Majority of citizens are critical of government efforts to limit disruption and provide home-learning resources.
Key findings
* More than eight in 10 Ugandans (83%) rated the government's response to the COVID-19 pandemic as "fairly" or "very" good.
* Citizens overwhelmingly said that a lockdown or curfew was necessary (88%) and that closing the schools was appropriate (84%) to limit the spread of the virus.
* But more than three-fourths (77%) said the schools should have reopened sooner, including a majority (56%) who said they remained closed "much too long."
* And majorities said the government did a poor job of providing printed home learning materials (55%) and radio, TV, and Internet learning programmes (58%) while the schools were closed.
* Nearly two-thirds (64%) of Ugandans voiced dissatisfaction with the government's efforts to keep disruptions to children's education to a minimum.
* Eight in 10 respondents (81%) said they believe that "some" or "a lot" of resources intended for the pandemic response were lost to corruption.
* A majority (61%) of Ugandans think the government is at least "somewhat prepared" for a future public health emergency. But 54% said the country should invest more resources in special preparations for such crises, even if it comes at the expense of other health services.
In addition to causing more than 7 million deaths, including more than 3,600 in Uganda, the COVID-19 pandemic wreaked havoc on economies and social sectors around the world (World Health Organization, 2025; United Nations, 2023, 2025; World Bank, 2022; International Monetary Fund, 2024). Among those hit hard was education, with negative impacts on more than 90% of the world's learners (UNESCO, 2023; UNICEF, 2020).
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In Uganda, the government's efforts to curb the spread of COVID-19 included lockdowns that initially lasted for two weeks but continued at various levels of intensity over the next two years and beyond (Al Jazeera, 2021; Ministry of Education and Sports, 2021). The impacts of the lockdowns could be felt throughout the economy as people lost jobs, struggled to provide for their families, and faced limited access to health care and limited supplies of essential commodities (World Health Organization, 2020; UNICEF, 2020; Economic Policy Research Centre, 2022, 2024; Kayanja, 2024; Kodiaga & Nannozi, 2021).
In the education sector, extended countrywide closures of schools and universities put learning on hold, with no physical interaction between more than 10 million learners and their tutors for a period of almost two years - the longest pandemic-related disruption in the world (Daily Monitor, 2022, Muhumuza, 2022; Tumwesige, 2020). Promised learning programmes via radio, the Internet, and printed materials did not materialise as planned (UNESCO, 2023; UNICEF, 2022; Bhamani et al., 2020; Nuwaha, Ayesiga, & Okilong, 2023).
How do Ugandans see their government's performance in limiting the negative impact of COVID-19 on education?
Findings from Afrobarometer surveys in 2021 and 2022 show that most Ugandans applaud the government's management of the pandemic response and see lockdowns and school closures as necessary to limit the spread of the virus. But most also feel that the school closures lasted too long and that the government did a poor job of providing home-learning materials and programmes to keep disruption to children's education to a minimum.
Janet Aciro Janet Aciro is a student at Ndejje University in Uganda.