In Uganda, the world’s longest school closure has left its mark

Schoolchildren’s songs resonate again at the Great Junior School in the popular Nsambya district of Kampala, Uganda. But in the classrooms, the wooden benches are still half empty. Before the closure of schools, decided almost two years ago due to the Covid-19 epidemic, some 400 students were enrolled in this private school. Since it reopened on Monday January 10, “only 72 children have returned, but we are expecting new registrations in the coming weeks”, explains Joshua Bufamengo, one of the teachers.

According to Dennis Mugimba, spokesperson for the Ministry of Education and Sports, it is still too early to know the real dropout rate after eighty-three weeks without school. “This long closure was necessary, he justifies. After a first confinement in March 2020, we tried to reopen certain end-of-cycle classes in October of the same year, but they had closed quickly because of the pandemic. “

This time, he ensures that everything is ready, with 73% of teachers having received at least one dose of vaccine, and the implementation of new health protocols and support for children for their return to school.

However, the authorities estimate that 30% of the 15 million students will not return to class. “During the confinement, many cases of teenage pregnancies were recorded, some adolescents began to work. These profiles will not go back to school ”, explains Saphina Nakulima, in charge of the education sector for the Initiative for Social and Economic Rights (ISER), a Ugandan social and economic rights organization.

In Uganda, more than 650,000 teenage pregnancies were recorded between the start of 2020 and September 2021, according to the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA).

Rising tuition fees

“But the economic crisis is the main reason for dropping out of school: many parents can no longer pay school fees”, continues Saphina Nakulima. This is the case of Lillian Muwereza: a teacher in a private nursery school, this mother of two children has not received a salary for almost two years and survives thanks to some household chores in her neighborhood.

“I am a teacher and I cannot even enroll my children in school, she laments. In total, for one child in primary and the other in secondary, I would have to pay around 200 dollars [174 euros] per quarter, but I have lost all my savings since the start of the pandemic. “

With two confinements and numerous travel restrictions, Uganda is one of the countries in Africa which has imposed the strictest measures to contain the Covid-19 epidemic. These have severely affected the population: since the start of the pandemic, 1.3 million people have fallen below the poverty line, set at $1.90 a day, adding to the 8 million Ugandans already living in extreme deprivation.

“With an average of five children per woman, paying the school fees of the whole family is becoming impossible for more and more households, especially since these fees have increased in many schools at the start of the new school year”, says Saphina Nakulima.

At the Great Junior School in Nsambya, for example, a term now costs more than $50, compared to $35 before the first confinement. “Otherwise, we would not have been able to reopen, explains Professor Joshua Bufamengo. For two years, we had to maintain and renovate the premises, pay our loans, all without any income or government assistance. “

In Uganda, one out of three pupils is educated privately at the primary level, and even more than two out of three at the secondary level. But unable to match the new rates, many parents in the city are now turning to public establishments, such as the primary school in the Makerere district. In the playground, a hundred students in white T-shirts, skirts and yellow shorts advance in single file, their faces hidden. The teachers take their temperature before letting them enter the newly painted buildings.

“They almost forgot how to write”

If the numbers are not yet complete, the director of the Makerere school, Juliet Nabirye, has already received many children previously enrolled in the private sector. His institution does not charge registration fees, but you have to pay for lunch and some activities, or about 20 dollars per term. Nevertheless, “many parents have great difficulty meeting these expenses, which are much lower than in the private sector”, says the director.

Among the new arrivals, the two children of Rebecca Sanaa discover their new school. “I am a seamstress and, with the crisis, many customers have not placed orders for two years, she says. It is therefore impossible, this year, to pay for another school. ” Without internet or television, her children were unable to take distance learning lessons while classes were closed.

“Result: they almost forgot how to write”, she laments. The first days confirmed the fears of many teachers. “Many children have not received any form of education for almost two years, deplores Joshua Bufamengo. We have to start almost from scratch with some and go back to the basics of writing and reading. “

Despite everything, in this new school year, according to the directives of the Ministry of Education, each student automatically goes to the next class. “We have therefore decided to extend by two weeks every quarter this year, says Dennis Mugimba. We have also provided a condensed program of each level, so that teachers can organize remedial sessions during the first few weeks. “

But, for Saphina Nakulima, these programs will not be enough to fill the gaps of the most disadvantaged pupils, in a country where only one person in two has access to the Internet. “The inequalities between the wealthiest classes, whose children have continued their lessons on the Web or with private teachers, and the working classes, vulnerable during the crisis and more at risk of dropping out of school, will further increase,” she worries.