UPE: The Uganda’s game changer story

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OPINION

By Ronald Katabarwa

On Sunday, November 9, 2025, Malawian President Peter Mutharika announced that beginning January 2026, all children in Malawi will access free Primary Education. I felt both inspired and proud. Inspired, because education remains the greatest equaliser of our time, and proud because Uganda embraced this truth nearly three decades ago under the visionary leadership of His Excellency Yoweri Kaguta Museveni.

Long before many African nations had the courage or capacity to make Education truly universal, Uganda had already taken the bold step.

In 1997, President Museveni launched the Universal Primary Education (UPE) programme, a decision that has since reshaped our society and empowered generations of Ugandans.

As we prepare to celebrate 28 years of UPE on November 23, 2025, at Kololo Ceremonial Grounds, I find myself reflecting not just on statistics, but on my own life story and the stories of millions of Ugandans whose dreams became realities because of this landmark programme.

I completed Primary Seven in 2007 at Bugarihe Primary School, a modest rural school that, like thousands of others across Uganda, blossomed under UPE. Before 1997, going to school in my village was an uncertainty, fees were unaffordable, and education was often reserved for the privileged few. But the introduction of UPE changed that narrative. For the first time, children from peasant families, orphans, and those from remote corners of Uganda could sit in the same classroom as others, united by the promise of free education.

From Bugarihe Primary School, I joined secondary school through the Universal Secondary Education (USE) programme, another transformative policy of the NRM Government. Years later, I proudly graduated from Makerere University, Uganda’s oldest and most prestigious institution. This journey is deeply personal. It is a journey that I, and millions of other UPE beneficiaries, owe to one man’s unwavering vision: President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni.

While individual stories like mine are powerful, the true scale of UPE’s impact is best appreciated through the many Ugandan Stories.

In 1996, just before UPE, primary school enrolment stood at about 2.5 million pupils. Within a year of UPE’s launch, that figure more than doubled to 6.9 million.

Today, according to the Ministry of Education and Sports (2024), over 8.8 million pupils are enrolled in primary schools across Uganda, representing nearly every household in the country. UPE has therefore not just educated a generation; it has transformed Uganda’s social fabric and set the foundation for economic transformation.

As other African countries like Malawi now follow Uganda’s example, it is clear that the UPE model pioneered by President Museveni stands as a continental benchmark. Uganda’s experience has been studied and emulated by Kenya, Tanzania, Zambia, and now Malawi. This is not just a policy success; it is a historic legacy proof that visionary leadership can shape destinies far beyond National borders.

As Uganda marks 28 years of Universal Primary Education at Kololo Ceremonial Grounds, this celebration is more than an event. It is a national thanksgiving, a moment for millions of Ugandans to say thank you to a leader who chose to invest in people rather than politics. From the dusty village schools to urban classrooms, from the first chalkboard to the modern smart classroom, UPE has been a story of hope, equity, and transformation.

You believed in every Ugandan child. You gave us the key to our future. And for that, we are eternally grateful to the President, H.E. Yoweri Kaguta Museveni

The writer is an NRM committed cadre.