According to the National Service Delivery Survey, 80% of the pupils in Uganda travel 3kms to their schools.

Uganda primary Pupils in class

The survey says a good number of pupils are forced to drop out of school just because they are discouraged by the long distances they have to travel to their respective schools.

The survey also gives primary five as the class in which most pupils drop out of school, with 31% of the pupils dropping out at that level of education in primary.

However, the report notes that the biggest cause of drop out of pupils is the high cost of living, since only 30% of the households reached during the compilation of the report had pupils in schools that provide lunch for their children.

The Survey says that education is an important aspect and an index for national development but also vital for achieving a quality life for the people and therefore the government should seriously consider fixing the gaps that still exist in Uganda’s education system like the ones noted in the survey.

The report notes that 90% of purely day schools are managed by government and the enrollment in these schools has increased to over 7 million pupils since the introduction of Universal Primary Education in 1997.

By Tiberindwa Zakaria, Ultimate Media