Analysis of educational performance under universal primary education in Gulu District

Abstract

This study was conducted in Gulu district to analyze the educational performance of UPE schools. Secondary data of 4 UPE schools were used from records at the schools, district and at Uganda National Examination Board (UNEB). Comparison of mean enrolment and mean of division1 score were done. Government expenditure at 1% is a significant predictor of division1 score with positive relationship. An increase in the government expenditure by 1 million shillings in Gulu has lower marginal productivity as compared to a similar increase in other parts of Uganda for example in Mpigi, division 1 increasesby 5 % as compared to 0.24% in Gulu. The study showed that there was no school that had the required recommended Pupil teacher ratio and Pupil classroom ratio. An addition of one more teacher in a rural school increases the percentage of pupils who will get division 1 by approximately 1.5% as compared to an increase of only 0.7 % of the candidates in urban schools. The results further revealed that school uniqueness and differences are key factors that affect the performance in the UPE schools. Lastly it was evident that schools in urban areas have on average 7% points of division 1 higher than those in the rural and also that school characteristics like PTR and PCR were positively correlated with percentage of division1 score and unobserved factors were statistically significant predictors of educational performance. Overall, the conclusion of the study is that government should address the issue of good financial management practices in schools and should increase the rate of posting of teachers