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Inequality in School Enrolment in Uganda among Children of Ages 6-17 Years: The Experience after Introduction of Universal Primary Education – UPE

Received: 13 August 2013    Accepted:     Published: 20 September 2013
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Abstract

In 1997 the government of Uganda introduced the policy of Universal Primary Education – UPE whose aim was to improve on school enrolment. Equal opportunity and access to education is a central theme in the political agenda of government of Uganda, indeed universal access to primary education is MDG Goal II, which governments world over are striving to achieve. Research has not established whether inequalities in access to education still exist a decade after UPE was introduced in the country. Using data from the Uganda National Household Survey 2009/2010, this paper attempts to examine this issue. A total of 12,424 children of ages 6-17 years are selected for study. A measure of unevenness - Theil’s index and a multinomial logistic regression are fitted to the data, adjusted for a number of social and demographic characteristics. The findings suggest that 81% of the children were currently attending school. Gender inequalities in school enrolment were not supported by the regression model findings. However, substantial and significant differences were observed for the various regions of the country, rural-urban residence, poverty status age of child, and household size. Although not all factors affecting current enrolment among children were analyzed, the discourse in this paper suggests need for intervention to address specific child enrolment inequalities identified.

Published in Science Journal of Education (Volume 1, Issue 4)
DOI 10.11648/j.sjedu.20130104.11
Page(s) 43-50
Creative Commons

This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, provided the original work is properly cited.

Copyright

Copyright © The Author(s), 2024. Published by Science Publishing Group

Keywords

Inequality, School Enrolment, Uganda, Children, Universal Primary Education

References
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    Rutaremwa, Gideon, Bemanzi, Juliana. (2013). Inequality in School Enrolment in Uganda among Children of Ages 6-17 Years: The Experience after Introduction of Universal Primary Education – UPE. Science Journal of Education, 1(4), 43-50. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.sjedu.20130104.11

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    Rutaremwa; Gideon; Bemanzi; Juliana. Inequality in School Enrolment in Uganda among Children of Ages 6-17 Years: The Experience after Introduction of Universal Primary Education – UPE. Sci. J. Educ. 2013, 1(4), 43-50. doi: 10.11648/j.sjedu.20130104.11

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    AMA Style

    Rutaremwa, Gideon, Bemanzi, Juliana. Inequality in School Enrolment in Uganda among Children of Ages 6-17 Years: The Experience after Introduction of Universal Primary Education – UPE. Sci J Educ. 2013;1(4):43-50. doi: 10.11648/j.sjedu.20130104.11

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  • @article{10.11648/j.sjedu.20130104.11,
      author = {Rutaremwa and Gideon and Bemanzi and Juliana},
      title = {Inequality in School Enrolment in Uganda among Children of Ages 6-17 Years: The Experience after Introduction of Universal Primary Education – UPE},
      journal = {Science Journal of Education},
      volume = {1},
      number = {4},
      pages = {43-50},
      doi = {10.11648/j.sjedu.20130104.11},
      url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.sjedu.20130104.11},
      eprint = {https://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.sjedu.20130104.11},
      abstract = {In 1997 the government of Uganda introduced the policy of Universal Primary Education – UPE whose aim was to improve on school enrolment. Equal opportunity and access to education is a central theme in the political agenda of government of Uganda, indeed universal access to primary education is MDG Goal II, which governments world over are striving to achieve.  Research has not established whether inequalities in access to education still exist a decade after UPE was introduced in the country. Using data from the Uganda National Household Survey 2009/2010, this paper attempts to examine this issue. A total of 12,424 children of ages 6-17 years are selected for study. A measure of unevenness - Theil’s index and a multinomial logistic regression are fitted to the data, adjusted for a number of social and demographic characteristics. The findings suggest that 81% of the children were currently attending school. Gender inequalities in school enrolment were not supported by the regression model findings. However, substantial and significant differences were observed for the various regions of the country, rural-urban residence, poverty status age of child, and household size. Although not all factors affecting current enrolment among children were analyzed, the discourse in this paper suggests need for intervention to address specific child enrolment inequalities identified.},
     year = {2013}
    }
    

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