Refugee Children's Right to Education and Sustainable Development in Uganda

Overview & Synopsis

Uganda has developed a progressive framework for protecting refugee children's right to education through national legislation and education policies. Despite this framework, refugee children continue to experience barriers to accessing quality education, including poverty, inadequate infrastructure, teacher shortages, overcrowded classrooms and language difficulties. This article examines the relationship between refugee children's right to education and sustainable development in Uganda through a qualitative structured review of scholarly literature, legislation, policy documents and reports from education and refugee protection institutions. The review focuses on educational access, quality, inclusion, learning outcomes, language, refugee host community relations and the contribution of education to sustainable development. The evidence indicates that Uganda's legal framework provides an important foundation for educational inclusion, but formal recognition of the right to education does not automatically guarantee meaningful access or positive learning outcomes. The article argues that sustainable refugee education requires stronger investment in inclusive education systems, teacher capacity, learning materials, language support and infrastructure serving both refugee and host community children. It concludes that protecting refugee children's right to quality education is essential for human development, social inclusion and the achievement of Sustainable Development Goal 4.