Best schools in Kampala
Education in Kampala
Due to the vast quantities of oil and gas hidden below the staggeringly beautiful landscape of Uganda, Kampala has left the war-torn city of the 1980’s well behind and is now a happy place to be an expat, offering some of the most spectacular wildlife in Africa, as well as the modern essentials of international schools and shopping malls.
So while the choice used to be pretty limited – and the norm was to send your children to boarding school back home - there are now several schools that live up to international expectations and are recognised by independent international bodies.
While Uganda may have changed enormously over the last 30 years, this country is still attached to the memories of ‘Empire’ as it remained a British protectorate until 1962. Even now, you drive on the left-hand side, learn English in school and, probably, drink tea. However, this is Africa and you also have to navigate the obstacles of endless potholes and manhole covers on the roads (the daughter of a famous BBC journalist was swallowed up by one and had to be rescued with a rope) and be content to live largely on tropical fruit.
As an expat, it is most unlikely that you would consider sending your children to a state school in Uganda as the structure, quality of teaching and the teacher:student ratio, as well as the cultural differences, would make it difficult for an expat child to either thrive or transfer to schools in other countries. Girls are still discriminated against and only around half the students are literate at the end of primary school. Although UNICEF is targeting the worst performing districts with the aim of improving literacy to 75 per cent by the end of grade 6, this is still not an environment that comes anywhere near the exacting standards of those used to international-style education.
Choosing a school in Kampala
Given the colonial past, it is perhaps unsurprising that nearly half the international schools teach the A level syllabus after IGCSEs and that the percentage of schools offering the International Baccalaureate Diploma is relatively low compared to some global cities. Of the all-through schools only one does not offer IGCSEs, preferring to teach the complete (barring the Careers option) International Baccalaureate Programme. At primary level (including in the all-through schools), an adapted English national curriculum is available, with one odd man out that teaches an American curriculum up to age 14.
In almost all cases, international schools mean getting in the car. However, most of the schools are less than 30 minutes away from the two main areas where expats tend to live - unless, of course, the truly appalling traffic has one of its no-go days. The furthest away (wherever you live) takes 45 minutes.
Most of the schools we recommend are independently accredited by either the Council of International Schools (CIS) or the independent American agency the Middle States Association of Schools and Colleges (MSA). One school is accredited by both. A couple of others are Accredited Members of the Council of British International Schools, COBIS.
