Buganda, Ankole, Busoga dominate education landscape as UBOS Census shows regional concentration

‎The Baseline Education Census (BEC) 2025 has confirmed the continued dominance of Buganda, Busoga, and Ankole in Uganda’s education sector, controlling the largest share of schools and learners across the country.

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‎According to the Uganda Bureau of Statistics (UBOS), Buganda sub-region alone accounts for 16,538 primary schools, the highest nationally, followed by Busoga with 4,294 and Ankole with 3,643.

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‎At secondary level, Buganda again leads with 2,065 schools, while Ankole has 517 and Busoga 516. Other regions trail significantly, including Bunyoro with 268, Kigezi 249, Bukedi 243, Tooro 231, Acholi 156, Lango 166 and Rwenzori 147.

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‎The report released on Thursday shows that Buganda also hosts the highest number of secondary school learners at 750,673, followed by Ankole with 218,209 and Busoga with 181,186.

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‎This dominance extends to primary education where Buganda also leads with the largest share of learners nationally.

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‎At national level, Uganda has 9,118,314 primary learners, with females constituting 4,586,970 and males 4,531,344.

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‎Buganda also leads in primary learner distribution with the highest proportion at 10.1 percent, while Kampala has 250,919 learners, Busoga 986,412, Ankole 730,353 and West Nile 565,759.

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‎At secondary level, females slightly dominate, constituting 53.3 percent of learners, with 1,069,855 females compared to 938,278 males.

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‎The census further shows that 45 percent of secondary learners are in public schools, while 55 percent are in private institutions.

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‎In primary education, 57.2 percent of learners are in public schools, while 42.8 percent are in private schools.

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‎Buganda’s dominance also extends to school coverage at parish level, where it leads with 1,629 parishes having at least one primary school.

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‎Busoga follows with 788, while Ankole has 867.

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‎The report highlights growing regional concentration of education resources, raising questions about equity in access and distribution of services.

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