The second goal in the United Nations Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) was to achieve Universal Primary Education (UPE), more specifically to ensure that all children everywhere will be able to achieve a full course of primary schooling by the year 2015. The assumption is that UPE provides equal opportunity for all children everywhere regardless of the education quality and socio-economic differences between developed and developing countries. Since the MDGs came to the fore, the dominant discourse on education as a right has greatly focused on the need to expand access in terms of enrollment, increasing number of teachers and classrooms and reducing gender based inequalities. Indeed many studies have shown that abolition of tuition fees for primary education incentivizes enrolment and reduces drop out (e.g. Grogan, 2009; Nishimura et al., 2009; UNESCO 2015). In Uganda, since the introduction of UPE in 1997, access to primary schooling expanded dramatically. The numbers of teachers and classrooms have grown steadily, and the Gross Enrollment Ratio (GER) has reached 100% in some places. Nevertheless, past studies (see UWEZO, 2013; 2014) show that there is an apparent learning crisis as not all children enrolled in school are learning and mastering the standard primary level literacy and numeracy skills. As such, by the year 2010, the Ugandan government had lost UGX 240 billion (Est. equivalent to $80 million) on the UPE per pupil subsidy not considering other expenditures and survival rates to the last grade decreased by at least 20% since 2009 (Muwanika, 2010). Based on findings of an ethnographic study conducted in rural Uganda, the paper analyses the magnitude of the learning crisis in UPE within the context of Uganda. The research was designed to find out the linkages between children’s household livelihoods and school processes. Data was collected using life history interviews and, Focus Group Discussions with parents, children and teachers, as well as participant observation of school and home environments. Using the capability approach, I argue that children’s educational capabilities are navigated by their household history, events and challenges related to poverty, HIV/AIDS and cultural values greatly contribute to the apparent learning crisis in UPE. The paper questions the approaches which homogenize children everywhere by ignoring the veracity of human, political, economic and cultural diversity by emphasizing that access does not necessarily imply learning. The study findings show that despite increased government expenditure and the achievements of UPE, it has turned out to be more of a political rhetoric than a reality. I conclude that in order to achieve UPE, there is need for contextualization of policies since apparently the general perception of universalization as a ‘one size fits all’ scheme is paradoxical and has proven to be a strong limitation for the achievement of UPE in particular
