Dear Ugandans abroad,
Sending a child to a boarding school in Uganda is a mistake! Taking ones kids to school here just because you have failed to discipline them there abroad is wrong. There is no school in Uganda that is going to do the discipline for you. In other words there is no school here that is going to do the parenting for you. Schools in Uganda especially the private “good” ones are merely business projects. They are simply interested in your money.
There is this myth that Ugandan schools are better blah blah.This is simply nostalgia. Those schools are long dead- gone with the fundamental change of 1986! I know of many people who brought back their unruly kids to be taught here and they have all failed. Very few have gotten their money’s worth. The kids even got worse from here in Uganda. They learnt how to smoke bhung, marijuana and even cocaine from Kampala!
One of the kids when he went back to London became the boss of the street kids there! He is now serving time in “wormwood scrubs” a BIG prison in London! No sir, keep your kids where you are and where you can personally give them the parental love they need to grow up into responsible citizens.You bring them here in Uganda as a punishment, they will punish you back! Keep your kids with you. There are better schools over there. It’s where the Ministers and big people here in Uganda take their kids. Schools here have been spoilt by UPE,USE and no UUE (Universal University education)!
Just like the health sector has gone to the dogs, so has the education and everything else! It’s only the Presidency (PPU) that still works here! And even this, there are those who wonder …….
The mistake people make is to first bring their kids there in the developed nations then after they realize they are “failing” then “deport” their kids back to Uganda.This is both traumatizing and i think even illegal ! Imagine you are used to eating sausages and eggs, then they take you back to a place where they serve posho and lumonde! You are used to living with your “loving” parents then you are abruptly whisked to live with strangers in a dormitory?
If you think schools here in Uganda are better then leave your kids here and never take them there in the first place. It’s only fair. I have seen Big men cry when they land at Entebbe after being deported. What do you think a young child goes through?
Some people have even committed suicide!
My view is this: Never ever take you kids out only to send them back “Mbu” to learn good manners or how to behave.The standard here have of course gone down the drain kabisa kabisa! I don’t think we shall ever get back to even half of what we had before the “Revolution”!
I earned my living sometimes back advising our people about this. It’s not a new thing. I got kids and I know what iam talking about. I went to boarding schools all my life and i think i got one of the best education our country did provide then. But i swore never to take my kids to boarding school. I just couldn’t imagine myself chewing chicken at home as my kid is somewhere with a rumbling stomach!
Thankfully of the many kids God has given me, only one has been through what i went through.. boarding school at a young age!
Gook Akanga
UAH forumist in Uganda
