Quality of Education Services Offered by Universal Primary Education Schools in Uganda

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to assess the quality of education services offered in Universal Primary Schools in Uganda. The education sector in Uganda has witnessed comprehensive policy reforms that have put it decisively on the economic development path. Key among the reforms was the adoption of the Universal Primary Education programme in 1997 whose objective was to provide free primary education to four children per household. Later, the implementation was scaled up to cater for all children of primary school going age (6-12 years). This programme made an immediate impact on primary school enrolment level from 2.8 million to 8.4 million in 1996. This study sought to provide an in-depth investigation on how school supervision and teacher training affect the quality of education in UPE schools since the two factors are envisaged to contribute to success of UPE program in Uganda. The study employed a quantitative research design using secondary data obtained from the 2012/13 Uganda National Household Survey by Uganda Bureau of Statistics. The data management and analysis procedure were done using Statistical package for Social Scientists. Univariate, bivariate and multivariate analysis of the variables was conducted. A logistic binary regression model was used to estimate the effect of school supervision and teacher’s training on the quality of services offered by UPE schools in Uganda. The report found that there exists a significant effect of the level of teacher training on quality of services offered by UPE schools. The study discovered that supervision has no significant effect on quality of services offered by UPE schools. It was also discovered that most of the schools that were frequently supervised were in a better condition compared to their counterparts. More so, the analysis revealed that primary schools are available and accessible which corresponds to majority of government reports that highlight government’s efforts to have UPE schools all over the country. Finally, the study recommended that government’s interventions to address the quality challenges in UPE schools should focus on critical areas that include: teachers’ development, management and motivation as well as strengthening the inspection by centralizing its function as well as making it independent.