The Impact of Globalisation on Refugees’ Education in Uganda

The Impact of Globalisation on Refugees’ Education in Uganda

Susan Olajoke Akinkurolere¹, Olamide Ijadimine² & Love O. Saba²

¹University of Botswana, Botswana

²Rufus Giwa Polytechnic, Owo, Nigeria

DOI: https://dx.doi.org/10.47772/IJRISS.2025.90600085

Received: 19 May 2025; Accepted: 26 May 2025; Published: 01 July 2025

ABSTRACT

The role of globalisation in different education systems keeps receiving attention and generates interesting academic discourse. This paper examines the impact of globalisation on refugees’ education in Uganda due to the high population of refugees and the potential difficulties in sustaining inclusive education as social justice in the country. Particularly, the effect of globalisation, policies’ provision and the extent policy responsiveness are explored in refugees’ education. The paper employed a qualitative approach by systematically reviewing secondary literature on key words that are relevant to the topic and answer the questions.  It is found that Uganda’s education system is impacted by the influx of refugees with diverse opportunities and constraining factors. Also, refugees’ access to education provides a mediating role between globalisation and social justice. The policies especially at national at local levels enhance the benefits of globalisation for both nationals and refugees. Even though, further research could consider primary data from refugees, the paper provides insights to equity-based approaches that could benefit educational leaders and policy makers in maximising the opportunities of globalisation and minimising the constraints through equitable and inclusive education to attain social cohesion and developmental goals. Therefore, it draws attention to the critical functions of access and policy for refugees in any host country.

Keywords: Globalisation, Refugee education, Equity, Policy Inclusive, Social Justice, Uganda

INTRODUCTION

Uganda is a country in East Africa with open-door policies and is famous for hosting refugees, asylum seekers and economic migrants from different nations due to diverse crises (MGSoG, 2017; Oriel et al., 2024; Squarcina & Romano, 2024). The Office of the Minister for Refugees indicates that Uganda is currently accommodating about 1.7 million refugees (Refugee Management Report, 2024), while some scholars suggest that the figure is around 1.5million (Nambi et al., 2023; Malevolti, & Romano, 2024). Uganda has a Refugee Act, which portrays the country’s readiness to accept refugees according to the terms of the Act (Mastrorillo et al. 2024). These refugees are open to educational opportunities, as underrepresented people, in the face of globalisation. Since refugees have right to education, this paper provides an extensive historical, conceptual and contextual background of refugees in Uganda’s education system; the implications of social justice in meeting globalisation in education; Uganda’s national and international policies on refugee education to address globalisation and the success of the policies or otherwise on the refugee’s education in Uganda.

Historical Background

Uganda is the home to the Bugandas, bordered by the Republic of Congo, Rwanda, Tanzania, South Sudan, and Kenya and known for rich cultures; yet, the post-independence political instability due to a coup under the leadership of General Idi Amin resulted in human rights abuse, eviction of Asians and economic breakdown (Amoor, 2003; Mulumba, 2024; MGSoG, 2017). Uganda was a British colony until its independence in 1962 (Isabirye, 2019). In 1951, prior to her independence, Uganda commenced the implementation of the UN Convention on the Status of Refugees as acceded by Britain, on her behalf, which was ratified in 1987 (Onoria, 2012).

History indicates that Polish refugees were the first set of Ugandan refugees that later settled in Australia, Canada and America, while 1955 witnessed a significant increase in refugees with the welcoming of about 78,000 South Sudanese. The country has played host to refugees from Sierra-Leone, Burundi, Mozambique, Congo, Somalia, Sudan, Senegal, South Africa, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya and Zimbabwe (Mulumba, 2024). No wonder, UNDP rated Uganda as a welcoming country in 2017 even though the welcoming attitude is a reciprocity gesture to Uganda’s history of political instability which made many Ugandans to seek refuge in Sudan at a point (Musasizi et al., 2024). As a developing country, Uganda hosts different kinds of refugees. Some refugees came from war-torn countries like Sudan, the Democratic Republic of Congo, and South Sudan, while some ran away from insecurity and tyrannical rule in countries such as Burundi and Rwanda (Nwangu, 2020). These offer a glimpse into the reasons for the continuous scholarly discourse on refugees in Uganda as there was clear evidence of incessant engagement with refugees.

