Calls for a nationwide moment of gratitude toward Uganda’s universal education system are growing as a group of NRM Committed Cadres urges former beneficiaries to gather for a thanksgiving ceremony later this month.
The organisers say the event, planned for 23 November 2025 at Kololo Ceremonial Grounds, will honour twenty eight years of Universal Primary Education and reflect on how free schooling reshaped the country’s social and economic landscape.
At a briefing in Kampala, the group described the thanksgiving as a national milestone that looks beyond political identity and focuses instead on the long term value of an educated population. They argued that the introduction of UPE in 1997 and USE in subsequent years remains one of the most significant policy decisions in Uganda’s recent history.
Paul Abaho, who is the national coordinator of the group, said millions of Ugandans are living proof of how those reforms expanded opportunity. He explained that the cadres had quietly engaged communities for years, but felt it was now necessary to bring their message to a wider audience.
He noted that President Museveni has agreed to attend the thanksgiving as chief guest and encouraged the public to embrace the day with what he described as a sense of national appreciation for the progress achieved in education.
The chairperson of the Committed NRM Cadres, Twebaze Johnson Matusa, highlighted the scale of the transformation brought by UPE. He said enrolment figures that stood at about two and a half million pupils before the policy have risen to more than nine million learners, creating a generation of Ugandans who can participate more actively in the country’s economic programmes.
Matusa said the twenty eighth anniversary provides an important moment for the country to acknowledge the programme’s achievements and to protect the gains made, especially as new government initiatives rely on a literate population. He encouraged both supporters and critics of the ruling party to see the ceremony as a unifying occasion rooted in shared experience.
Testimony from Dr Joseph Kibirige, who joined the first UPE class in 1997, added a personal dimension to the event’s significance. He recalled that free primary schooling opened doors that eventually led him to pursue doctoral research in India. He urged other beneficiaries to recognise the importance of their educational beginnings and to give thanks for the opportunities they received.
Organisers said the thanksgiving is designed for all Ugandans who passed through UPE or USE or benefited from universal education in any form. They said the gathering will offer a space for reconnecting, reflecting and expressing collective gratitude to the leadership that introduced the programme.
With large crowds expected at Kololo, the organisers advised the public to arrive early ahead of the President and the First Lady, who is also the Minister of Education. They said the day will not only celebrate a policy but remind Ugandans of the responsibility to strengthen the progress made in the education sector.