least 216 pupils (114 boys and 102 girls) enrolled for Primary Three, 329 (170 boys and 159 girls) enrolled for Primary Four and 209 (120 boys and 89 girls) for Primary Five.
However, on April 9, there were only 73 pupils (42 boys and 31 girls) in Primary Three, 109 (60 boys and 49 girls) in Primary Four and 87 (41 boys and 46 girls) attending lessons in Primary Five.
Our computation shows that 485 learners in these three critical transition classes were unaccounted for during our assessment.
Mr Patrick Okello, the PTA chairman of Aloni Primary School, said: “Every Wednesday of the week, pupils and parents go to Bario market, Abok Sub-county, to either buy or sell things. In fact, almost half of the learners do not come to school on Wednesdays.”
Bario market is about five kilometres away from Aloni Primary School.
Mr Okello added: “Secondly, we had agreed with the parents that they will pay Shs5,000 for PTA for every pupil and on April 7, we sent home all those who have not yet paid PTA.”
At Alidi Primary School in Loro Sub-county, also in Oyam, records show that enrolment for Primary Five stands at 355 (180 boys and 175 girls), but the actual number of those present was 107 (53 boys and 54 girls). At Amido Primary School, 613 pupils in Primary Three, Four and Five were absent or unaccounted for.
Here, the total enrolment for Primary Three is 290 (147 boys and 143 girls); 286 in Primary Four (141 boys and 145 girls) and 186 in Primary Five (98 boys and 88 girls).
However, physically present were 58 pupils in Primary Three (34 boys and 24 girls); 61 in Primary Four (36 boys and 25 girls) and 30 in Primary Five (14 boys and 16 girls).
Mr David Adea, the district education officer (DEO), said the school dropout rate in Oyam stands at 20.1 percent, with girls accounting for 64 percent and boys 36 percent.
“Pupils are dropping out of school due to many factors, such as lack of midday meals, insufficient parental support, and an unfavourable teacher-to-pupil ratio, which averages 1:75, with some schools reaching as high as 1:150,” he said.
At Alebtong Primary School in Alebtong District, a total of 273 (124 girls and 149 boys) enrolled in Primary Four, but only 170 pupils (93 girls and 77 boys) were present during the assessment. Uzu Primary School in Arua is not any better.
Data shows that Primary Four’s total enrolment is 298 (176 boys and 122 girls), but on April 9, only 185 pupils (97 boys and 88 girls) were present in this class.
At Alem Primary School in Kole, 120 learners (57 boys and 63 girls) enrolled in Primary Four, but only 62 (34 boys and 28 girls) showed up on April 10.
Mr David Kennedy Odongo, the chairperson of all district LC5 chairpersons in Lango, said the problem cuts across the entire sub-region.
“It's true there are high rates of dropouts in most schools, not only in primary, but even in secondary. And it is attributed to several factors. One is the parents' negative attitude towards education, where they don't encourage their children to attend school regularly,” he said.
“Another key factor is that most of our schools are operating without a school feeding programme, and normally, this is an area where the parents have failed to adjust. We have seen in some schools where the feeding programme is initiated, the enrolment tends to be constant,” he said.
For more than two decades, the government has touted the UPE programme as an initiative that has made education accessible to millions of children.
However, a report from the Initiative for Social and Economic Rights (ISER) indicates that beneath this apparent 28-year-old success lies numerous challenges that threaten the foundation of mass primary education.
Despite a remarkable surge in enrolment from 3.1 million learners in 1996 to about 8.6 million learners in 2024, ISER found that the UPE remains plagued by quality, equity and accountability issues.
Recommendations
Overall, the report concluded that while the government has taken significant steps in implementing its commitments to equitable education, issues of inadequate funding, absence, and weak or contradictory policy frameworks have undermined the effective implementation of the UPE programme.
The ISER researchers recommended that Parliament and the Education and Finance ministries should ensure that UPE is adequately funded to minimise the growing cost burden of public primary education on parents. Mr David Kennedy Odongo, the Alebtong LC5 chairman, appealed to the government to support the school feeding programme.
“In most countries, the government has come up with a policy of feeding the children so that we retain our children throughout in the school,” he said.
In 2024, the Ministry of Education and Sports announced a plan to introduce a lunch programme for learners in all UPE schools across Uganda. This initiative, set to commence in the 2026/2027 financial year, aims to improve child welfare and increase school attendance by addressing the persistent challenge of hunger among learners. Additional reporting by Jane Nafula.
Ministry speaks out
When contacted yesterday, Dr Dennis Mugimba, the Spokesperson of the Ministry of Education and Sports, said for the sector to succeed, everyone should play their role. Dr Mugimba tasked schools to utilise the digital system to monitor and track learner attendance in the classroom.
“So it is important that schools utilise that system. The system is already in place and has been rolled out in schools. There is also need to continuously engage with the parents, because they have a role in motivating their children to remain in the school,” he said.
On the issues of feeding, the spokesperson said it is the responsibility of families to prepare a meal for their children and have it packed for school.