With the perpetual reign of President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni, who came into power as a military president in 1986, and later became a democratically elected president, there has been a record of stability and progressive policies’ implementation in government (Tangri & Mwenda, 2010; Wilkins & Vokes, 2023). By implication, the President’s leadership for nearly 40 years has sustained most international and national policies including the welfare and education of refugees in Uganda through stability in governance.

Conceptual Background

The key terms that need to be clarified due to their relevance and understanding of this paper are education, globalisation and social justice. It is becoming difficult to pinpoint most concepts to a single definition. As such, education is perceived as a fundamental aspect of society based on diverse views. Policymakers, scholars, teachers and social workers, among others, have distinct ways of defining education.

The United Nations definition is generally acceptable as “the process of facilitating learning or the acquisition of knowledge, skills, values, beliefs and habits” (Murray, 2023, p.571). Every other definition is connected implicitly or explicitly with this definition. In addition, China Encyclopaedia Editorial Board (1985, p. 1) describes education as “a social phenomenon of cultivating human beings and a necessary means of transferring production experience and social life experience”. Issues of education are matters of concern to researchers and professionals.

Globalisation is a long-term phenomenon, accorded optimum attention in the modern age, and defined based on the fields connected to the concept. Lawson (2011, p. 46) states that “Globalization is a complex, multifaceted, paradoxical phenomenon involving political, economic, technological, social, cultural, and psychological components or elements.” In short, globalization is the process in which different countries come together to exchange goods and services, technology, capital, education and migration.

Social Justice, derived partly from the term “justice”, is an extensive concept with varying local and international perspectives. It is usually discussed in the education sector because education is perceived as a way of bringing social change, which reduces inequalities, and informs the thinking that access to education is a right (Murray, 2023).  Social justice speaks to fairness and equality for all irrespective of gender, tribe, ability, and status as justice is getting what belongs to one; while distributive justice assigns resources according to social status (Darnal, 2023).

Indeed, Watts (2020, p.1598) submits that “social justice strives toward the empowerment of all persons through equitable access to resources, legal standing to challenge wrongdoing, and right to recourse that might alter society to address past harm and, potentially, reduce or check future harm.” This is a comprehensive, albeit, an accurate representation of what social justice represents. It is, therefore, needful to consider whether globalisation in education portrays any harm or threat to persons. This informs the dimension from which the impact of globalisation in the education of refugees in Uganda is reviewed by interfacing with social justice.

Contextual Background: Uganda Education System

Formal education started in the palace of the Buganda before the establishment of public schools in Uganda. The values of Uganda’s education system which are reflected in the curricula can be traced to the Christian values based on Western civilisation (Ocaya-Lakidi, & Mazrui, 1975).

Over time, international schools emerged to cater for the interests of children from different cultures even though they are situated in a national education system. This development creates a wide inequality because only the rich can afford to send their children to private schools due to their costly fees (Tromp & Datzberger, 2019). The reason is premised on the fact that international schools are privately funded schools and do not enjoy aid from the government.

Indeed, privatisation policies in Uganda have provided alternatives to public schools but their main challenge is funding which made education, especially at the level of higher education expensive (Amutuhaire, 2022). In public schools, funds are available for students up to the tertiary levels. Only a few private universities can get government-sponsored students for admission through bursary and loan schemes. The claim that Uganda’s education provides aid was substantiated in Higgins’ (2010) work by investigating how government and donor funds supported education through a Sector-Wide Approach (SWAP) and ran effective systems of funding schools through the Education Management Information System (EMIS) and the Ministry of Education and Sports (MoES). The structure of the formal education in Uganda is indicated in the table below.

