Universal Primary Education in East Africa

Abstract Universal Primary Education (UPE) was launched in Uganda in 1997, Tanzania in 2001, and Kenya in 2003, marking their actualisation of Education for All’s (EfA) globalisation of primary education. This chapter investigates EfA’s reform of UPE in partnership with the three East African countries, premised on the following question: What underlined EfA’s globalisation of UPE in East Africa? What entailed UPE’s local enactment, and why did the reforms succeed or fail? It combines an in-depth literature review, secondary document analysis, and a case study of two UPE schools in Uganda. The findings reveal that in globalising UPE, EfA advocated four policy technologies: top-down performance management, competition and contestability, choice and voice, and capability and capacity to standardise primary education. In alignment with EfA, the East African countries enacted performativity, liberalisation, universalisation, and reprofessionalisation of teachers. Owing to contextual imperatives, they prudently recontextualised the policy technologies. Uganda chose gradual universalisation with four children per household, Kenya opted for deconcentration instead of decentralisation, while Tanzania opted for gradual liberalisation leading to hybridity. Contrary to their intended goals, the reforms have culminated mainly in first-order changes, such as high gross rather than net enrolment. This study argues that reform implementers should respond to contextual conditions to offset their confounding effects.