The International School Trap- A Lesson For Ugandan Parents- Misagga Teaches

International schools are very good. Let us not lie about that. The facilities are good, the English is good, the exposure is good.

But with the liberty that goes with it, parents need to be extremely careful and disciplined.

Let me educate you where this idea came from.

LESSON ONE: WHO WERE INTERNATIONAL SCHOOLS DESIGNED FOR?

International schools were not designed for fashion. They were designed for diplomats, ambassadors, and UN staff.

Why? Because an ambassador from France posted to Uganda for 3 years cannot put his child in the PLE system, then take him to Japan next year to do KCSE. The child would be lost.

So they created a system that moves with the ambassador. Same syllabus in Kampala, same syllabus in New York, same syllabus in Tokyo. It was designed to fit the ambassador’s category – a child who is always on the move.

It was never designed to be a status symbol for a permanent resident of Buddu.

LESSON TWO: THE UGANDAN FASHION – SOCIAL ATMOSPHERE, NOT EDUCATION

In Uganda today, international school has become a fashionable style for social atmosphere.

We take our children there not because we are moving to Geneva next year, but because my neighbour’s child is there. Because I want to post on WhatsApp, “My son at Green International.” Because I want to say my child studies with muzungu children.

Ask yourself: How many of those children actually climb the education ladder?

Very few.

I have seen it with my own eyes. Many are coping weird behaviors. Behaviors we did not have in our traditional schools.

A child in S2 with dreadlocks and a tattoo, who calls the teacher “bro”. A child in S3 who cannot greet a Jjaajja properly, cannot kneel, cannot speak Luganda, but knows all the lyrics of American gangster music.

You can’t control those kids. The liberty is too much. The system says “let the child express themselves” – but our culture says “omwana agunjulwa kyalo.”

In a traditional school, a teacher could cane you and you would become a doctor. In an international system, if you touch a child, the parent will sue the school.

So, who is disciplining who?

LESSON THREE: THE EXPORT MENTALITY

Let’s make it a good centre for education, yes. But let us be honest about the aim of most people.

Most parents in international schools are not aiming at making a good Ugandan citizen. They are aiming at taking those young brains to Europe, America, and the world of class.

S4, they are gone. They go to Canada, they go to the UK, they go to Dubai. And they never return.

We are busy exporting young brains we have not yet rooted. Remember my lesson of the Okunaba ekyogo? That bracelet from showering Ekyogo was my root. What is the root of a child who has been in international school from 2 years?

He knows London more than he knows Kifuuta Kyotera. He knows snow more than he knows coffee. He knows pizza more than he knows matooke.

Then you wonder why he sells your land in Bukomansimbi to buy a ticket to America.

THE FINAL APPEAL: LEARN FROM OUR PRESIDENT

This is not an insult; this is education. Learn from our President.

His children went through traditional schools. Ugandan schools. Schools with discipline, with morning assembly, with agriculture, with respect.

And today, those children are leaders. They are grounded. They know Uganda because they were educated as Ugandans.

If international schools were the only way to make a world-class child, would the first family not have taken that route first? They had all the money and all the access.

But they knew: Before you become an international citizen, you must first become a grounded Ugandan.

MY APPEAL TO PARENTS

Take your child to international school if you can afford it. But do not abandon your role.

• Be extremely careful. Check what liberty they are being given. Liberty without discipline is destruction.
• Be disciplined yourself. A child you can’t control at 15 will not control himself at 25.
• Give them a root before you give them wings. Teach them Luganda. Take them to Buddu. Let them see coffee. Let them know Jjaajja Womelaka. Let them know their bracelet.
• Education is not accent. A child speaking with an American accent but with no respect and no hard work is an educated fool.

International school should be a centre for education, not a centre for fashion and weird behaviors.

Let us not produce children who are tourists in their own country.

Remember your root before you give your child the world.

In Kifuuta, the Oracles say, omwana agunjulwa luuga.