Many African children face hard lives. That’s no secret. Yet many children attend school, at least for the primary years. Attendance falls off dramatically when students reach the seconday level, or what Americans call high school. One African country, Uganda, is leading the way in trying to address the problem of school costs. A few years ago, Uganda made all primary education free of charge; until then students paid to attend primary. Uganda plans to do the same for middle school, starting this year.
And now the country has announced that scholarships will be offered to “needy, high-achieving” students who are able to attend secondary school but can’t afford to. Time will tell whether Uganda’s effort is practical: defining programs around poverty and need is especially difficult in Africa where elites often claim they are poor themselves. The effort is worth watching, however, because the expansion of education is crucial to improving living conditions in Africa.
Jan 05 2007