Poverty undermines Uganda’s public education

How the incidence, depth, duration, and timing of poverty together influence a child’s educational attainment

COMMENT | HAMZA WAMONO | March 2020 will forever be remembered in the education community as the month when all schools in the country shut their doors. The government instituted nationwide school closures due to the anticipated deadly corona virus pandemic in the country. The decision affected pupils and students.

Despite the income gap which has widened between Ugandan families, majority of whose pupils and students are beneficiaries of Universal Primary Education and Universal Secondary Education, the speed of these closures necessitated a shift to the use of internet, television, radios, and newspapers for learning; especially the candidate classes. This was inevitable and pitilessly imposed on candidates for continuity of classes with little planning.

Educational outcomes are one of the key areas influenced by family incomes. Children from low-income families often start school already behind their peers who come from more affluent families. The incidence, depth, duration, and timing of poverty together influence a child’s educational attainment.

In the recent poverty statistics by the Ministry of Finance, it indicted that poverty increased to 28 percent due to Covid-19 pandemic. Eastern region with a higher poverty rate and with the possibility of one becoming poor ranked at 53.3 percent from 28.9 per cent followed by Northern region at 44.8 percent from 30.3 percent. It is not surprising that the general performance levels in the final 2020 UNEB exams for both UPE and UCE results represents the status of income disparities in the country between regions.

For instance, 26,127 candidates; a representation of 5.2 percent out of 513,085(68.4 percent) of UPE candidates passed in Division 1 in 2020 PLE results. While 64,487 (12 percent) of UPE candidates failed against 10,391 candidates who failed in non UPE schools. The situation is not different from UCE results for the last 10 years. It is also important to note that the worst performing districts in UNEB results are from Eastern Uganda and Northern Uganda over the years yet these regions have experienced the highest poverty levels in the same period.

Poverty and education are inextricably linked because people living in poverty may drop out of school opting for activities that immediately improve on their livelihoods. This partly explains the negative variance between 640,833 candidates who sat for PLE in 2016 who should have sat for 2020 UCE and 330,592 the actual number which sat for UCE in 2020. Even absenteeism, late coming to school and early marriages all are influenced by poverty as a dominant factor. These are the biggest challenges that continue to undermine Uganda’s public education and performance.

School readiness reflects a child’s ability to succeed both academically and socially in a school environment. It requires physical wellbeing and appropriate motor development, emotional health, and a positive approach to new experiences. It is well documented that poverty decreases a child’s readiness for school through aspects of health, home life, schooling, and neighborhoods.

The incidence of poverty, the depth of poverty, the duration of poverty, the timing of poverty, community characteristics (e.g. concentration of poverty and school characteristics) and the impact poverty has on the child’s social network (parents, relatives and neighbors) all have a negative influence on learners and their performance. Children from poor families often do not learn the social skills required to prepare them for school.

Unlike the previous years, the UNEB exams of 2020 were done under extreme circumstances. Candidates only went back to school for briefing and exams in March of 2021 a year after schools were closed. A lot of time was spent at home with continued distance learning which was imaginary; especially in poor families- the biggest clients of UPE and USE in Uganda.

Despite what was promised by the government in efforts to have continuity of learning amidst school closure, no progress has been made for learners to have access to devices like radios and television sets to every household and the village for distance learning to continue. Even those who had radios in their homes, many lacked dry cells yet most rural areas lack of electricity. This, coupled with internet connectivity and network challenges and income pressures in families, made distance learning unrealistic.

The resource inequalities between rural and urban areas have widened for decades. Rural areas lack the requisite technology and infrastructure to be transformed and this was exacerbated by the Covid-19 pandemic.

The advocates of distance learning did not take into account the differences between urban and rural areas. According to Lighting Africa, close to 8 per cent of households in rural areas have access to the national electricity grid, compared to 71.2 per cent in urban areas which partly explain the differences in performances between rural and urban schools.

It has been noted by many scholars from various research works that poverty negatively impacts pupils/students in many ways. “This can be through factors that are often symptoms of poverty, like health issues stemming from a non nutritional diet, homelessness, lack of food, or the inability to receive medical treatment for illnesses”. These factors often place more stress on a learners, which negatively impact the student’s ability to succeed in a school.

Many pupils/students living in poverty often have fewer resources at home to complete homework, study, or engage in activities that helps equip them for success during the school day. Most of the impoverished families lack access to computers, high-speed internet and other materials that can aid a student outside of school. Therefore, it needed magicians to perform excellently especially in districts where poverty is reigning high.

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Hamza Wamono:Email: wamc.fhamz0008@gamil.com /Tel: 0702625116/0782031224