Uganda’s 1997 Universal Primary Education (UPE) policy was designed to eliminate fees and equalise schooling opportunities. Using two decades of administrative and household-survey data, this paper asks two questions that cut to the heart of UPE’s equity promise:

How much do households really spend to send a child to a “free” government primary school?

How have patterns of public spending per pupil evolved across districts and over time?

Household cost burdens:

We find that the average Ugandan household continues to shoulder the majority of primary-school costs. Even after the abolition of tuition, direct household outlays—uniforms, transport, learning materials, meals, and medical care—are 1.9 times larger than the combined public subsidy per child. These cost burdens are regressive: the poorest quintile of families devote 18% of total consumption to primary schooling, compared with only 3% for the richest quintile.

Spatial inequality in public spending:

At the same time, public expenditure per pupil has become increasingly unequal across districts. In real terms, the gap between the top and bottom deciles of districts rose from UGX 32,000 in 2003 to UGX 118,000 in 2019 (constant 2015 prices). This divergence, driven largely by capitation-grant allocations and capitation top-ups that favour historically advantaged regions, has widened over the UPE period.

Taken together, the evidence suggests that Uganda’s “free” primary system is neither free nor equitable. Household cost burdens undermine access for the poor, while spatial inequities in public funding further entrench regional learning gaps. The paper concludes with policy options for re-balancing both household and public financing to make the promise of UPE a reality for every Ugandan child.