Success of the Model School

In 2004, about 1.8 million students enrolled in first grade of a primary school. By 2014, they should have reached their 5th year of Secondary School. In November of 2014, they should have all taken the national exams, UANEB, to mark the end of their “Ordinary” secondary education. Unfortunately, only 304,189 students sat for the national exam. Even further, only 102,858 students registered for the UACE exam that marks the end of their “Advanced” secondary education in 2016. This means that about 1.7 million students failed to make it to Senior 6, leaving Uganda with a 94% drop out rate.

The numbers for school enrollment in 2015 for almost all the levels show a shocking picture into the education system in Uganda.

Uganda School Enrollments in 2015
Enrollment
P1 1,842,006 100%
P2 1,277,974 69%
P3 1,283,194 70%
P4 1,272,522 69%
P5 1,101,698 60%
P6 901,939 49%
P7 584,984 32%
S1 326,591 18%
S2 299,262 16%
S3 279,851 15%
S4 242,248 13%
S5 70,317 4%
S6 65,739 4%
U1 19,043 1%

Bad as these numbers look, they don’t tell the full picture. Averages can be misleading. Students who study in urban and well-off schools do better and stay in school. In Kampala and other urban areas, more than 70%, or in some cases 80% of students who start primary school, will finish their education. These are the schools, which push up the averages. That means that for students in rural districts such as Bududa, the drop out rate is much, much worse than the numbers above.
You will see that only 32% of students who start P1 finish P7, and only 4% finish S6. A few students obviously go to vocational school after P7 and S4 and S6, but these numbers are relatively small. And of course some students repeat, but again, the numbers are fairly small. The majority of students drop out, and disappear.

Compare the rest of Uganda’s results to REACH’s retention rate of about 95% at P7. 95% of REACH’s students finish P7, compared to 32% across the country. Also take into consideration that we sent 17 of our initial class of 27 (63%) to university, and see what a difference we are making!

We couldn’t have these successes without the help of our sponsors, donors, and friends throughout the years in addition to the work out staff in Uganda are doing! Thank you for supporting us and helping our students achieve their dreams!

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