The relationship between pre-university schoolings and university grades in Uganda

Rurality and the “New” Post-COVID-19 Pandemic Education Culture: Facilitating and Inhibiting Resilience Factors of Academic Performance among Learners from Low Socio-Economic Status Backgrounds in Rural Uganda

“…These include socioeconomic status (SES), availability of information technology (IT) infrastructure, availability of IT tools and their quality, and feedback, assistance, and support for online learning, among others. Similarly, Nshemereirwe [1] observes that successful educational performance is dependent on SES. Learners from low-SES households attending rural schools that mainly offer free education programs of UPE and USE perform characteristically far below their counterparts from higher-SES households and schools in urban settings.…”

“…Initiatives geared in this direction in Uganda include widening access to basic education through programs such as Universal Primary Education (UPE) as well as central government and district quota sponsorships for bachelor's degree programs. However, despite these pockets of initiatives, inequality of opportunity in access to education still visibly pervades many sections of Ugandan societies, especially those defined by cultures of rurality [1]. A theoretical understanding of such scenarios can be offered by John Locke's egalitarian paradigm [7], inequality of opportunity theory [8], and the attribution theory [9].…”

“…An edge in today's global economy can be found in a nation's higher education system, which also produces the human capital necessary for the nation's social and economic development. This advantage can be found in a nation's ability to compete globally [1]. Higher education has the potential to make a contribution to the solution of environmental, social, and economic problems, provided that research is given sufficient priority and funding.…”

“…According to Nshemereirwe [1], Africa has the weakest higher education system in the world. Inadequate finance, low research output, and problems with human capital development and retention characterize the system.…”

“…Those from the culture of rurality characterized by disadvantaged socioeconomic backgrounds were confronted with more difficult situations than their more fortunate counterparts [6]. Incidentally, research indicates that 80% of school-aged children and adolescents in Uganda reside in rural regions and lack access to fundamental resources [1]. The majority of them lacked access to a high-quality education supported by digital technology and infrastructure during the Covid-19 lockdowns.…”