KAMPALA, UGANDA – The Ugandan government is launching a major offensive against a deep-rooted literacy crisis, with new figures revealing that a staggering 11.9 million adults in the country are unable to read or write.
Thank you for reading this post, don't forget to subscribe!The State Minister for Gender and Culture, Peace Mutuuzo, presented a stark picture of the challenge, highlighting a severe gender disparity within these numbers.
Women bear the lion’s share of this illiteracy burden, with 7.9 million considered illiterate, a figure that almost doubles the 3.9 million illiterate men.
Minister Mutuuzo attributed this glaring disparity to a confluence of historical and cultural factors that once heavily favored educating boys over girls.
She noted that the illiterate population is predominantly older, serving as a telling indicator of these past inequities in the education system.
“This is an indication that the earlier education system largely favored males over females, which is a result of historical and cultural factors. Most of the illiterate women in this bracket are elderly, a living testament to the exclusion they faced in their past,” Mutuuzo stated.
The minister announced a substantial government investment of 83 billion shillings dedicated to a five-year initiative focused on community-based learning programs.
This ambitious plan will specifically target adult literacy, alongside digital skills and vocational training, aiming to equip millions with essential skills for modern participation in the economy.
She also highlighted persistently high dropout rates among girls, driven by early marriages, financial constraints, and limited access to secondary education.
In some areas, approximately 24% of pupils drop out at the secondary level, a trend that threatens to perpetuate the cycle of illiteracy into the next generation.
Minister Mutuuzo issued a strong and urgent call for targeted, large-scale interventions in adult learning and community education programs as a direct and necessary response to these deeply interconnected national challenges.
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