Are surging UPE numbers swallowing education gains?

Kibiri C.O.U Primary School, a public school in Wakiso district was at one time, one of the revered primary schools in central Uganda in the early 1990s.

Then, over half of about 100 of its Primary Seven candidates would always pass in Division One. Not anymore.

Last year, only 25 (20.8%) out of 120 pupils who sat for the Primary Leaving Examination at the school passed in Division One. 

The number of pupils passing in Division One at the school started declining in 2000, due to the effects of the school's high population.

In 2003, after a complete cohort of children that joined free education in 1997 completed Primary seven, only 15 pupils passed in Division One.

The sudden increase in the demand for public primary education created a series of challenges for the government, related mainly to financing the reform, improving the quality of primary education, ensuring equitable access to primary education, and planning beyond primary school.

What went wrong? 

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