Abstract:

Global trends in education provision have been characterized by policy re-designs, reviews and reforms that are often informed by numerous research evidence. For example in the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) era, existing gaps in ensuring access to education for all children in the global south yielded a focus by governments to commit to provision of free primary education for all. As a result, education policies prioritized the provision of free primary education which was a top agenda for Sub Saharan African governments. In Uganda, such demands for ensuring increased access to education were further extended to children affected by conflict yielding huge increments in school enrollments. Uganda being home to a significant number of refugees mainly from South Sudan, Democratic Republic of Congo, Somali, Rwanda & Burundi further developed the Education Response Plan for Refugees to ensure all children have access to primary education (MoES, 2018). An integrated approach to education provision where refugee and non-refugee children study together in schools has to date been instituted.

Significant success in having both refugee and non-refugee children in school, has been yielded with over 8 million children currently attending primary schools in Uganda (UBOS, 2017). Such efforts however created the need for increased investment in educational inputs in order that challenges of shortage of teachers, inadequate and few classrooms and instructional materials that came with an increased influx of learners in schools are solved. Whereas there have been millions of children accessing school, evidence suggests that they leave school without having acquired the basic knowledge and skills necessary for productive and sustainable livelihoods (Uwezo, 2015). Such low learning outcomes in literacy and numeracy further marred with gross inequalities have also been reported among refugee children in Uganda (Uwezo, 2017).

The global concern for the need to address low learning outcomes and ensure that children not only access schools but also achieve an equivalent of competences that enable them succeed and thrive is now a top agenda for governments. Sustainable Development Goal 4, indicator 4.1.1 emphasizes the need to focus on ensuring that children and young people achieve at least a minimum proficiency level in reading and mathematics. In this paper a detailed analysis of Uwezo Citizen Led assessment data is made on the learning outcomes of refugee children in comparison to those of children who access education in relatively stable conditions in refugee hosting communities. Recommendations will be generated to inform policies and strategies for education provision in emergency situations in order that learning outcomes commensurate to the level of educational investments in refugee and non-refugee settlements are yielded.

Keywords:

Learning Outcomes, Education in emergencies, Education Response Strategy for Refugees, integrated approach to education, refugee and non-refugee children, Quali