Uganda has registered more than 9.1 million learners in primary schools, with girls slightly outnumbering boys, according to the Baseline Education Census (BEC) 2025 released by the Uganda Bureau of Statistics (UBOS).
The report shows that Uganda has 43,567 primary schools where 12,557 are public and 31,010 private serving 9,118,314 learners. Girls account for 50.3 percent of enrollment, totaling 4.59 million compared to 4.53 million boys.
The census also revealed that 7,773 of Uganda’s 9,487 parishes now have at least one government primary school, reflecting growing access to education nationwide.
At the pre-primary level, 2.37 million learners were recorded in 38,347 schools, while secondary schools enrolled over 2 million students across 5,498 institutions. Girls also led secondary school enrollment with 53.3 percent.
Education Ministry Permanent Secretary Dr Kedrace Turyagyenda described the findings as vital for planning and implementing Uganda’s Vision 2040, saying reliable data is essential for improving education services and targeting underserved areas. 
UBOS officials praised the expansion of education under government programs such as Universal Primary Education (UPE) and Universal Secondary Education (USE), while highlighting remaining challenges including inadequate infrastructure, teacher welfare, digital learning gaps, and regional inequalities.
The report recommends assigning learners unique identification numbers linked to National IDs, improving EMIS registration systems, and expanding government schools to underserved communities, especially in Karamoja and Northern Uganda.
