TESS

Most students in Uganda experience a variety of difficulties and challenges in their home and school environments.

Challenges affecting intellectual development

• Large classes of 80-200 students
• Lack of hands-on experience and resources for practical work
• Limited teaching methods and learning by rote make it difficult for students to benefit from and apply learning
• Frequent and excessive beatings instil fear and a negative learning atmosphere
• Lack of encouragement, praise and rewards for achievements and progress

• Compulsory study periods until about 10.00pm and starting again between 3.00am and 5.00am every day mean students are exhausted and unable to learn properly
• Little or no leisure time, even at weekends
• Teachers are often not paid regularly or adequately and so may have low morale and commitment
• Poor teacher training and lack of in-service training

Challenges affecting emotional health

• Post Traumatic Stress and clinical depression are quite common but usually not recognised and treated, which seriously affects students’ physical health and academic achievement
• Bullying by teachers and peers is rarely dealt with
• Exhaustion due to sleep deprivation
• Children are beaten for the slightest misdemeanours, including falling asleep in class, forgetting a book or failing a test

Challenges affecting physical health

• Lack of adequate sleep causes ill health whilst at school as well as problems later in life
• Long hours spent studying when it is dark means students are at high risk of being bitten by mosquitoes, leading to a high incidence of malaria
• Students are given beans and maize (posho) twice a day, with no fresh fruit, vegetables, milk or eggs

• Shortage of clean drinking water leads to sickness such as headaches, urinary infections and typhoid
• High incidence of heartburn which is not treated appropriately
• Overcrowded dormitories, with only basic facilities and few mosquito nets

Challenges due to family and social conditions

• About eighty percent of girls in rural areas drop out of school - lack of fees, forced pregnancies and early marriages are major causes
• Students often have prolonged absences from school when they are sent home for sickness (which therefore often goes untreated) or the remainder of their school fees
• Sickness, poverty, lack of food and other problems amongst the family at home causes students anxiety and distress whilst at school which inhibits learning