The Challenges Of Implementing Universal Primary Education By Local Governments In Uganda: A Case Study Of Rakai District.

ABSTRACT

The purpose of the study was to investigate the challenges of implementing

universal primary education in Rakai District. The specific objectives of the study

were to investigate the problems of primary education in Rakai District,

determine whether UPE is sustainable in the face of increasing costs of education

and to get procedures that can help solve the challenges of primary education.

The study :-cvealed that the implementation of UPE is hindered by Class size

and Shortage of teachers. According to The teachers the implementation process

of UPE was very hasty and led to a shortage of teachers with those available

being overworked. The study revealed that Poverty is one of the major hindrance

in the implementation of UPE. According to the study even though primary

education is free parents are required to pay some extra fee and also buy school

requirements for the children and food. The study revealed that the quality of

education in UPE is not good. When asked about the quality of education offered

in the public schools, the respondents were almost unanimous in saying that it

had gone down since the introduction of UPE. The study concluded that The

implementation of free primary education is hindered by Class size and Shortage

of teachers, Infrastructure and learning materials for UPE are inadequate,

Poverty and that the quality of education . had gone down since the introduction

of UPE.

The study recommended that more teachers should be trained to meet the

growing number of pupils. As mentioned earlier, the increase in pupil numbers

as a result of UPE has raised the challenge of the need for more teachers.

The Minisl1 y of education should build more schools, and provide instructional

materials. The increase in the number of schools has not kept pace with the

increase in the number of students.