Have the genius any place in Uganda’s classrooms?

By Irene Nabusoba
No teacher seems to understand Paul, ‘the little genius,’ as he is known in school. At 11 years, Paul commands both the respect and scorn of his peers and teachers by virtue of his reasoning.
“He is an exceptional child; you can easily think he is confused,” says his mother, Joy Ntegge, the deputy headteacher Buganda Road Primary School.
“He never focuses on one task, asks off topic questions and seems to have an idea about everything. Sometimes his inquisitiveness earns him punishments at school.”
Paul is what psychologists term a genius. They are closely related with ‘gifted learners,’ who grab concepts faster than the average child.
Although both categories have exceptional academic ability, a genius has oustandingly high intelligence, perhaps a hereditary condition and is not common while the gifted child may be found in almost every classroom.
Ntegge says apart from a few teachers, who may understand them, geniuses are often branded difficult, stubborn, classroom skeptics, the know-it-all type because they question teachers and challenge them, which may be perceived offensive.
“Sometimes, they ask questions beyond their capacity. Sometimes, they even know the answers and if you are not well informed, you may be embarrassed. They normally give teachers a very hard time and finish their work fast.”
“Unfortunately, we have not been trained in handling such children,” Ntegge says.
She says if not well-managed, such pupils can resort to quietness and may become aggressive. “Some of them even run mad or drop out of school completely,” Ntegge says.
Kirk and Alexander, in their book, Educating the Exceptional Children, say that such pupils ask questions about anything, dominate other children with knowledge of many things they are unaware of and tend to have advanced vocabulary for their age or grade level.
Patrick Ndoboli, a teacher at Grace Primary School in Mbale, says geniuses are extremely rare. “We mostly see what everyone refers to as ‘gifted children’, but they are not gifted as such. They have simply been influenced by environmental factors.”
“They have grown up in good homes on good diets, had responsible parents that develop their reading from grassroots and gone to expensive schools. Such children develop intellectual skills that are ahead of their peers. Dealing with them can be hard because you have to find ways of keeping them interested,” Ndoboli says.
In handling a genius or gifted child, Ndoboli says, “Delve deeper into the child’s background and you have to involve the parents. Then you can devise a system to deal with the child like putting him in a suitable group to match his abilities.”
Arthur Nsereko, a teacher at Makerere College School says, “Gifted learners are very active in class, always dominate others and are often viewed by their peers as superiors, although they are the opposite outside the classroom environment, especially in extracurricular activities.”
At the university, exceptional students may also face conflict as their colleagues resent them; even some lecturers are offended by their extra knowledge.
You will always hear remarks like, ‘Are you questioning me, I’m a full professor. I have read books young man…’
A Makerere University don, who preferred anonymity, confessed that he was faced with a situation where there was an exceptional child, who enjoyed challenging him.
“He would drag the whole class into an endless debate and challenge my answers, which would really annoy me. I started being harsh and then resorted to ignoring him.
“However, I later understood him and used him as a yardstick if I wanted to find out if I were making progress with the lesson. Bright kids ask brilliant questions. They are a motivation because you are able to tell when you are making some progress,” he says.
While the 1989 Kajubi report recommended that special attention is paid to the exceptionally bright including establishing a special school for them, the policy has remained in dry ink. The report said such children could skip some classes for instance.
“The education system must provide for the nurturing of such learners in a systematic way. The students should be placed in appropriate schools and provided with books and extra facilities in the classroom and outside so that they have the best opportunity for developing their talent,” says the report.
The report says a talent search scheme should be initiated by government to search for the talented at the end of primary level using suitable tests and selection procedures.
“These students would be awarded scholarships and provided with special facilities for nurturing of their talent, until they complete their highest level of education in their chosen field of study.
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