Sacrificed Education:

Poverty Pushes Families to Choose Who Learns

Angelina Ggama

For 18-year-old Jovan Wasswa, the dream of finishing primary school ended not in failure, but in an act of personal sacrifice, one where you have to give way for others.

“I was in primary seven when I had to stop school … I had to make a choice to let my younger siblings study because my parents couldn’t afford fees for all of us,” he recounts.”

Standing outside his family’s home in Busega Kibumbiro in Wakiso district, Wasswa mulls about his future with a mix of sadness and determination, carrying the weight of his family’s struggles on his young shoulders.

Wasswa’s story is a clear example of the impossible choices money troubles force on Ugandan families.

Although the government of Uganda’s introduction of Universal Primary Education (UPE) has increased school enrollment to 8.6 million pupils in 2023 from 2.5 million in 1996 before the program began, learner retention rates are still low.

According to independent children performance researchers, about 45% of children who start primary school are not able to write their Primary Seven national examinations. The challenges range from poverty being a major driver, leading to children working to help their families instead of attending school, coupled with gender normative attitudes and beliefs that exclude mostly girls.

Also, structural challenges like distance from home to school, teacher absentism, and absence of supervision at local government level frustrate most learners. 

Wasswa’s mother, Gladys Nnalongo, says she had been fatigued with budgetary constraints and could not sustain keeping all her children in school. 

“Our earnings aren’t enough to take our children to better schools … even at the government schools, we still fail to pay the fees asked,” she explained, noting that when parents attend school meetings, they are told that the official government funding, the Capitation Grant under the Universal Primary Education (UPE) policy, does not meet all the requirements to keep children in school. 

The government provides approximately UGX 20,000 per learner annually a figure widely considered simply too little to run a school. 

This chronic underfunding forces UPE schools to charge parents for “non-tuition” essentials like uniforms, exercise books, lunch, and maintenance the very hidden costs Mrs. Gladys struggles to meet.

Kafeero Dan, the Director of Studies at Muslim Girls Busega, confirms the family’s situation is sadly commonplace. 

“One of the core reasons [students drop out] is socio-economic status, where parents can’t afford fees for their kids,” he said Kafeero, adding that the lack of parental guidance and peer influence also contribute, as unsupervised children lose interest and drift away.

Kafeero notes that intervention is necessary, highlighting the work of organizations like the United High Commission for Refugees, which sometimes donate scholastic materials to help keep vulnerable children in class

According to Charles Nattigo, the Vice Chairman of Busega Kibumbiro Zone A, most families in this community are struggling to keep children in school because of social challenges on top of the economic struggles.

“It’s easy to send young kids to school, but for kids who are teenagers, they start joining peers who discourage them from school, which gives their parents a hard time,” he observed. He also confirms that parent’s earnings are sometimes too low to keep all their children in school.

To ensure her son could survive and not become idle, Nalongo scraped together enough money to enroll Wasswa in a practical training program under the guidance of Semanda, a local mechanic.

Semanda shares a crucial perspective on vocational skills: “The most important thing is that these children should have the interest to learn. The  skills learnt allows one to earn a living.”

But even as an advocate for vocational training, Semanda says that “If opportunities of going back to school again come to Wasswa, he should go back, because education is very important in this day and age.”

To address this crisis, the government launched the Business, Technical and Vocational Education and Training (BTVET) program in 2012.

The goal of the program is to transform skills development from an academic model to one focused on market-relevant, employable skills for youth who don’t continue in formal education. 

This program gives a second chance at life for students who drop out early due to financial crisis.

However, awareness, accessibility, and funding for these programs can be limited, especially in remote areas. While laws exist to prevent child labor and encourage education, enforcement can be weak when poverty is the primary driver of students leaving school.

For now, Wasswa is trading textbooks for spanners, bearing the weight of his family’s future on his young shoulders. An outcome born not of disinterest, but of necessity within a struggling system. His story highlights the need for increased support for education, particularly for vulnerable families, to ensure that every child has the opportunity to reach their full potential.