Earlier in December, Principal Secretary of Education, Belio Kipsang shocked the nation with the announcement of banning primary boarding schools.
The ban has now created disputes in the society of Uganda. Some people supported Kipsang’s decision whereas many raised voices against it.
The authorities announced that there would be no more boarding schools for students up to grade nine from January in the coming year.
The ministry of education argued that they took this decision to ensure that children of that age should be in the care of their parents or legal guardians. However, children from communities of pastoral nomads will be excluded from the newly implemented law.
Edward Lubega, an elder from Nabweru in the Wakiso district, said that Uganda also should adopt the new policy now that is implemented in Kenya. He questioned why the young child must attend boarding schools.
He showed his concern regarding the changing world, where parents have no time for their children. He added that children attend boarding school at an age when they need the utmost care and attention of their parents.
According to Lubega, to stop such deeds of parents, policies such as the ban on boarding school is necessary for the nation.
The executive secretary of the Uganda Episcopal Conference’s Commission for Education, Rev. Fr. Ronald Okello, who is also an education expert, expressed his concern about the culture that is increasingly prevalent in sending young children to boarding schools.
While at a boarding school, a group of more than 100 children are entrusted to one or two wardens or matrons.
They may not be able to give nurturing and attention to each student. He added that it is heartbreaking to see parents enrolling their young children from 4 years in boarding schools.
The calls for the banning of boarding schools, notably in pre-primary and elementary schools, came from educationists from Uganda even before Kenya prohibited boarding schools.
In 2015, education experts led by Professor. Abdu Kasozi, the former executive director of the National Council for Higher Education (NCHE), advocated for the prohibition of primary-level boarding schools because they endangered children’s and families development.
As mentioned earlier, there are both supporters and haters of this ban. There is a different view among the parents and some experts.
They claim that many parents are compelled to send their children to boarding schools because of their job or way of life.
According to several studies, there are a variety of reasons why children attend boarding schools in Uganda. These include the history of colonialism and external economic forces.
According to Dr. Mikaela Dufur’s 2013 study on boarding schools in Uganda, academic success is another social factor that influences the boarding school system.
In Uganda, primary education level boarding schools were lacking for a long time. According to the reports, the missionaries mostly founded the first traditional secondary schools with boarding facilities.
As students had to be relocated from their home regions to study in institutions located in different parts of the nation, the national secondary schools built by Obote’s government also included boarding facilities.
The boarding school rose in popularity at the same time as private schools did at the beginning of the 2000s.
Private schools initially established boarding facilities for students in candidate classes, claiming that they needed extra time to concentrate on their studies. They kept growing the number of classes as time went on, and now even preschoolers are admitted to boarding schools.
In contrast to private schools, public and government-funded schools also feature boarding sections. The administrators of these schools are demanding one even if they don’t have enough facilities. Some schools and administrators wanted to turn the classrooms into boarding spaces.
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Uganda doesn’t have any boarding schools per policy. Additionally, the Education Act is vague on the matter, section 15 is the only area where boarding arrangements are mentioned, yet this portion also requires that the school operate a day section. But many institutions now solely offer to board.
Frances Atima, the acting permanent secretary at the Ministry of Education, said that even though boarding schools are widely dispersed across the country, only day schools are registered.
Atima, who is also the head of educational standards and quality assurance, claims that the government created some criteria to address boarding section requests from schools. According to Atima, boarding schools are useful, so just banning them might not be the course of action.
According to Dr. Disan Kuteesa, the head of the education department at Kyambogo University, the idea of boarding schools may be a good one, but the school administrators have exploited the concept.
Many educational experts and officials believe that because there are so many children attending these schools, more research is required to understand the effectiveness of banning boarding schools.
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