Are we destined to fail?

In a matter of weeks, hundreds of thousands of Ugandan children will report to school for the start of their primary school careers. Most of those in rural schools will be attending a formal school for the very first time — a byproduct of minimal, if any, early childhood education options afforded to them and their families.

A year from today, only seven in every ten of these kids who begin their studies this year will be enrolled in school. In five years, only four of every ten of these kids will be in school. And at the end of secondary school — at least nine years from now, only one out of every ten children who start their formal education in 2020 will complete their studies.

One. Of Ten.

This year, 2020, marks the start of the “decade of action,” with ten years to go to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals. SDG four, dedicated to quality education, lays out bold, ambitious goals critical for the world to reach. Among them, SDG 4.1 states “by 2030, ensure that all girls and boys complete free, equitable, and quality primary and secondary education leading to relevant and effective learning outcomes.” They continue — offering free and equitable access to early childhood education, to technical, vocational and tertiary education and more. They’re awesome goals with tangible outcomes and indicators of success. And yet the truth is there for all to see: without radical action, we’re not going to make it.

We’re not going to make it because systems are failing an alarming number of kids before they’re even able to spell ‘drop-out.’

According to UNESCO, between 2009 and 2017, the primary school completion rate in Uganda fell from just over 75% to 52%, a significant drop traveling in the opposite direction of the worldwide trend. There’s good reason to believe the actual number is even lower, yet. Making matters worse, Uganda, among its neighbors, is not alone. A mere 68% of Tanzanian children will finish a full cycle of primary school and a paltry 28% will achieve the feat in bordering South Sudan. These figures mask an unprecedented loss of potential for their respective countries; be it measured in human capital, civic leadership, job creation and more.

Hope is not lost, but it is tempered. The Uganda National Examinations Board (UNEB) reported an…

Related posts:

Every journey has an end and that every end has a new beginning. Life doesn’t stop for anyone. Time travels and things come to an end. All we can do is to make the journeys remarkable and…

Come tutte le nuove tecnologie, Bitcoin e Blockchain, hanno stabilito i pilastri per una nuova rivoluzione industriale che impatterà il mondo digitale. Secondo alcuni, infatti, Bitcoin sarebbe…

The recent and still ongoing crypto fever hints that there is no shortage of people desperately attempting to break out of the stable, non-scalable path and change their lives for better (or worse)…