The Uganda People’s Congress (UPC) party has warned that many families will struggle to send their children back to school for the third term due to unpaid second-term balances, rising living costs and persistent underfunding of universal education programmes.
Addressing journalists at a press conference on Wednesday, September 9th, 2026, at Uganda House, the Party Spokesperson, Sharon Arach Oyat said pre-primary and secondary schools are scheduled to resume on Monday, September 14th, 2026, for an 82-day term ending on December 4th, 226.
She said the third term is the most demanding, particularly for candidate classes in Primary Seven, Senior Four and Senior Six. Some families are sending only candidates back first, while others are turning to high-interest money lenders or selling household assets to raise school fees.
Arach Oyat attributed the pressure to recent government measures, including the trade order and the removal of unroadworthy taxis, which she said had affected livelihoods even where the policies themselves had merit.
She criticized the gap between official Universal Primary Education and Universal Secondary Education allocations and the funds schools actually receive. Government commits UGX 20,000 per UPE pupil and UGX 175,000 per USE student each year, she said, but schools often receive less, well below National Planning Authority estimates of what quality education requires.
“This chronic underfunding leaves schools with no alternative but to turn to parents,” Oyat stated.
She called on government to provide adequate resources so that UPE and USE can genuinely be free.
On the new aligned A-level curriculum, she said the current Senior Six class is the pioneer cohort and urged stronger supervision and practical support for teachers, many of whom cannot afford the smartphones required for online training.
UPC also asked boarding schools in Kampala, Mukono, Wakiso and surrounding areas to agree to flexible payment plans with parents rather than sending children home.
Oyat further called for early planning on food stocks because delayed rains and high prices, including beans at Shs5,800 a kilo, are already putting pressure on households and schools.
