Uganda’s educational system is built on seven years of primary education, six years of secondary education (four years of lower secondary and two years of upper secondary school), and three to five years of tertiary education. It also includes Business, Technical, Vocational Education and Training (BTVET), and Non-Formal Education (NFE). The system has been in existence since the 1960s. The school system is dominated by public (government-run) and private institutions.
In 2007, Uganda became the first Sub-Saharan African country to introduce universal secondary education, which came 10 years after it introduced universal primary education in 1997. Universal Primary Education (UPE) was implemented with the intent of broadening access to primary schooling, largely by reducing the costs of schooling.