Uganda's literacy rate has dropped despite the introduction of free Universal Primary Education (UPE) 10 years ago, a report has showed.

The State of Uganda Population Report 2007 showed that the percentage of people who can read and write dropped to 69 percent in 2006 from 70 percent in 2004.

The drop, although arguably slight by 1 percent over two years, is bound to be a setback as the country tries to achieve the United Nations Millennium Development Goals target of 100 percent literacy by 2015.

In 1991, the literacy rate stood at 54 percent before rising to 65 percent in 2000 following the introduction of UPE in 1997.

Namirembe Bitamazire, Minister of Education and Sports, was quoted by Daily Monitor on Thursday saying that she would be surprised if the literacy rate has gone down despite government's effort to introduce free primary education to all children at school-going age.

"I have not yet read the report, but I would be surprised if it is down," she said.

"It maybe because of those who missed UPE. I don't expect people in their 60s or 70s to have achieved UPE," said Bitamazire.

She said that the literacy rate of the school-going population should be up.

"The 1-6 age bracket is naturally illiterate, 6-13 should be literate, 14-18 should be able to access UPE," Bitamazire said.

Hannington Burunde, the head of communication at the Population Secretariat, said that "dropouts are counted into the illiterate", adding that promotion of adult literacy would help cut illiteracy levels.

Source: Xinhua