To back management’s good performance claims, the 2024 PLE results indicate that out of 86 candidates who sat for the examinations, 55 passed in first grade, while 31 passed in the second, with none recorded in the third grade.
Members of the National Private Education Institutions Association (NPEIA) will on the 22nd October 2025 host President Museveni and the Minister of Education and Sports First Lady Janat Kataha Museveni at their 4th anniversary set to be held at Uganda Christian University (UCU) Mukono, and high on the agenda of the day’s activities is an appeal for a friendly regulatory framework to address what they consider unfair taxation.
According to the members, they are currently subjected to multiple taxation in form of trading licences, income tax, property tax and taxation levied for sign posts, and their argument is that education is not for transaction but rather a service for national development which should not be so harshly taxed.
However, in an interview with this blog ahead of the 22nd October 2025 celebrations to be hosted by Uganda Christian University (UCU), the chairman of the National Private Education Institutions (NPEIA) Hassan Kirabira said the association is appreciative to President Museveni for having spearheaded the move that culminated into the liberalization policy that saw their advent.
In this light, this blog has reached several member schools to highlight how they have fared in the years of their existence under the umbrella organizations that came into being after liberalization of the education sector way back in 1993.
Serially, we shall be highlighting, on a school- to- school basis, the journey travelled by individual NPEIA member schools, achievements, constraints, suggestions for better service delivery, and academic performance.
Kwagalakwe Day and Boarding Primary School, located in Ggwafu cell in the outskirts of Seeta Trading Centre along Namiryango Road, opened its doors to education seekers in 1999 with 15 learners, and has in a space of 26 years expanded to accommodate 820 learners, with ultra-modern and enabling facilities including imposing skyscrapers, a sports stadium named after Archbishop Dr. Stephen Kazimba Mugalu, an enabling teaching and support staff and, in a nutshell, all that it takes to give learners a home-away-from-home.
In spite of the presence of a fully stocked sick bay with a visiting doctor and two resident nurses, management strives to ensure that learners are treated to medically balanced meals, engagement in leisure activities like sports, indoor and outdoor games, enough rest and spacious sleeping space, all in the name of keeping sickness at bay.
In an interview on Tuesday 6th September 2025 at the school, the Principal-cum-Director Jonathan K. Ntulume proudly noted that in 26 years, they have managed to rise to be among some of the top performing schools in the country in addition to attracting foreign students from Kenya, Tanzania, Rwanda and the S. Sudan, and attributed this to the enabling atmosphere set in place by government.
As a dark spot in a white cloth, Ntulume singled out over taxation imposed on private schools, and said that in the meeting with the President and the line minister, they will dwell on praying for being given a breathing space in a situation of choking taxation.
“We are always yearning for making our learners’ stay with us even more enjoyable and fruitful, but our efforts are curtailed by the biting taxes levied on us, some coming with a double-taxation face,” Ntulume lamented.
The head teacher Ndyagasha Ali who has headed the school for 13 of its 26 years of existence was, on day two inside the third term, waiting for reporting learners, and was perplexed by the low turn up which he attributed to the degree of poverty among parents.
In this light, he invited parents to come and enjoy the recently established ‘user-friendly’ school fees payment mode, away from traditional bank slip use to the new one characterized by dialogue and backed by part payment on reporting to school.
Ndyagasha however proudly appreciated the government for the conducive working and studying atmosphere which he said has led to tremendous and speedy forward movement of the school, adding, “We are thriving in an amicable school-government interaction to the extent that we invite inspectors to come and inspect us”.
As a means of giving continuing learners a sense of security on completion of their seven-year duration, the headteacher said that an alumni interaction arrangement has been formalized for former learners to interact with their ongoing brothers and sisters, to demystify the post-PLE period.
The current school head boy, Kwesiga Philbert attributed the school’s shining academic performance to the chaplaincy which is committed to honouring the different worship days and celebrations for the various religious sects to which learners subscribe.
He also hailed the availability of a well-stocked library which he says has greatly contributed to grammar excellence among the learners.
The head of the infant section, Nassanga Teopista said that her section begins by understanding weak and strong points of individual learners, and then set on handling each according to their abilities, and that by the time they leave for the upper section, everybody is comfortable in their individual capacities.
She was also uncomfortable with the learners’ low turn up in the opening days and likewise appealed to parents to bring the children and get into dialogue with management on payment modalities. “This is the final term and it is a short one; it is risky to let children lag behind their colleagues who began on day one,” Nassanga observed.
In a few months, Kwagalakwe Day and Boarding Primary School’s lower section, detached from the upper section, will be officially opened, and a new era in the school’s academic journey will be opened.
To back management’s good performance claims, the 2024 PLE results indicate that out of 86 candidates who sat for the examinations, 55 passed in first grade, while 31 passed in the second, with none recorded in the third grade. Mukisa Aaron scored Aggregate 5, followed by Lule Victor who scored 6, and five others who scored Aggregate 7.
In 2023, out of 74 candidates, 61 passed in the first grade, and 13 in the second grade, while for 2022, out of 85 candidates, 81 passed in first grade and only four in the second grade.
And according to records, for the period running from 2001, no single Kwagalakwe candidate has ever registered a third-grade pass.
