Who Leaves School Prematurely in Uganda; Do Predictors Vary by Place of Residence?

Christian Kakuba, Makerere University, Centre for Population and Applied Statistics
Olivia Nankinga, Makerere University
Valerie Golaz, INED

Universalisation primary education in Uganda in 1997 was characterised by an upsurge in enrolments and hence “enrolments shocks” that have systematically eliminated some children in some households and this seems to vary by place of residence. We used census data to predict the probability that a child aged 6-16 had dropped out of school and understand factors related to this in; i) Rural Uganda ii) Kampala and iii) other urban areas. Because of variations in; history, geography, composition of the population, the nature of economic activity, supply of education and levels of commitment of local government authorities in school supervision, the extent and factors affecting dropouts varied by place of residence. Action points to redress dropouts in Uganda cannot be implemented ubiquitously across the country but ought to take into consideration the peculiar circumstances pertaining in; i) Rural areas ii) Kampala and iii) other urban areas.