Table 1: The Structure of Formal Education System in Uganda

Source: Adapted from Atuhaire & Zhicheng (2018)

Research Questions

The research identifies what happens when education globalisation and social justice collide and how globalisation influences refugees’ education in Uganda. To achieve these aims, three questions were generated. The questions that guide my systematic review of the research topic are as follows:

What are the effects of globalisation on refugees’ education in Uganda?

What operational national and international policies promote social justice amidst the impacts of globalisation on the refugees’ education in Uganda?

How effective have the policies supported the refugees’ education to maximise the benefits of globalisation in Uganda?

METHODOLOGY

The research involves qualitative research through the systematic review of 48 quantitative and qualitative articles, and books. There is no primary data collection as the project relies on the insights and findings of 40 empirical and review studies on globalisation, education and refugees in Uganda. For the sake of currency, most of the selected research articles are within the last ten years. The remaining 10 research sources were on policy documents, government reports, and books on globalisation and migration in Uganda. Studies that do not address the themes of refugees, education, migration and globalisation in Uganda or related ideas in the global space were excluded. Selected articles were 13 from Sage journals, 7 from ProQuest databases, 12 from Google Scholar, 13 from Taylor and Francis Journals and 3 from other sources. The table shows the systematic selection of secondary data for the paper.

Table 2: The Databases/Sources and Authors of Secondary Data

THEMATIC REVIEW

Collision of Globalisation and Social Justice in Education

Education comprises formal and informal learning, which government owes the citizens, especially in a democratic government. This aligns with Carr’s (2003) position that true democracy promotes “justice as equality”. The United Nations Conventions on the Rights of the Child and the Charter of the United Nations are centred on the ideal upbringing of children ‘in the spirit of peace, dignity, tolerance, freedom, equality and solidarity (Jones & Manion, 2023, p.150).’ Hence, scholarly engagement on access or right to education deserves to be weighed on the scale of social justice.

Social justice started with a simple meaning of the relationship between people and society based on the distribution of available opportunities and possessions, but it now encompasses a wider scope and new forms in allotting duties to institutions so that people could access benefits and supports (Darnal, 2023). Engaging with social justice and globalisation requires information on the changes that affect people and the environment (Briar-Lawson et al., 2011). In this case, education is a critical sector where globalisation meets social justice.  For example, in Uganda, even though globalisation promotes competition for limited resources, the educational services and benefits that refugees enjoy from national and international organisations also spill to citizens and they also help boost economic activities.

Scholars, such as d’Errico (2021), question the high population of refugees about the welfare of the host community due to limited infrastructure, and they were able to report a positive impact on the welfare of the local communities. This corroborates the existence of a two-way-benefit relationship between the refugees and the host countries. Hence, it is argued that the role of the government is to ensure social cohesion as a form of social justice in the face of globalisation, but it is also influenced by attitudes such as stress or depression, political communication, discrimination, cultural similarities and seeming justice in the policies and distribution of resources by both refugees and hosts (Malevolti & Romano, 2024).

Lawson (2011) claims that globalisation has its advantages and disadvantages because it could replace certain challenges with new ones. It is noted that globalisation plays a significant role in enriching capitalists who could easily get labour across borders. This creates a further gap between the rich and the poor by allotting high income to high-skilled labour while low-skilled labour gets poor wages (Liverpool John Moores University, 2024). This is, further strengthened by Roth (2011a) when he asserts that ‘although globalisation enhances the well-being of all, it does so unequally.’ It is, therefore, extremely difficult to experience social justice when few people are in control of most resources in a country and most people live in abject poverty because of the gap between the rich and the poor (Roth, 2011b).

Globalisation leads to migration, and it requires that migrants are integrated into the education system of the new society, but discrimination causes social exclusion due to the gender, ethnicity, religion or social status of the refugees (Malevolti & Romano, 2024). Enshrining social justice in such an educational system requires efforts from the government and international bodies as what is expected may be far from the reality in education.

