Uganda’s Education System

I said in a previous blog I would try to explain Uganda’s education system in more detail in a later blog. That is this blog. (As a side note, I spent so much time explaining the U.S. system that it feels weird to explain things the other way!) I’ll do that and then explain what the school I am teaching at is and what it does.

            First it should be noted that in Uganda one has to pay to go to school. This is true even for “public schools.” I believe those are called that because the government pays for part of them, so they are cheaper but usually not free like U.S. schools (I describe this in more detail further down). Education is not legally required here like it is in the U.S. All of this may change: the government is trying to pay for more of schools and may require schooling once that happens, but as of now this is true. Also, Uganda’s education system is based on the UK system – you might call it a colonial inheritance – so if you understand the British system, you have a leg up. It may be important to note, that boarding schools, both primary and secondary are more common here than in the U.S. That may just be my perception though, staying at two boarding schools here. A teacher here told me that it is wrong to say most schools in Uganda are boarding schools, something I had assumed. At the primary and secondary near I where I am (not the school I am teaching at) local students who live at home do come here, but it is also a boarding school where students live. In the U.S. universities are the only boarding schools, for all practical purposes (I know boarding schools for lower levels exist in the U.S. but they are not common).

            Okay, so there are two schools in Uganda, primary and secondary. In Primary, one is in Kindergarten for three years and then has seven years of normal primary. Kindergarten, I think is more like preschool in the U.S. system or at least preschool and kindergarten (the first few years being like our preschool and the last year like our kindergarten). The kids go there for a few years as they learn the very basics. There are then national exams in P7, which are important for admissions offices in secondary schools. In the first three years, there are also exams to help determine whether students should advance to the next year. I don’t know much of the details of primary schools as I have only worked at secondary schools. After kindergarten, the first year at primary is called Primary 1 or just P1, the next P2, and so one up to P7; this is the equivalent to grades. In P1, one doesn’t learn subjects, just to say write, draw, etc. This starts in P3. Religious curriculum starts in P3 as well. Most religious education is Christian, both Christian private schools and government schools. Muslim schools teach Muslim education though. It seems that most schools have some sort of religious affiliation though. I think this is partially due to a heavy emphasis on religion here and a history of schools being funded by religious institutions (this was certainly true during the colonial period).

            Secondary school lasts six years: Senior 1 or S1, S2, etc. Notice, that unlike in the U.S. where grades have the same number system for one’s whole education, in secondary you refresh the count. Now, S5 and S6 are called “advanced levels.” If you are doing your math correctly, P5 would be the equivalent year as 12^th grade. (P1 matches with 1^st grade, P2 2^nd, up to P7 7^th, and then S1 would be like 8^th grade, and so on.) S6 would be are equivalent to a freshmen in college. As a matter of fact, universities are three years here to reflect that. (As a side note, university students in Kampala would be confused when I said that I just finished my third year and then that I was still a college student. It took me a while to realize that third year was their final year.)

            So back to S5 and S6. In these years the students specialize in three or four disciplines. Examples include PEM (Physics, economics, and mathematics), MEG (Mathematics, economics, and geography), PCB (stroke mathematics, chemistry, and biology), PCM (stroke physics, chemistry, and mathematics), DHEG (stroke divinity, history, economics, geography), HEG (history, economics, geography), LEG (literature, economics, geography), HED (history, economics, divinity), and HEL (history, economics, literature). There are more, but I think you get the point. “Stroke” means during it more intensely. For example with math, if they stroke math they learn pure mathematics instead of subsidiary mathematics, a more advanced version with more emphasis on theory. I know because I teach pure mathematics for S5 here (more on that later). There are national exams taken in S4, which help determine what to specialize in. The national exams you take are in S6, which are used for university admissions, are heavily based on one’s specialty.

The national exams in S4 also help determine admissions into advanced level schools. Many secondary schools, particularly private ones, have advanced levels, and from what I can tell, a student has to pass the exams in S4 to be able to advance to S5 there. There are also though advanced level schools, which only teach S5 and S6. Cornerstone Leadership Academy (CLA) is one of these schools, and it is also the school I am teaching at.

So in addition to other things, one of Cornerstone’s (the organization I am interning for on HNGR) is to run these advanced level leadership schools. The boys school I am at is the first one, though they also now have a girls school with the same goal and other similar schools in Rwanda, Tanzania, and is building one in South Sudan. The goal of these schools is to develop future leaders of Uganda. 25 students each year are selected from poor families or situations, and they come for the last two years of their secondary. Everything is paid for, one reason the admissions rate is only 25. The students are also intentionally picked from all over Uganda, in other words from each of the different regions and also from different tribal and religious affiliations. This is on order to help bridge differences here. After school, Cornerstone helps facilitate a university education and then employment afterwards, but the details of this I am unsure of as I don’t do that work.

At the CLA, I teach mathematics and computer use. More specifically I teach pure mathematics (think advanced or theoretical) for S5, subsidiary math for S5 (subsidiary means “less rigorous” math for non-math people, particularly artsy people), and computer use for S6. By computer use I mean mostly basic computer use: how to type, how to open up files and programs, Microsoft Word, etc. Many, although not all, it seems have never used a computer before or have had rather limited experience with one. Because these are necessary for universities here, CLA wants me to go through the basics of how to use one. This is what I am teaching right now. Things may be added.

Here is a quick note on the different types of schools in Uganda. In 1997, the Ugandan government started UPEs (Universal Primary Education). “Universal” means something similar to what “public” would: the schools are free, open-to-all, and paid for by the government. The schools got flooded with students though with classes having hundreds of students. They were thus not always the most efficient. In 2007, the government also started USEs (Universal Secondary Education), the same thing but for secondary. These used to go only from S1 to S4 (hence the importance of advanced schools), but as of this year, the Ugandan government passed legislation for them to go through S6. Most private secondary schools go through S6. There are also private schools. Most schools are private schools as a matter of fact. The number of government schools is less. Due to the flooding of students in their schools, the government also made a quote system: the government pays for a certain amount for each child’s education, whether they go to public or private schools. Private schools are much more though, the amount of money is not enough to pay for costs, so the students would have to pay for the rest. I will discuss the effects of this in more detail in a later blog. These are also called UPE or USE. I am unsure the amount the government pays for each student is enough, that is I am not sure all private schools are greedy and expensive (although some are), but that the amount it takes to run a school is more than the amount the government can provide. This makes for under-funded public schools as well. It should be noted that schools are notoriously underfunded, particularly primary schools, and it seems particularly public schools. Seeing any Ugandan school, which I’ve been at two, is enough to notice that.