INEQUITY IN EDUCATIONAL ATTAINMENT IN UGANDA: IMPLICATIONS FOR GOVERNMENT POLICY

Abstract

This paper undertakes to set out a criterion that can be used to assess inequalities in a given national education system and also uses the prescribed criterion to discuss the extent of educational inequalities in the Ugandan education system. The paper adopts the Berne and Stiefel's (1984) framework to assess educational inequalities in an education system which analyses inequalities from three perspectives-horizontal, vertical and equal opportunity. Measures of dispersion and the Education Gini Coefficient were used to assess the different perspectives of inequality based on the Demographic Household Survey (DHS) data (2006). The findings reveal that on average, there have been significant improvements in educational equality indicators in the Ugandan education system. Nonetheless, empirical analyses indicate that access to education in Uganda is still dependent on ones sex, location, and asset index. There is therefore need to reengineer the current policy interventions to ensure equal access to education.

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