The industrial age of industrialisation decreases the chances of applying democratic principles to address issues of globalisation thereby creating friction between social justice and globalisation (Lawson, 2011). With Uganda’s agreement to Eastern and Southern African Commitment to Comprehensive Sexuality Education, there was an attempt to separate Sexuality education from religious teachings in Uganda; this was resisted by parents, teachers, and religious leaders, and other stakeholders due to the fear of sexual permissiveness among the youth, which would erode the cultural and religious beliefs because Uganda education was founded on Christian values (Ocaya-Lakidi et al., 2023). This is a typical instance of the consequential effect of the collision of globalisation and social justice.

The Impact of Globalisation on Refugees Education in Uganda

Karmon (2021) asserts key aspects of formal education as curriculum, pedagogy, and knowledge organisation. These are connected to practices of social policies in the age of globalisation. Even though globalisation has both positive and negative impacts, social policies are usually in place to reduce the negative side of globalisation. Generally noted, advantages include increased job opportunities, reduction of poverty, technological advancement, cultural integration, quick transportation, and flow of education, while the disadvantages include economic disparity, dearth of local cultures, and environmental deprivation (Musasizi et al., 2024).

Globalisation has placed substantial pressure on host communities to integrate new immigrants, and refugees because they need protection and citizenship (Wamara et al., 2022) For long, Uganda has adopted the encroachment approach in educating refugees’ children to embrace inclusive education in last decade with further consideration in the workforce for better education and employment opportunities (Oriel et al., 2024). Refugees in Uganda have been exploring the opportunities provided through globalisation to further their studies within and outside Uganda. Considering that refugees could enjoy scholarships and exchange programs provided by foreign governments and international bodies. Through such avenues, they are trained to strengthen Uganda’s economic and educational sectors, and the international relations of Uganda and foreign governments.

Integration of refugees into the education system is a notable impact of globalisation in Uganda. Wamara et al., (2021) define integration as a legal process for attaining rights; an economic means to comparable livelihoods, and a social and cultural process to engage meaningfully with the host communities. It was further noted that Uganda falls short of full integration of refugees because they rely on settlements with primary and secondary schools, which does not give room for a full integration even though it is still a better arrangement than the camped method. It is along this reasoning that d’Errico et al. (2021) observe that the impact of refugees is more felt when there is a direct relationship with the refugees. This aligns with the position of Oriel et al. (2024) on inclusive education as a demand of full integration, while at the same time, ensuring that social justice is sustained when refugees’ interests are balanced with the needs and values of the host communities.

There is evidence that Uganda partners with international organisations and non-governmental organisations in providing education for refugees through international students’ affairs offices, which include the Albert Einstein German Academic Refugee Initiative and Windle Trust for refugees who attended secondary schools in Uganda (Nambi, et al., 2023). Considering the limited opportunities in comparison with the high number of refugees interested in higher education, international resources could not make much impact on the refugees’ higher education but the job opportunities available through refugees’ peculiar needs such as food and clothing enable tertiary students within the higher institution environment to earn income to support their education.

Curriculum development is another way through which globalisation impacts the education of refugees. More skills are incorporated into the curricula. Drama, dance and music in schools have been influenced by the cultural diversity of the refugees. Through this, refugees could learn in diverse settings and gain new skills and arts which could boost their job opportunities and expand innovation (Nwangu, 2020).  In Uganda, there is the establishment of an English language centre in higher institutions. International education curricula and practices comparable to those used in developed countries have been adopted so that the students can learn the language of instruction before proceeding to study.  Hence, refugees who have different languages are taught through English language proficiency programme.

