School hunt
Ugandans’are breeding with urgency!
Women are pushing out babies at an alarming rate, alas! Our schools are filled to capacity. No wonder the women’s section in the New Vision is constantly addressing pregnancy and childbirth.
I once brushed off stories of parents’ registering their unborn children on school waiting lists. Because excellent schools were readily available in Texas, all one needed was to find a house in a good school district. Now that I’m home, I face the Ugandan reality - there is no room! Day care centers are packed, pre schools are jammed, primary schools are overflowing and since Mich has not been in the system, squeezing him in is proving to be harder than uprooting banana stumps.
Apparently children introduced to learning abroad (America, UK) find it difficult to embrace the Ugandan system. Ugandans are steered by rote learning while the American system is based on the Psychology of the child, his state of mind and his emotions.
One school had the head teachers sighing and shaking their heads when I mentioned that my little boy had done preschool in America. By the end of preschool here, Ugandan children are on to a good reading pace and copying work off the black board. Looks like my little man will have to warm a sit in kindergarten a little longer. I would rather he picks up at his pace, saving me the hustle of dealing with mystery illnesses on Monday mornings.
Meanwhile, the craze for the International School system has hit almost every young family like an epidemic. If your child is not in or on the waiting list for Word Of Life, Vine, Montessori, Aga Khan, and the like, then be afraid, be very afraid. The Primary Leaving Exam (P.L.E) system is now ancient. While it worked for us in the glorious days of Kitante Primary School, Kampala Parents, Nakasero, Buganda Road, and others in that vein, (we turned out alright yeeee!!), mentioning such schools now is likened to setting your child up for failure. Never mind that much of this is an effect of peer pressure;- because Clare takes her kids to school x, I must take my kids there too. As I fight the urge to follow the crowd, not that I have much of a choice in the matter seeing as all the places are taken, but I will admit, Universal Primary Education (UPE) sucks and the basis of class promotion gives me a bad stomach.
So, caught between a rock and a hard place, what does a woman do?
The origin of home schooling!
Women are pushing out babies at an alarming rate, alas! Our schools are filled to capacity. No wonder the women’s section in the New Vision is constantly addressing pregnancy and childbirth.
I once brushed off stories of parents’ registering their unborn children on school waiting lists. Because excellent schools were readily available in Texas, all one needed was to find a house in a good school district. Now that I’m home, I face the Ugandan reality - there is no room! Day care centers are packed, pre schools are jammed, primary schools are overflowing and since Mich has not been in the system, squeezing him in is proving to be harder than uprooting banana stumps.
Apparently children introduced to learning abroad (America, UK) find it difficult to embrace the Ugandan system. Ugandans are steered by rote learning while the American system is based on the Psychology of the child, his state of mind and his emotions.
One school had the head teachers sighing and shaking their heads when I mentioned that my little boy had done preschool in America. By the end of preschool here, Ugandan children are on to a good reading pace and copying work off the black board. Looks like my little man will have to warm a sit in kindergarten a little longer. I would rather he picks up at his pace, saving me the hustle of dealing with mystery illnesses on Monday mornings.
Meanwhile, the craze for the International School system has hit almost every young family like an epidemic. If your child is not in or on the waiting list for Word Of Life, Vine, Montessori, Aga Khan, and the like, then be afraid, be very afraid. The Primary Leaving Exam (P.L.E) system is now ancient. While it worked for us in the glorious days of Kitante Primary School, Kampala Parents, Nakasero, Buganda Road, and others in that vein, (we turned out alright yeeee!!), mentioning such schools now is likened to setting your child up for failure. Never mind that much of this is an effect of peer pressure;- because Clare takes her kids to school x, I must take my kids there too. As I fight the urge to follow the crowd, not that I have much of a choice in the matter seeing as all the places are taken, but I will admit, Universal Primary Education (UPE) sucks and the basis of class promotion gives me a bad stomach.
So, caught between a rock and a hard place, what does a woman do?
The origin of home schooling!
Word of Life is good for the little man.i know about this school.it gives a good education and also spiritual education.
ReplyDeleteHome school? wouldn't you hurt Mich's social development? i am biased like that...Ug is for hustling and under-hand deals, hope you find a great place for him; have no opinions on schools yet, besides knowing that the ones we went to are now crap(as u said)
ReplyDeleteHey, might be worth asking my mom for advice. When we moved back to Uganda, she had to get 5 of us into schools and it was very difficult! We were from a different Education system (UK) and we had NO UGANDAN CONTACTS. She managed to get us all into good schools. You've got her phone number, she'd be happy to share good tips with you
ReplyDeleteRobyn - WOL is a good school, it's getting in that is really tight.
ReplyDeleteSleek - I totally feel you, not sure I can handle homeschooling anyway.
Kymbugs - Thanks big time, I will call mom and get some advice.