Uganda free secondary education starts

KAMPALA, Feb 20 (Reuters) Uganda has began offering free secondary education to 2,50,000 students, which the government said would double the number of children continuing on in school.

Acting Secondary Education Commissioner Robinson Nsumba-Lyazi yesterday told Reuters the scheme meant all 3,80,000 of the pupils who passed their primary school exams -- about 90 per cent of them -- would go on to attend secondary school.

''It's a pro-poor programme that will help rural communities develop, so you can have people who are educated, who can plan and who can participate in economic activities,'' he said.

Encouraged by the success of its free universal primary education programme at getting poor children into school, the government has enlisted around 1,000 government and private secondary schools to absorb new students, free of charge.

Nsumba-Lyazi said only 1,50,000 primary school students last year went on to continue their education.

''Without USE (Universal Secondary Education) the dropout rate is about 50 per cent. It will double enrolment,'' he said.

Many children yearn to continue learning after primary school but find their families are unable to afford the average 130 dollars per year fees. Ugandans earn about 300 dollars per person per year.

Nsumba-Lyazi said the programme would cost an estimated 30 billion Uganda shillings (17.15 million dollars) this year.

The poor central African country of 27 million ranks 145th on the UN Human Development Index -- which measures income, education and life expectancy -- out of 177 countries.

Reuters PKS VP0422