Time for School'? School fees, savings clubs and social reciprocity in Uganda

Abstract

The past 25 years have witnessed sweeping educational reforms in Uganda. The introduction of 'free' Universal Primary Education (UPE, in 1998) and Universal Secondary Education (USE, in 2007) has raised social expectations about access to quality education. Over the same period the population of young people in Uganda has also grown dramatically. As a result hundreds of new primary and secondary schools have been established across the country. This article examines the social and economic consequences for a rural part of Southwest Uganda. Bringing together secondary data from national household surveys with detailed ethnographic research, the article highlights families' material and social investments in schooling. It explores the costs faced by even the poorest households whose children attend 'free' government schools. Despite public investment, the poor quality of state provision has led to public frustration and demands for reforms. Survey data demonstrate that, as a result,...