Globalisation has increased the admission rates of most tertiary institutions in Uganda while the National Council for Higher Education (NCHE) accredits and assures quality in tertiary education in Uganda. A significant impact of globalisation is the liberalisation and democratization of higher education to meet diverse needs, full implementation of Universal Primary and Secondary education, and more focus on pre-higher education (Ssempebwa, 2011). Uganda has made significant efforts to align with global standards through quality assurance and accreditation processes using international benchmarks. Ugandan qualification body, NCHE, evaluates qualifications from other countries and ensure that Ugandan qualifications are globally recognized.

Uganda has been able to address issues of inequality between their education and foreign education through globalisation. There have also been efforts to address the issue of the digital divide whereby urban schools enjoy more technology than rural areas as e-learning becomes a formal way of learning (Anumaka & Dahiru, 2022). The efforts to reform Uganda’s educational system to provide competitive and quality education have yielded positive effects.

Globalisation has been instrumental to the use of Information Technology and Communication in education using international networks and architectures. Though Nwangu (2020, p.446) recommends that “the government and CSOs should adopt contextualized technologies and innovations for refugees” in Uganda, such technologies are meant to rely on available resources. The essence of this is to ensure the sustainability of technology adoption as different technologies crept into her education system through globalisation.

National and International Policies in Uganda Refugee Education to Address Globalisation and Social Justice

Uganda’s national and international policies on refugee education are products of globalisation because they are linked to global practices (Higgins, 2010). These policies have implications for the operation of the general education of refugees and hosts in Uganda’s formal education system, but some are specifically formulated to address the rights of refugees, especially the access to education, even if they spill to the hosts in Uganda communities. However, education will always be relevant in discourse that borders on social justice, human diversity and rights because these factors inform national and international policies (Wamara, 2021).

Mugerwa-Sekawabe (2021) argues that the United Nations’ Global Compact on Refugees (GCR) is an international policy, operational in Uganda, to ensure equitable and fair distribution of refugees, but there is the problem of funding for refugees’ education in most countries in the Global South, Uganda inclusive. In addition, Uganda has made significant efforts to review international and national laws to protect the interests of refugees in the education sector but there are observable gaps in her local policies and practices as regards the education rights of refugee children (Oriel et al., 2024).

The education system is a landscape for engaging social justice and globalisation. Notably, the Aliens (Registration and Control Act) 1985 for non-Ugandans and Refugees Act 2006 are relevant Acts that regulate refugee matters in Uganda (MGSoG, 2017). Uganda has progressive policies which include the establishment of training programmes at about 11 settlement centres in the northern and western parts, funded by Uganda government and international bodies. Specifically, the regulation of The Refugee Act in 2010, gave refugees further integration rights and access to education rights like hosts. The stated Acts have given refugees comparable rights in education through the adoption of free-fee primary and secondary education at their locations of settlement, but the level of integration could be described as partial because of restrictions to specific locations which is an embodiment of social injustice.

Figure 1: Refugee Settlements in Uganda

Source: d’Errico et al. (2024)

In Uganda, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), the Global Partnership for Education, and the United Nations are actively engaging with the Office of the Prime Minister’s (OPM) Department of Refugees, to ensure refugees have access to education (d’Errico et al., 2024). No wonder, it was argued that the best way to make globalisation work for the poor or the less represented like the refugees is to invest intensively in education (Robertson et al., 2007). Uganda’s implementation of Universal Primary Education (UPE) is clear evidence of globalisation in her education as it aligns with the global Education for All movement (Ainscow, 2020). This effort led to a geometric increase in pupils’ population in schools for both refugees and host communities (Sakaue et al., 2024).

Even though further education partnership with external bodies through a sector-wide approach (SWAP) was criticised for the fear of promoting external control of the system and the extent to which global norms in education are contextualised to suit host communities with diverse cultures due to refugees’ influx (Higgins, 2010), yet, the global norms and approaches have attracted donors and aids which have been effectively managed by the government, especially in the education of refugees.

