Money, a Drain of Educational Opportunity: A Microregional Study of School Dropouts in Mpigi, Uganda

Abstract

This paper sheds light on the causes of school dropouts, a major challenge facing UPE attainment in public primary schools of Uganda. We offer microregional analysis of school dropout patterns in the Mpigi district, and show a number of distinct patterns of school dropouts in Mpigi that can be differentiated from studies based on national data. While the Universal Primary Education program covered tuition fees, additional costs for education, such as meals, school transport, and uniforms, function as hurdles for longer school years. This is an obstacle regardless of parental awareness about education’s importance and how wealthy the parents think they are. Such findings directly conflict with existing knowledge that higher household income results in longer school years. The previous understanding of girl dropouts in Sub-Saharan Africa and its patriarchal context offer little explanations on the dropout pattern of Mpigi, as it is more related to the economic cost of education and the high demand for male agricultural labor. For a multicultural society such as Uganda, we highlight the importance of microlevel regional study in educational research.