Education in Uganda!

This post is dedicated to my mom’s 5^th grade classes. Apparently she likes to read them my blog posts so I thought I would write about the schools here for them to learn about!

The education system in Uganda is set up based on the English system with Primary school (our elementary school), Secondary school (our middle and high school) and University. Primary education is available to the public, but there are not many public secondary schools and University is only private. Kindergarten is not a part of Primary school, so those children go to a separate pre-Primary school.

Science Posters in the Library

Just like in America students study Mathematics, Reading, Science, Social Studies, and Geography, but they additionally study Religious Education in public schools (they learn about both Christianity and Islam since those are the two main religions in Uganda). They sometimes participate in school agriculture projects, planting trees and growing vegetables to sell for the school. Children regardless of the school they attend wear uniforms every day. At the end of each year, students take National exams that determine whether the child is able to move to the next level in school. The exams are very challenging and many children don’t pass the exams, especially the exam promoting an individual from primary to secondary school. Because the national exams are so difficult, students may be required to go to school on Saturdays, which we obviously don’t have in America.

Students learning about science

Uganda is mainly in the southern hemisphere so the school year begins in February and ends in November, with summer break from November- January (in the southern hemisphere the earths position is in a different relation to the sun, so the seasons are opposite). Uganda also does not have an official language, so students are taught the first three years of primary school in their local language (in my region the language is called Luganda) and taught in English starting at Primary 4 level. This means that for most children English is their second language, making it much more difficult to learn in a new language. Additionally, in public schools the class sizes can range from 50-100 kids per teacher. Imagine having a classroom 3 times as large as your own, and all trying to learn from one teacher.

Some children, starting as young as 6 years old, may attend boarding school. Unlike in the United States, it is very common for children in Primary and Secondary School to live away from their families at the school they attend. My homestay sister who is 15 attends a boarding school about an hour away from my home (she is in the equivalent of 9^th grade). The reason so many children attend boarding school is because Uganda does not have school busses to help children get to school, like in the US. Instead, many kids walk up to 10 kilometers to get to school, or must ride in public buses (we call them taxis) in order to reach school, which can take hours (the school may either be very far away if you live in a village, or the traffic may be very bad in Kampala).

We got the chance to sit in on a P5 class

The school day usually goes from 8 am to about 4:30 pm, and most schools do not have PE in their schedules for the day. When students get home they are usually responsible for taking care of their younger siblings and completing chores for the household such as feeding the chickens, fetching water from a local stream, or helping to prepare dinner. I’m sure not many Americans are responsible for retrieving our own water because we have plumbing, or feeding chickens for that matter. The biggest difference between public schools in Uganda and the United States is that many children go to school without food for the entire day. In Uganda, parents must pay small fees for their children to pay for books, teachers’ meals and uniforms. For many families who don’t have much money, these fees are too expensive and so the parents must sacrifice their children’s food in order to pay the fees. Unlike the US, lunch is not provided for those who cannot pay (because too many children in public school cannot afford lunch) so these children must go through the entire day without lunch, after walking miles to school or travelling for hours. Imagine going through an entire school day without anything to eat. Wouldn't it be difficult, or nearly impossible to pay attention during class while hungry?

Regardless of the difficulties children face going to school, it is still considered a privilege to be able to attend school and gain an education. Not every child is able to go to school or finish their education with lack of funds, so children are very grateful for the opportunity to learn. Kids are always on their best behavior and highly respect their teachers who provide them with such a valuable skill. Education provides them with the opportunity to pursue their dreams and earn a better life for themselves, and the students know it is the key to their future.

This is just half of the giant class full of students

As a person who grew up and attended school in the US, I am now realizing how lucky I was to have the opportunities for education that I did with caring teachers, small classes, lunch every day, and the ability to go to school free of charge. Because school was not a privilege but a right, I did not appreciate my education as much as I should have. For those of you who are lucky enough to live in the United States, just imagine how different your life could be if you had to go to school in a different country. One of the big differences between Ugandan school children and kids in America, is that in Uganda the students are very well behaved and are always very respectful of their teachers. They know that their teachers are there to help them and want to learn all they can from them, so that they are able to pass their exams and eventually pursue their dreams. Ugandan children still love to play games like soccer and capture the flag, have similar interests and career goals to students in America. They are really just like kids in the US, but are growing up in a very different world.

I hope you all are able to enjoy learning about school kids in a different place who are just like you, and that you all are able to gain a new appreciation for the place in which you are growing up and able to attend school. I hope that you all will work hard enough in school so that you will one day have the chance to study abroad like I am and see the rest of the huge world we live in!

The computer lab has 2 laptops for student use

Some of the students at Kyanzee Public School