School Life in Uganda
Uganda, like any other country through colonial influence, developed a school system and
structure that was aimed at training and developing the people of Uganda in reading, writing, and
other fundamental subjects of human life universally from a young age to as far as one would
wish to go in their personal academic life. This system meant having schools in place and
creating a school system. The school system in Uganda is made up of three main branches. These
main three branches include: Primary (Elementary) Level, Secondary (High school) Level and
University(college) Level. Of late, a fourth branch called Kindergarten or Nursery Level has picked up
though still not yet held at the same level of significance as the original main three. Each and every child
in Uganda who attends school is expected to follow these three branches or levels of academics as they
progress in their academic life pursuit.
This school system is set up in a way that it is open to any child who wishes to pursue
academics as they progress in their life goals. Though not compulsory, it is highly encouraged for
every child to attend school as far as they can go, be it to undergraduate level or even
beyond. However, all these academics are to be pursued at one’s own cost i.e., the child pursuing
studies is expected to pay for their school dues at all levels unless one receives an opportunity
for scholarship and bursary from various organizations which are few given out by the government
of Uganda. Because opportunities for scholarships are very few and rare, it makes these
opportunities very competitive that only a few lucky children will land one. And these
scholarship opportunities from the government only apply at university level. As for the lower
levels, that is Secondary school level and Primary school level, there is nothing like government
scholarship; therefore, the government tried to create some kind of free education system for the
Primary level called Universal Primary Education (UPE). However, since its creation, it turned
out to be very ineffective and only attended by the very vulnerable children because they have no
option anyway since they can't afford private schools. Because of very poor funding and
government systems, the UPE schools are the worst for any child to attend. Actually, they are
schools that a child will only attend because that’s the only opportunity for them to attend
something like a school, but the schools' operations are very poor from the physical set up, personnel
and staff, teacher resources, and student materials, etc.
Thus, given that background, many private schools are set up and operating on much better
levels compared to the government UPE schools. Therefore, for a child to have at least a fair shot at
education they have to attend a private school; however, that means they also have to find ways
to meet the school dues and requirements for them to continue their academics in the private
school. I will try to give you a sneak picture into how the school system is set up.
1. Primary level is made up of seven years --that is from primary one to primary seven (grade 1 to
grade 7). For each grade, a student attends for one academic year, that is one year for primary
one [P1], one year for primary two [P2], until primary seven [P7], after which the child graduates and
then moves on to Secondary Level (High school).
2. Secondary Level is only six years and these years are broken into two levels,
the first four years called the O Level (Ordinary Level) and the final two years called A Level
(Advanced Level).
3. Each academic year is made up of three school periods known as Terms.
a. The First Term begins in February up to around the beginning of May; then the school breaks for holiday of 3 to 4 weeks.
b. The Second Term begins at the end of May and runs until August, with a second break for 3 to 4 weeks.
c. Then the last term known as the Third Term of the year starts at the end of September and runs up to the third week of December. That is when the school closes for the end of school year break called Holidays until February of the next year when a new school year begins again. The Third Term is also the promotion term in which, at the end, students move on from one grade to another according to their class performance.
d. This school year system is the same even for the secondary level (high school).
4. As for the University level, a school year has two semesters only which also run from January to May
for semester one, and then August to December for the second semester of the year.
Based on that form of school year system, a student/child is expected to meet the school
dues and requirements for each school term as it happens, i.e., school fees and payments.
School requirements mean that a student/child is asked to submit to the school according to the school
management, then also facilitate themselves with transportation or means of getting to and from school
each day since schools do not provide any means of transportation, nor does the government, so it is
upon the child, parent or guardian to find ways to get their child get to school every day and on time
and then also return home. Because of such a set-up, some schools are set up in a way that students
reside at the school throughout the school term and will return home after the school term. This
set up is referred to as the Boarding section system. It helps the parent or child to avoid daily
commuting to and from school every morning and evening; however, on the other note, it also
comes with an additional pay in school fees and requirements different from the day section
where a child does not reside at the school.
In other words, a child is expected to have a school uniform which they pay for themselves
[i.e., parent/guardian, etc.]. They are also expected to buy scholastic supplies that they require for their
specific level, for the school does not provide them. At some point, they also have to buy or have
some textbooks for various classes or subjects as needed. The school will either provide only a
few or may not provide all one needs for the specific grade. Additionally, the child is also expected to
have paid for food as part of their school fees, or if they opted not to eat the school food, then they will
always provide themselves with what to eat during class breaks and lunch time, keeping in mind that the
school day runs from 7:30am to 4:30pm, except for kindergarten and the first two grades of primary
which run from 7:30am to 1pm each day. All those above-mentioned school dues are expected to be
met by a child in order for them to be accepted to attend class, if a child fails to provide the dues after a
certain period from the start of a school term, then the child will not be allowed to attend class
until they pay the required fees or requirements. Most times schools won't care even
though a child is missing out on important class lessons and content due being refused to attend
class because of defaulting on school fees.
In other words, school life for a child in Uganda is both demanding and costly, and
because the system is set up in a way that the government does not control school owners, each
school sets it own school dues as they deem necessary according to its management. This
explains the difference in school dues among the so many schools in Uganda. Of course, as a
developing country, the schools that are close or in the capitol city and other city centers tend to
be more performing than the rest because they will have easy access to both resources and
human personnel in terms of teachers. Demand for teachers is high due to less teachers
in the country given the poor pay standards set by the government for schoolteachers in
government schools. This makes teachers teach in like three schools so as to collect a bigger
collective paycheck. However, that creates a vacuum for students to have some extra minutes to
inquire from their teachers if they have queries. Private schools tend to provide a little better pay for
teachers, thus keeping them around as required without moving from school to school in a day so
the teachers can provide above subsistence for their families and benefit the students.
All of the school system demands eventually will fall back on the child, either their parent,
guardian or even a child themselves in the case where a child has no one to help them provide support
while they are trying to pursue academics. This is not because the parents are all well off. No,
actually, the parents [many of them] are almost giving up on school because it is very expensive
and at the same time, they have to feed and dress their families making it even a much harder
decision whether to spend the little they have on at least feeding the child so that they can grow
healthy or pay for some school dues in a school they can afford with what they have. And this
situation is what creates very less supportive homes to children who wish to pursue academics, not
because the families don’t care, but because they have so little and try to gather more, and the little
they are able to gather, they still need to spend it on feeding and health issues of the child, thus making
the child be helpless school-wise.
In other words, school life in Uganda is a big sacrifice for both the parent and child, not because
it is optional, but because they find themselves in a situation where the only way to attain the least of
education is through giving up the little material resources or dignity they possess. Dignity in a way that
sometimes a child will have to accept humiliations before fellow children [due to defaulting on fees and
requirements]. Only those who are very determined and have encouragement may accept this situation
if that is what it will take for them to be allowed back in class.
Respectfully submitted,
Paul Katende,
Ugandan Liaison to Abantu Together