Indeed, the international space provides the direction for most national policies (Tromp & Datzberger, 2019). This is one of the impacts of globalisation because the call for the localisation of international policies could imply social justice for a country due to westernisation (Back et al., 2007). More so, the benefits of aligning with global direction and best practices outweigh the resultant inequalities that homogenization constitutes to culturally weak countries agitating for social justice. Within the same space, addressing language issues in education policies is a way of bridging the gap of educational inequality experienced by refugees and allowing them to work using English language (Mastrorillo et al., 2024). Additionally, local cultures and languages need to be promoted to withstand the pressure of homogenization caused by globalisation.

FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION

In discussing globalisation in education, its collision with social justice is emphasised as a basis for further understanding this paper’s concern. The campaign for equality through social justice has been a continuous effort over decades (Carr, 2003; Jones & Manion, 2023), yet the fact remains that the scope of social justice is wider than equality as it is a principle of social justice, which is evident in Uganda educational system.

Social justice is a concern in Uganda due to the high number of refugees making their relationships and experiences in the host communities a struggle to balance globalisation in the context of social justice. Even though Malevolti & Romano (2024) recognised factors for social cohesion, the provision of resources remains a significant point which could enhance both social cohesion and equality in the face of globalisation. More resources imply more social and economic opportunities including education for the refugees and host communities, but mismanaging the gap further leads to educational inequalities. This aligns with Roth’s (2011b) position on the importance of resource distribution over resource availability.

Apart from resource distribution, the Uganda government also oversees the integration of refugees into its educational system with the support of international organisations. Even though it is established that globalisation conflicts with principles of social justice in Uganda’s education system as noted by Bweyale & Sekaye (2023), substantial evidence indicates such conflicts are always resolved through resistance and available options for parents and school children.

Uganda’s practice of inclusive education, as a departure from the camped approach, is supporting the education system to reduce the negative effects of inequalities, and limited resources. To maximally derive the positive effects of quality education and better employment, there is continual pressure on host communities to educate refugees, which is in tandem with Oriel et al. (2024) position. It is further noted that such pressure extends to the scholarship opportunities within and outside Uganda through government and foreign agencies. The encroachment approach in integrating refugees provides a more felt impact than the camped method of isolating refugees’ schools.

Nambi et al. (2023) identify international organisations and non-governmental organisations which support the government in educating refugees in Uganda. It is notable that their efforts are less significant in higher education, and this limits refugees’ opportunities for high-paying jobs. Also, the curriculum development is influenced to meet the needs of refugees, especially through new skills acquisition (Nwangu, 2020). The changes in curriculum development constitute what Ssempebwa (2011) calls liberation and democratisation in education through the global alignment of educational practices and technology usage. In essence, the increase in refugees’ enrolment in schools, due to the liberal curriculum, further bridges the gap of educational inequality and strengthens social justice in Uganda’s education system.

Refugee-related policies, at national and international levels, in Uganda are ways of mitigating the negative effects of globalisation in education. As rightly noted by Higgins (2010), there is a connection between refugees’ policies and their education in the country. Since it is crucial to apply policies to address issues of inequalities (Carlson, 2011), key Uganda national policies include the Aliens Registration and Control Act of 1985, and the Refugees Act of 2006/2010. They are operational based on the influence of international policies of the Global Compact on Refugees (United Nations), the Global Partnership for Education and Universal Primary Education. These policies imply global compliance in the education sector, which supports the enshrinement of refugees’ education principles and practices. Despite the application of these policies, Oriel et al. (2024) observed gaps in preserving refugees’ rights in education.

In Uganda, the implementation of international policies attracts funding for resources and infrastructural development for refugees’ education which spilled to host communities in the education sector. The identified problem is minimal integration due to the government’s focus on progressive policies of operating refugee settlements due to limited funds.  No doubt, the credit for the recorded success in refugees’ education goes to both government and international funders. The major disadvantage in international funding of refugees’ education is the strong grip and influence of national policies. This is prevalent in cultural and language matters.

