Situation analySiS

Situation analySiS of Children in uganda 2015Findings from a 2012 study of over 80,000 children by the Uwezo initiative indicated thatthere were no gender differences in literacy, but that boys performed marginally better thangirls in numeracy. The findings suggest that overall, only three out of 10 of all the childrenassessed nationwide were able to read and understand a Primary 2 (P2)-level story textand correctly solve P2-level numeracy questions up to division level – with Northern andEastern regions lagging noticecably (see Figure 10). Moreover, the study found that childrenin the Central region outperformed their peers in other regions in numeracy, local languageliteracy and English comprehension.FIGURE 10: percentAGe of pupils (primAry 3–7) who cAn do primAry 2 worK, by reGionsource: uwezo uGAndA, 20124.2.5 Secondary educationIn 2013, 36% of secondary schools were government-owned and 64% were private (GoU,2014). Enrolment in government secondary schools in 2014 was 49% and in private schools51%. Secondary school enrolment rates are much lower than primary school (93.7% NERin primary vs. 24.1% in secondary in 2014) (MoESTS, 2014a). Enrolment rates are lowestin the Northern region and in rural areas, with the gap even larger than at primary level.The challenge posed by school fees and other school-related expenses is more problematicin secondary school than in primary school, as expenses are higher and there is a greateropportunity cost to families with children who attend secondary school – as children getolder many families consider their time would be better spent working than studying.Various studies suggest that both male and female children continue to play a traditionallyimportant economic role in household livelihoods, with almost 51% of children aged 5–1754 thE rIGht to EDUCatIoN aND othEr DEvELoPMENtaL rIGhtS