Why Uganda has stopped nursery schools from doubling as daycare centres

• Government has banned nursery schools and kindergartens from running daycare centres under the same licence.

• The new ECCE policy separates childcare services for children below three years from early learning for children aged three to five.

• The Ggaba daycare tragedy helped speed up the reform after safety and licensing failures were exposed.

• While the policy may improve safety and learning, parents fear higher childcare costs and fewer affordable daycare options.

The Government of Uganda has introduced a major reform in early childhood education by banning nursery schools and kindergartens from operating daycare centres under the same roof.

The change is part of the new Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) policy, which seeks to separate childcare from early learning and improve safety, regulation, and education standards across the country.

For years, many private nursery schools in Kampala and other towns operated a dual system. They admitted babies from as young as six months into daycare sections while also teaching children aged three to five in nursery classes.

Most of these centres used the same compound, same staff, and often the same licence. In many cases, the daycare section had no proper registration at all.

Under the new policy, this will no longer be allowed.

A school registered as a nursery cannot legally admit children below three years for daycare services. Anyone who wants to run a daycare must now register separately, meet different standards, and operate from a separate facility or a clearly marked section with its own staff, toilets, and entrance.

The Ministry of Education says mixing toddlers and nursery learners created serious problems.

Officials say safety became a major concern because babies need sleeping mats, feeding chairs, and constant supervision, while nursery children need desks, play areas, and classroom learning.

The recent Ggaba tragedy, where four toddlers died at a school setting in Kampala, pushed government to act faster. Investigations showed the facility was licensed as a nursery school but was also keeping infants in a daycare arrangement.

Government says this exposed dangerous gaps in supervision and licensing.

Officials also found that learning was affected because some nursery teachers spent more time caring for babies than teaching young learners. This weakened school readiness, with some children leaving nursery without basic literacy and social skills.

The policy now directs nursery schools to focus only on children aged three to five and prepare them for primary school through early learning.

Children below that age will fall under childcare services, not education.

The reform is also expected to improve inspection and enforcement.

For years, district education officers inspected nursery schools but ignored daycare sections because they had no clear legal status. This allowed overcrowding, unsafe buildings, and unqualified staff to continue.

With the separation, daycare centres will be regulated under social development guidelines, while nursery schools will remain under education authorities.

However, the policy may raise costs for many parents.

Many working mothers in areas such as Bweyogerere, Nansana, and Kyanja depended on affordable nursery-daycare combinations that charged as little as Shs50,000 a month.

Now, schools that want to keep daycare services must hire separate staff, rent more space, and apply for a second licence. Many may choose to drop daycare services completely.

This could force parents to pay more for licensed daycares or rely on informal home-based arrangements.

Government says daycare centres are not banned and has promised clearer guidelines within 90 days. Officials have also hinted at possible support for community-based daycare centres to help working families.

For now, the message is clear: schools must choose between being a nursery school or a daycare, unless they fully meet the standards for both.