United Nations (UN) Child Rights Committee Calls for Free Pre-Primary Education in Uganda

The United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child has called on Uganda to significantly expand government support for early childhood education and provide free, state-run pre-primary education to all children. In its latest review of Uganda’s record on children’s rights, issued October 1, the Committee expressed concern about high numbers of children out of school due to financial barriers, and highlighted “very limited access to early childhood education,” especially for children in rural areas and for children with disabilities. The Ugandan government provides free primary and secondary education, but under Uganda’s education law, pre-primary education is left to private providers, with parents responsible for the cost. The Committee’s findings echo 2024 research by Human Rights Watch and the Initiative for Social and Economic Rights (ISER), which found that the lack of government-funded pre-primary education in Uganda leaves most young children without access to this critical stage of learning. Fewer than 1 in 10 Ugandan children ages 3 to 5 were enrolled in a registered and licensed pre-primary school, while 60 percent attended no school before entering primary school. H

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