Uganda

B

Principal Cities

Kampala (population, 2003 estimate, 1,246,000), near Lake Victoria, is Uganda’s largest city and main commercial centre, as well as the capital. Important towns include: Jinja (population, 2002, 86,520); Mbale (population, 2002, 70,437); Entebbe (population, 2002, 57,518); and Gulu (population, 2002, 113,144).

C

Religion

About two thirds of Uganda’s inhabitants are Christian, and approximately 16 per cent is Muslim. The rest follows traditional religions.

D

Language

English is the official language, of which there are about 1 million second-language speakers. Forty-two other languages are spoken, nearly all of which are Nilo-Saharan and Niger-Congo, including: Chiga (1,391,442 speakers), Ganda (3,015,980), Nyankore (1,643,193), and Soga (1,370,845). The Indo-Iranian languages of Gujarati and Hindi are both spoken, each by about 1 per cent of the population. Nubi, an Arabic-based creole is spoken by some 14,800 people.

E

Education

Education is not compulsory in Uganda, but a universal system of primary education is planned. The British educational system has been influential in Uganda, and missionary schools have played an important role in educating the people. The literacy rate was about 71.6 per cent in 2005. In 2000 about 6.53 million pupils attended some 11,578 primary schools in Uganda, and some 605,220 students were enrolled in more than 900 secondary, technical, and primary teacher-training schools. All schools charge fees. Around 74,090 students were enrolled in higher education. In 1999–2000, 2.3 per cent of the country’s gross national product (GNP) was spent on education. Uganda’s leading institutions of higher education are Makerere University (1922), Uganda Technical College (1954), both in Kampala, and Mbarara University of Science and Technology (1989). The Institute of Teacher Education and the Uganda Polytechnic are both in Kiambogo.

F

Culture

Uganda’s chief libraries are the National Reference Library and the National Library of Medicine, both housed at Makerere University. Museums include the Uganda Museum (with materials on archaeology, ethnology, music, and science), in Kampala, and geological and zoological museums, both in Entebbe.