Educational Journey With Children of Uganda
We are often asked how long students are sponsored in our program; so, we thought it might be helpful to give a brief overview:
The system of education in Uganda has a structure of 7 years of primary school (P.1 – P.7), 6 years of secondary school (S.1-S.6; divided into 4 years of lower secondary and 2 years of upper secondary school), and 2-5 years of post-secondary education (either a vocational certificate, college diploma or university degree course).
Students take 3 important placement examinations throughout the course of their education – at the P.7, S.4 and S.6 levels.
At the end of P.7, students must pass the Primary Leaving Examination (PLE) in order to advance to secondary school. These results are typically released around the end of January. S.4 students take the Uganda Certificate of Education (UCE) exams and, according to Children of Uganda’s education policy, they must pass with a 1st grade in order to advance to upper secondary (S.5 and S.6). Results are typically released at the end of February. Students who score below the threshold are diverted to vocational school.
And finally, S.6 students sit for the Uganda Advanced Certificate of Education (UACE). The National Examination Board announces these final results in March each year. Children of Uganda will continue support for these students with either a 2-year college diploma or advanced vocational course.
In Uganda, both the primary and secondary school year runs from February through December and is divided into three terms with breaks in between. The longest break occurs after the 3rd term and is about a month and a half coinciding with the Christmas holiday. Vocational and university courses have different start and end dates; but, as a general rule, certificate courses run from March – December and degree courses run from August – May.
Children of Uganda offers ongoing career counseling to our secondary students with an emphasis on the benefits of choosing a vocational track. University is reserved for only our top performing students and even these individuals we carefully discuss options with.
It’s important that our students feel pride in choosing a trade school with the understanding that they will have greater opportunities for employment; and, with a good paying job, they can always go back to take additional advancement courses in the future.
