Uganda education system

The education system in Uganda is based on skills rather than age and is therefore slightly different to the one of many other countries.

In order to attend school, the child must usually pass exams and the parents must pay school fees. Because the school system is based on skills rather than age, a student cannot continue to the next class, if he hasn’t passed the previous ones. Therefore there can be many different age groups represented in one class.

Parents must pay school fees for each of the year’s three terms. If parents fail to pay school fees for a year, the student are usually not allowed to attend school. Even if the student is over half way through the year, they will still have to do the class all over again if they want to continue. This includes paying school fees for the same class all over again. Therefore many children never start school again after a dropout.

Usually the child have to provide their own scholastic materials, uniform and food, and is often send home if this is not in proper order. To ensure that such matters are not stopping the children from going to school, Twinlight Children’s Centre provides lunch and some basic scholastic material for all students.