Museveni concedes UPE is faltering, hints on reforms

President Museveni has admitted that his government's flagship Universal Primary Education (UPE) program is faltering, citing poor implementation and unauthorized fees that are undermining its core objective of providing free education to all children.

Speaking on Friday, Museveni said school administrators and Parent-Teacher Associations (PTAs) had effectively "hijacked" the program by introducing charges that exclude poor families.

“So, we brought Universal Primary Education in 1997, but it is being poorly implemented and frustrated at the grassroots level,” Museveni said at a thanksgiving event organized by Public Service State Minister Mary Grace Mugasa.

He added: “School heads and PTAs introduced charges… My view is that our peasants can't handle those charges, and I argued that we maintain UPE until people are able to handle.”

The president challenged local leaders, including religious and political figures, to reflect on the situation in their communities.

“When you look at people in your village, can they handle fees or are they pretending?” he asked.

Despite ongoing frustrations with the program’s implementation, Museveni—whose wife serves as the minister of education and sports—insisted that UPE must continue for now.

“I don’t want to start a war on this,” he said. “We need to agree without anger on whether our rural parents can handle education charges… If parents are incapacitated, we can decide to offer free education. Then maybe after 10-15 years, we can review.”

To illustrate the depth of rural poverty, Museveni cited Bezireata Tumusiime, a 64-year-old woman from Rubirizi District who only began livestock farming after receiving Shs1 million under the Parish Development Model (PDM).

“If we have people like Bezireata in society, can they handle paying school charges? Or do we just have a society of people who pretend they can’t do something, yet they can?” the Ugandan leader asked.

Museveni’s comments come amid rising criticism from opposition leaders and civil society groups over funding and the quality of UPE.

Leader of Opposition in Parliament (LoP) Joel Ssenyonyi recently described the program as “messed up,” arguing that the current annual government capitation grant of Shs20,000 per child is inadequate.

“How can you expect children to compete globally on that?” he said, proposing an increase to Shs50,000. Ssenyonti also pointed to corruption in UPE funding.

On Friday, Museveni acknowledged that unofficial charges were driving high dropout rates.

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Uganda Bureau of Statistics data shows nearly half of UPE pupils fail to complete primary school, citing poverty, teenage pregnancy and fees as leading causes.

Buliisa nurse contradicts Museveni on HPV vaccine woes

On health, the president urged parents to support HPV vaccinations for girls but blamed low uptake on drug theft in public hospitals.

A senior nurse, Harriet Kusemererwa, who served as the medical superintendent of Buliisa District Hospital until she expressed interest in becoming Buliisa Woman MP, publicly disagreed with Museveni’s view that drug theft was behind the low uptake of HPV vaccines.

“Mr President, it’s not medics stealing vaccines and medicine. We simply don’t have enough supplies,” she said after being called to speak on a microphone adjacent to Museveni.

Museveni immediately responded by directing her to submit a detailed report on the issue through Prime Minister Robinah Nabbanja.

He also promised to fast-track land title issuance to end land disputes in Kikuube, and repeated his government’s priorities: peace, development, wealth creation, education, and health.

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