Kindra Clemence and Dr. Mikaela Dufur, Sociology
Boarding schools are more popular in Africa than in the United States or Europe. In some countries, including Uganda, more than half of all students that finish secondary school spend at least some time in a boarding school. However, there has been almost no academic inquiry into the nature of these institutions. Why are so many children sent away for school? What role do boarding schools play in this society and what perpetuates their existence?
To identify the factors that support boarding school as a social institution, I designed a qualitative study of four boarding schools in Mukono, a district in southern Uganda. The participants were drawn from the populations of and communities surrounding these schools. As a volunteer English teacher in each school, I was able to participate with and observe the students regularly throughout my four-month stay.
My research was guided by “grounded theory”, which allowed me to observe and establish patterns across data as I collected it, without bias. This type of research yielded rich descriptive data instead of statistical coverage.
I spent four hours a day in schools teaching, observing, and interacting with faculty and students. My data was generated through participant observation and transcripts of interviews. I documented factors that seemed relevant to understanding the purpose and context of boarding school, such as cultural traditions, economic circumstances, and teacher-student interactions. I participated in activities such as eating and fetching water with the students, speaking with family on visitation day, observing disciplinary action, and attending talent shows, student council meetings, and sporting events. During these activities, I looked for patterns of values and beliefs that promoted boarding schools as a social institution. Then I coded the data to isolate these patterns and organize the contextual information about the environment and background of the schools.
I found several factors that perpetuate boarding schools in Uganda. The original motives for these schools were religious. English Anglican missionaries introduced formal schooling to Uganda. They built churches with boarding schools next to them, designed to remove children from their native lifestyles and fully immerse them in English, Christianity and Western culture. The churches and schools continue to serve this purpose, as more than half of all private and government-aided schools are church-founded with a British curriculum.
However, because of the developing nature of Uganda’s economy and education, boarding schools now also serve as a sign of legitimacy and professionalism. “All good secondary schools are boarding” I heard on more than one occasion. The effects of British tradition continue to influence the schools themselves, in titles like “headmaster” and “prefect,” and uniforms of wool cardigans, knee socks, pinafores and ties (which, in a nation straddling the equator, certainly testifies to the import of this tradition). Even the poorest schools have unique school colors, a school anthem, and a school flag or coat of arms. These are features that schools adopt to be seen as credible, quality institutions.
Other reasons for boarding schools are economic. Many students come from great distances to attend school. For busy parents, boarding schools serve as a childcare facility. Additionally, AIDS has left Uganda with the highest percentage of orphans per capita in the world, and most families have at least one child living with them that is not an immediate family member. This, coupled with the widespread effects of “polygamy” (a thinly-veiled euphemism for adultery) has created a host of children without capable providers. The purpose of boarding schools has thus evolved from a tool of cultural immersion to a rigorous academic experience and a semi-permanent home for orphaned, abandoned, and other unwanted children.
One of the values in Ugandan society that fuels the boarding school system is performance, which refers to the value of “having things done as well as possible”. For students, this means high academic achievement, as evaluated by standardized national exams. Boarding schools reflect this value because they increase the amount of time children can study, and regulate their activities accordingly. A typical 10 year-old student will wake up at 4:30 a.m. to fetch water, attend classes from 6:00 a.m.-5:00 p.m. with two breaks for meals, attend evening study hall from 7:00 p.m.-9:00 p.m., then go to bed at 10:00 p.m. Students must speak only English, even in the dormitories at night, and everyone is required to shave their heads to eliminate time spent in grooming. Disabled students, who are perceived as less useful, have few resources or amenities available to them, and the schools that integrate handicapped children in their classes have lower admission rates because parents perceive their curriculum to be less rigorous.
Emotional and psychological needs are generally subordinate to the value of academic performance. “Beating” or “caning” (or the threat thereof) is still commonly used to ensure discipline and productivity, although it has now been formally outlawed in government schools. Most people believe that attending boarding school has a positive impact even on young children because it teaches desirable behavioral traits, such as independence, organization, and responsibility. They acknowledge the value of “motherly love”, but feel that it can be sufficiently filled by the role of a female matron.
One of the biggest obstacles I encountered in this study was correcting a lot of false notions that I had before going to Africa, such as the exclusive nature of boarding schools (most are mixed day and boarding). Also, while some children are “sent away” to boarding school, many of them are simply left there, and like many families in Uganda, the schools find a way to make do.
The children in Ugandan boarding schools are there for many reasons. These include the tradition of colonialism, economic difficulty, and pressure to achieve. With such an overwhelming number of children growing up in these schools, future research is needed to identify their implications and understand their long-term im
References
- “Uganda-Secondary Education”. Education Encyclopedia. http://education.stateuniversity.com/pages/1587/Uganda-SECONDARY-EDUCATION.html
- “Uganda-Secondary Education”. Education Encyclopedia. http://education.stateuniversity.com/pages/1587/Uganda-SECONDARY-EDUCATION.html