Uganda unlikely to meet MDG on gender disparity

By Taddeo Bwambale

Uganda is unlikely to meet the Millenium Development Goal (MDG) of eliminating gender disparity in primary and secondary education by 2015, researchers from Makerere University have said.

This is contained in a study on ‘improving girls’ access to secondary education’, whose findings were released yesterday by the Economic Policy Research Centre (EPRC) based at Makerere University.

The study reveals that enrollment of girls in secondary schools is still low, in spite of interventions by the Government and other satekeholders.

Presenting the findings at Protea Hotel yesterday, Mildred Barungi, a researcher, said enrollment of girls was 25% compared to that of boys at 29%.

“Only one third of girls who join secondary will remain in school by the age of 18, compared to 50% of boys,” she said.

Eliminating gender disparity in primary and secondary education is part of Millenium Development Goal (MDG) 3 of promoting gender equality and women empowerment.

According to Barungi, long distances to school and the high tuition costs are among the major reasons behind the high drop-out rates for girls.

According to the study, providing free tuition and transport to girls would increase their enrolment in school to at least 50% by 2020.