Back to school – 22 February 2016

Wasibire Muzungu, (Good afternoon white)

Here in Uganda, the Christmas holiday has been extended for all education levels, till after the elections. This means, today on the 22nd of February, children go to school. In Uganda the school system works like this; primary school, secondary school, advanced level and then university. Often the public schools of the primary level do not match the public schools of the secondary level, this results in many children dropping out of school after primary level. In primary level they have subjects as mathematics, English, social studies, religious studies and science. In secondary level this is continued while in advanced level they can also choose a specific route like tourism, political studies, social studies, science etc. In university they fully decide what to continue to study.

As I learned the school fee for parents of a public primary school is around 50.000 Ugandan shilling (approximately €12,50) while in a private school it can easily be between 100.000 – 400.000 Ugandan shilling (approximately €50 to €200). Regarding a public secondary or advanced level it varies from 50.000 – 70.000 Ugandan Shilling, while a private secondary or advanced level is between the same range as a primary school. It also depends, where in Uganda you go to school. Kampala is often more expensive but also much better.
As I learned, many families within the Ruboni Community Development Project have been helped to finance the school fees however the families do have to pay a small part of this fee, approximately 10-25%. What often happens is the fact that an older sister pays for a younger sibling to go to school.

As the primary school is from 8am to 4pm, a lot of children live in a hostel close by school. Therefore the school becomes quite expensive. However there are families whereby the children have to walk a distance of almost 15–20 km every day to go to school. However most children live within a range of 1-6 km of school. This is not a flat walk, but a walk uphill and downhill.
The walk I have to take to reach the office, alongside this road there is a small road which reaches after another half a kilometer a primary school however the close by high school can be found in the village 1 km further than the village I have to be. This means, from the place I am staying I would have to walk to a high school almost 3,5–4 km, while the primary school will be less than 2 km. As I know there are some families further up the mountain, living within the range of the border of the National Park they walk between 4-7 km depending if they go to a primary or high school.

As I travel I have seen different school systems and I think although it is not always the best regarding the divisions we, in The Netherlands, have in high school. But at least it matches someone’s potential and ensures most children finishes high school. As dropping out of school is almost impossible.

Joëlle