(this review was originally published by myself for the University of Michigan)

There continues to be a lot of problems pre-dating the CO-VID pandemic and the state of primary and secondary in education in Uganda such as; poor funding and learning materials of public schools, readjusting the national learning syllabus to cater and be geared to bringing up global citizens by teaching global issues such as Sex education & consent, Climate change, etc. and also acquiring skills in relevant, enriching and vast activities through extra-co-curricular in activities such as farming, debate, coding, and self defence against Gender based violence. The Government of Uganda closed schools indefinitely when the country went into lockdown in march 2020 and in October 2020 only allowed schools with candidates sitting O’Level and A’Level exams to open and a few international schools which accommodate spacious seating and smaller numbers leaving a high majority of schools from kindergarten to high schools closed. My chosen Education access issue is looking at how school attending children have coped and the government’s policies towards education in this pandemic. As an adult, I have been doing a lot of online based courses during the pandemic to build on my knowledge and skills and I recognise my privilege to have a computer and decent internet however this is not the same for students in my country.

I sat down with the first teacher to set up a montessori system school in Uganda back in the 1990’s and lifelong educator Ms. Caroline Mpyisi and this is what she explained as her point of view of the history and current situation of the quality of education in Uganda as a teacher, school owner, and education consultant in Uganda;

“Over the past 25 years the face of education has changed both positively and negatively. Positively meaning that there is greater and more access to schooling because of the involvement of the private sector in education though financially restricted there is a choice.

With the access of internationally recognized and well structured and funded international schools from the private sector that teach and update their syllabi focusing on developing and teaching globally aware citizens through amicable digital learning resources. However, this brings about the mushrooming of low quality institutions that lack resources, poorly supervised, under staffed, overcrowded classrooms, and little to no e-learning resources teaching a disconnected curriculum which has been forefront during this pandemic. This frustrates parents who can’t afford international schools in Uganda.”

In regards to exploring the UN’s SDG4 (Quality Education) and the Uganda Government’s efforts in fulfilling their promise to implementing this in Uganda the INITIATIVE FOR SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC RIGHTS (ISER) reported that insufficient data to determine Uganda’s progress toward SDG4 indicators 4.1(Free primary and secondary education), 4.5(Eliminate all discrimination in education), 4.a(Build and upgrade inclusive and safe schools), and 4.c (Increase the supply of qualified teachers in developing countries) due to lack of available and reliable data on several crucial indicators of progress.

The Right to Education Index (RTEI), in its 2018 country brief stated it was limited by the absence of credible data Status of Implementation of SDG 4 on Education: Is Uganda on Track? data regarding, for example training materials, enrolment, completion rate, and literacy rates.

Where this data did exist, it was rarely disaggregated in terms of urban, rural, income quintiles, and students with disabilities.

A similar conclusion is arrived at from analysing UNESCO’s Country Profile for Uganda.

Indeed, as GoU acknowledges in its reports, the systems by which it tracks its own progress are insufficient and underfunded. Moreover, GoU has only released two years worth of data that specifically addresses SDG4, and those data are missing values for several of the indicators. (Initiative for Social and Economic Rights (ISER), 2019).

In the past year students have been exposed and have suffered in terms of domestic violence, the Uganda police force reported that there were a lot of teenage pregnancies, rape cases, and domestic abuse these acts will psychologically and mentally affect youths especially with the lack of poor mental health support and awareness in this country.

Uganda has recorded increasing domestic violence caseload against women and children since the coronavirus pandemic shutdown was announced on March 30, according to the ministry of gender, labor and social development.

At least 3,280 cases of gender-based violence and 283 cases of violence against children from March 30 and April 28 have been reported to police, according to the ministry’s statistics. (“Ugandan president warns against domestic violence amid COVID-19 lockdown — Xinhua | English.news.cn”, 2020)

Because there has not been any relief given to families that have financially been unable to get by, there are a lot of children on the streets hawking, selling drugs, and getting involved in other illicit activities even due to idleness and not just survival. Also, children are missing out on structural schedules, free medical care, free meals, and productive physical and mentally building activities.

In regards to secondary long-term implications, a lot of discouraged teachers have opted out of the education profession and gone into private business because there’s minimal employment and have less enthusiasm in working in the education sector due to closure of a lot of schools and delayed salaries. Also, education related industries have suffered irrecoverable losses such as bookstores, stationery suppliers, and uniform suppliers.

The Ministries of Education, Health, & Gender need to be more engaged in being accountable and more diligent in collecting data and overseeing their commitment and implementation towards SDG 4.

Also, Education, children and women welfare focused NGO’s such as UNICEF, UNDP, UN Women, etc need to come up with solutions that will restructure and rehabilitate the Education sector in full resolve to the pandemic and the heavy side effects that the youth have been hit with.

Ways of communicating to get their attention would be to launch social media campaigns involving youths, parents, local Politicians, and NGO workers, using twitter hashtags and tagging Parliament, and the ministries and UN Agencies previously mentioned and with some online engagement this could bring about awareness and change.

It is undeniable that the Corona Virus has drastically shaped and shifted Education and has put a lot of students out of school, left them idle, and exposed to abuse. Students are also missing out on free meals, access to health & medical attention which are essential services provided by schools in Uganda.

I am disgusted by humanity and the society that is around me. I have been sitting with this rage in my chest for a while and I am going to use this as fuel to enact change. I’m going to channel this and make this world a better, just, and safer place for women and victims of rape and sexual assault. Because unfollowing this disrespectful bunch and flat out ignoring them in public is not working for me and doesn’t help or change anything.

I chose to become reclusive this year after rapists and sexual assaulters were named and shamed on social media and not because I am scared but because I had merrily and unknowingly socialised with some of these accused in the past and they continue to roam around freely and continue with their daily lives un-touched by a system and a society that forgives and forgets their heinous acts.

I cut off friends and family because I saw and still see these people that I loved and once respected embracing these perpetrators knowing full and well that they have physically and mentally tortured (in this case) more than one woman against her will. One day we were all shocked and in dismay by the outcry of the testimonies and the reminder that sexual assault being as evident and within close proximity and the next day you are hugging or patting backs and sharing tequila shots exclaiming “This is My G!” with these perpetrators.

I couldn’t watch this form of rape apologism and conscious-forgetfulness anymore. (I will compile a list of the popular defence mechanisms of rape apologists but relax for now because today is not your day.)

As I have read and continue to explore deeper into what we as a society can do and the little ways we can stand up and show support for rape victims in an impactful way and deal with these defunct and dangerous individuals there really is no clear path on how we can do this right until we get the government’s attention and full intent to:

1. protect and heal rape victims that speak out against their accusers
2. teach youths about consent and not just ‘where babies come from’ in the classroom.
3. de-corrupting and sensitising rape case correspondents (police officers & health workers)
4. have assaulters and rapists reprimanded and accountable for their actions.

A few facts I picked from the cases in Kampala I have read about this year :

• You will be threatened verbally by the man’s power/money after you have been assaulted because corruption thrives
• The first thing the police officers will ask a woman who reports her assault is what they were wearing
• Men who have been molested don’t really have a platform or a support system in this society because patriarchally speaking you don’t speak about your mental state of emotions and psychological tortures
• The accused rapists will bribe the case file away to shreds.
• If you believe your friend didn’t do it because he denied touching all those girls then you are stupid and you are part of the problem.

what are your thoughts on rape acceptance in your societal environment?👏🏿, Share, and Add on in the comments because there is still a lot more that I know I have forgotten to say.