The global policy on inclusive education has been partially implemented in Uganda because settlement schools are designed to educate the children of the refugees without discriminating against host children who may choose to attend such schools. Even though most funds come from external donors, Ainscow (2020) has proven beyond reasonable doubt that inclusive schooling of children is more economical than setting up different schools which could lead to inequalities and exclusion because the scope of social justice is not limited to access to education, but inclusive education based on global perspectives.

So far, Uganda has recorded success in implementing refugee policies because it operates beyond the advanced humanitarian aid by emphasising a self-reliant approach to promote economic growth through education and agriculture (Malevolti & Romano, 2024). This helps the refugees to send their children to fee-paying schools. However, d’Errico et al., (2024) have recently questioned the sustainability of the refugee policies with substantial evidence that the policies have helped refugees address their short-term needs, but the long-term aspect is still doubtful because there is no evidence that they are being taken out of poverty despite the social interventions including education.

Since evidence is crucial in policy analysis and recommendations (Sperling & Winthrop, 2015), this review of the policies indicates an effective management of refugee matters, especially within the education system in Uganda with some limitations and gaps. Also, there is a harmonious partnership between the government of Uganda and international organisations on refugees’ integration in the host communities.

The connection between globalisation and refugee education in Uganda implies that there is a need for more support and funding from stakeholders with more interest from civil societies and non-governmental organisations to sustain open and progressive policies on refugees based on their right to quality education. The specific challenges identified in the discussion of relevant works of literature are inadequate funding, language issues, limited infrastructure and cultural issues. These factors affect both refugees and host communities because they share the available resources.

CONCLUSION

The conclusions are based on the findings of this paper. First, there will be a continual influx of refugees into Uganda as the country is welcoming to refugees, and the global policies on refugees have greatly influenced the operational national education policies in Uganda. These policies have been implemented, though partially, to cater for refugees in curbing the negative impact of globalisation.

Second, it has also shown that education is a critical empowerment for refugees to achieve both social-cultural and economic integration as they can easily understand the environment and become productive through schooling. This is also interpreted as a human right based on a social justice view, which would help refugees get out of poverty and enjoy a good standard of living.

Third, Uganda’s distinct style of supporting non-English speaking refugees in the education system is commendable but more efforts are needed in introducing bilingual education in settlements’ primary schools to enable the children to transfer gradually from other languages to English language and acclimatised in schools with limited cultural shock.

Finally, refugees’ education in Uganda is interconnected with globalisation and social justice because they have successfully aligned with the global policies and practices in refugees’ education matters, but much is still left to be desired in sustaining social justice because there are still issues of inequalities and cultural and social barriers.

RECOMMENDATIONS

Based on the discussion, a review of refugees’ policies in education is necessary for the government to understand the observed inequalities and social injustice better and create a means of selecting and modifying the right policies to suit Uganda refugees. Hence, more efforts are needed to reform policies and Acts and regularly update the policies to align with global changes and peculiarities of refugees.

Intensive funding is required to promote refugee education in Uganda. This will provide more resources and improved technology to aid full integration. Further, the adoption of technology in language programmes, especially English, for refugees from non-English speaking countries will enhance the quality of education.

It is crucial to expand access to higher education through scholarship and bursary awards for refugees in Uganda’s tertiary institutions. Also, the vocationally inclined refugees should enjoy free life skills training and community-based education. This will not only assure socio-economic inclusion but foster refugee-host relationships in the education sector.

It is also recommended that education system differences should be addressed so that prior qualifications from refugees’ home countries are recognised.  This would necessitate the engagement of skilled translators and the development of culturally diverse teaching and learning materials to support non-English speaking refugees to enjoy structured bilingual education at the primary school level.

Finally, assessment of refugees’ education quality and outcomes is critical to addressing disparities and sustaining social justice in education. The assessment reports should be subjected to critical interrogation by stakeholders such as government bodies, international organisations and non-governmental organisations that fund refugees’ education in Uganda.

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