Access to quality education is a critical component for human capital development and precursor for sustainable development. While Uganda has demonstrated commitment to expanding opportunities for education through the Universal Primary Education (UPE) and Universal Secondary Education (USE), enrolment in secondary school is constrained by poverty, among other factors.
To compliment efforts of government, Promoting Equality in African Schools (PEAS); a public private partnership initiative started operating in Uganda in 2008. By April 2016, there were about 28 PEAS schools spread across the four administrative regions of Uganda.
A survey conducted by the Economic Policy Research Centre (EPRC) compared background and performance of children in PEAS, USE and non-USE Schools. Findings indicate that PEAS has increased access to education for disadvantaged children from rural areas and poorer households. Better still PEAS students’ achieved better literacy and numeracy skills compared to their counter parts in government owned schools.
Gains under the PEAS public private initiative is attributed to functional Parent Teacher Associations (PTAs), better child protection, continuous staff performance monitoring, less teacher absenteeism and higher student participation during classes. See detailed report