Key Insight I N U G A N D A , P A R E N T S R E LY O N S C H O O L F E E L O A N S T O R E T U R N T H E I R O U T- O F - S C H O O L C H I L D R E N T O S C H O O L March 2025
There are 263 million children worldwide who remain out of school according to the latest UNESCO estimates1 – often due to inability to pay school fees. Opportunity EduFinance works with financial institutions to make capital more accessible to families without stable income through School Fee Loans (SFLs). SFLs help keep children in school in the face of unreliable household income, while also ensuring schools collect enough revenue to sustain school quality. The following report presents survey data on SFLs collected by Opportunity EduFinance in Uganda, with 96 parents and 57 school leaders. Key Finding #1 In Uganda, 41% of parents surveyed had taken out a loan to help pay for school fees. Out of these, 85% reported being able to send their children back to school as a direct result of the school fee loan. School fee loans are a solution for many parents who struggle to pay school fees on time due to unreliable income streams
66%
41%
85%
parents face difficulties paying school fees
parents had taken a loan to pay for school fees
parents returned their children to school because of the loan
Most parents find paying school fees challenging: 66% of parents stated it was either very difficult, difficult, or not easy to pay school fees for their children.
In addition to taking out loans to afford children's education, many households reported selling property, cutting down on basic needs such as food, clothing, and housing, and taking on multiple jobs to fund education expenses. 1.
Parents’ reported difficulty paying school fees Very Difficult
20%
Difficult
7%
Not Easy
39%
Easy
13%
Other
20%
0%
10%
UNESCO Institute for Statistics, UIS (2024). Available at: http://data.uis.unesco.org/
20%
30%
40%
50%