Effect of sports participation on completion of primary school children in Karamoja region, Uganda

Abstract

Primary school completion rates remain critically low in Karamoja, Uganda, with only 5.5% of children completing primary education and 74.2% of primary-aged children out of school, threatening human capital formation and sustainable development. This study examined the effect of sports participation on completion of primary school children in Karamoja region of Uganda.  The specific objective of the study was to examine the effect of sports participation on completion among primary school children in Karamoja region, Uganda. The null hypothesis formulated was; sports participation has no significant effect on completion among primary school children in Karamoja region, Uganda. The study was anchored on James Coleman’s Multiple Role Theory of extracurricular activities. A cross sectional study design was used during the study coupled with a mixed methods approach of quantitative and qualitative methods. District Sports Officers (11), District Inspectors of Schools (11), head teachers (44), and games and sports teachers (88) were purposively sampled. Class teachers (88) and pupils (352) were randomly sampled to give every respondent an equal chance of participation. Four primary schools per district were purposively selected based on their active participation in sports at district, regional, or national level. Data was collected using questionnaires, interviews, and focus group discussions from 590 respondents. Quantitative data was collected from 539 respondents (352 pupils, 88 class teachers, 88 sports teachers, and 11 District Sports Officers) using structured questionnaires. Qualitative data was collected using key informant interviews with DIS and Focus Group Discussions with 44 head teachers. Quantitative data was analysed using IBM SPSS (version 27) to get frequencies, means, medians, standard deviations, interquartile ranges and inferential statistics (Spearman's correlation, linear regression with bootstrapping, and mediation analysis using PROCESS Macro with 5,000 resamples). Qualitative data was transcribed and analysed using thematic analysis in NVivo (version 15).The findings reveal that sports participation is associated with enhancing primary school completion through increased confidence in completing school (Mean=4.53, SD=0.681, 92.9% agreement), strengthened future orientation (Mean=4.52, SD=0.688, 92.1% agreement), ability to manage school work alongside home responsibilities (Mean=4.54, SD=0.677, 93.1% agreement), and reduced exposure to social risks (Mean=4.50, SD=0.750, 91.8% agreement). An exceptionally strong, positive, and statistically significant correlation was found between sports participation and school completion (ρ = 0.992, p < .001). Critically, linear regression analysis established that sports participation explains 94.9% of the variance in school completion (R² = 0.949), representing a near-perfect predictive relationship. The study concludes that sports participation contributes to school completion in pastoralist marginalized, conflict-affected settings of Karamoja by addressing the salient barriers to completion. The study recommends the establishment of longitudinal sports participation pathways from Primary One through Primary Seven, implementation of attendance-eligibility policies, investment in coach training for mentorship, and linkage of sports participation to scholarships and formal recognition systems.