Welcome to Africanews

Please select your experience

Watch Live

News

news

Uganda bans homework and exams for nursery school students

Uganda bans homework and exams for nursery school students

Uganda

The Ugandan government has directed all nursery schools to stop assigning homework and organising examinations for students at that level.

The government gave the directive, during a review of the country’s education sector on Wednesday, to allow children to develop their cognitive abilities through recreational activities, reports local news portal Daily Monitor.

Primary schools were also banned from using entry interviews to select students who will transition to Primary One, the report added.

The op-ed report said children as young as three years old are given homeworks in some pre-schools which affects their socialisation skills which are critical at that age.

Some schools around the world have banned homework for primary school children which is deemed a strain on the brains of the children after spending seven hours in school.

The Sun Valley Primary School in Cape Town, South Africa decided to cancel homework for its pupils in 2015 as part of a research to measure performance.

The principal Gavin Keller said the pupils excelled after only six months of instituting the policy which allowed them to take off pressure at home.

“We had to rethink the function of education. We asked ourselves, ‘what is the purpose of homework when children are already spending 7 hours at school and how are these kids going to have a balanced life.

“We made sure that the 7 hours they spend at school are so focused, so on task, so full of fun that after school there’s till time to play sport, have their friends around, and in the evening they can still go to bed and read,” he said.

The school gained the support of parents and the education authority after recording an increase in academic results.

A similar policy was implemented this year in Florida, in the United States where the principal wants parents to read with their kids for 20 minutes each night instead of homework.

View more