Education in Uganda

March 26 marks the completion of our sixth full week in Uganda and our second week of immersion training. This past week I was given the opportunity to teach in a Ugandan classroom. It was a phenomenal experience and I walked away with a great sense of reward and accomplishment.

Teaching in Uganda differs in many ways from America. First, there is the size of each class. At this particular school, each grade level contains roughly 170 students. The grades are broken down into two streams each. So each stream, or class, consists of 80-90 students. Class sizes can range from 60-150 students, all with just one teacher in the room.

The students sit in groups of three to four on long benches in front of another higher long bench that serves as their desk. They have very little room to write or do anything else.

The students do not have textbooks. Most of them do not have calculators. Some of them have protractors, rulers, compasses, etc., but not all. There are textbooks available at the library, but I’m told this specific library has many more resources than the typical Ugandan secondary school library.

Basically, the students have writing utensils and small notebooks to record notes in. That is all. This is how they are expected to learn. This is how they are expected to study for exams. Whatever I write down on the board, the students copy down in their notes. This notebook is their only resource for learning outside the classroom. They can go to the library and use textbooks there, but they cannot check them out.

The Ugandan curriculum and text structure differs significantly from that of what I’m used to. Children attend school for seven years at the primary level, P1-P7. They have a state exam at the completion of P7. This exam determines whether or not they are competent enough to move on to secondary school.

Students attend secondary school, the equivalent of our high school, for a period of four years, S1-S4. I will be teaching math and physics at the S1 and S2 levels. I will also be trying to teach some of the higher-level math and physics courses once I get to my site.

You might be asking, “How does a high school freshman learn physics?” This marks another huge distinction of the Ugandan school system. A typical secondary student takes 8-15 subjects concurrently! So, at any given time, the students are responsible for learning at least eight different subjects at a time.

Of these 8-15 subjects, physics, math, biology, and chemistry are mandatory. English is mandatory. Social sciences (history, civics, religious studies, etc.) are mandatory. The students get to choose maybe 3-4 different subjects to take each term. Ah, another distinction, they teach religion in school here.

There is CRE, Christian Religious Education, and IRE, Islamic Religious Education. I’m told the classes do not advocate for a specific religion. They serve more to educate the youth on the history and principles of the religions themselves. Uganda is mostly a Christian nation. They do have a large population of Muslims. I think the breakdown is somewhere around 85% Christian, 15% Muslim.

So…back to teaching. At the end of the day, the only resources a student has to study are their notes and maybe a textbook at the library. So what I teach and the notes I put on the board, are extremely important!

A term is 13 weeks. There are three terms each year. The first term begins in February. The last term concludes in early December.

Quizzes and homework are scarce in Uganda. When a term begins, the only structured form of assessment is the end of term exam! This means, in theory, the students’ entire term grade could come down to one exam! Peace Corps Volunteers have begun implementing quizzes, homework, and in class exercises to help relieve some of the emphasis on one test.

The end of term exam has two purposes: to assess what the student has learned during that term and to give the students a feel for the test format of the end of S4 state UNEB exam. UNEB is Uganda National Examinations Board. They control the content and structure of all major examinations in the country.

If a student does well on the S4 UNEB exam, they can move on to “A” level, Advanced Level Education. These are called S5s and S6s. This would be the equivalent of our high school senior and college freshman. During these two years, students still attend secondary school, but concentrate on far fewer subjects, typically 3-4. Students can choose what emphasis they want to place on what subjects before going on to university.

Despite all the challenges mentioned above, teaching has been an amazing experience. The Ugandans are incredibly enthusiastic and eager to learn. They are quiet, disciplined, respectful, and motivated. They know that education is one of the key factors to success and giving themselves the opportunity to bring them out of poverty. Poverty - a common affliction in Uganda.

There are problems. They have great strides to make in the areas of critical thinking and applying learned knowledge to different concepts. But I see great hope and promise of progress in the future.

I somehow managed to upload two pictures in this internet cafe before the connection got terribly slow. Here they are:

Here is me in the school library. Decked out in "smart" dress.

Here I am in front of a huge boulder/rock structure in Soroti Town. We climbed it shortly after.