At what age should children go to boarding school

Babies in boarding school? Are parents abdicating their role?

Who takes a four year old to boarding school? Have parents gone insane?
These are some of the questions being asked as everybody tries to come to terms with the news that five children perished in a school fi re recently. The children, two of them aged four, were burnt in a dormitory fi re which started at about 3:00am at St. Leo’s Junior Academy in Masaka.

Now emotions are running high as critics question on how a school can operate a boarding section for nursery school children without the Government’s knowledge.

“These were babies in school. This is unacceptable,” Mathias Mpuuga, the Masaka Municipality MP says. Critics are also quick to point fingers at parents, arguing that they have shifted their parenting roles to schools in the name of building careers and making money. In fact, some parents argue that they are busy so boarding school offers them a safe haven. “You have no choice sometimes,” says Claire Namatovu, a 45-year-old business woman whose children joined boarding school when they were five.

“You can get a maid who could easily sell your child or frustrate you. Daycare is expensive. Yet you cannot resign because you need your job to survive. You go for whatever works,” Namatovu argues. Sort of a paradox therein, but David Mwanga, a senior educationist and former executive member of the Uganda National Teachers Union contends that parents need to rethink their actions.

“Busy for your child? Take your child to a babysitter and pick the child later after school. I believe there are many good baby sitters and better options than boarding school. Having two working parents should not be a punishment to the children,” he says.

Growing up, Mwanga says there were fewer boarding schools, which were often a preserve of the rich. Now, he feels the mushrooming schools are not just money-minting institutions, but also a temptation to working parents, who are desperately looking for where to leave their children.

“The fi rst time I stepped in a boarding school was in 1964, when I was joining the teacher training college. I was about 16. By then, I was old enough to be independent. A child aged three or four years cannot help himself in case of an emergency like fi re,” Mwanga says.

Victor Locoro, a senior lecturer of psychology at Kyambogo University concurs and says the fi rst six years form the child’s foundation. The child needs to be close to the parent. “In the early years children need close care. If you take the child below six years to boarding school, it is like you are throwing the child into the dustbin! You are denying them the care they need. The housemother at school will never provide the attention the parent would provide,” he says.

As Locoro explains further, issues such as morals, safety, self-confi dence and a sense of development are better imparted during the early years when the child is still at home. “That age forms the foundation and determines the kind of child will be. At school, no one will do that for you,” he argues.

The education minister, Jessica Alupo feels parents have gone too far. “There must be a mental problem with such parents. After taking such a baby to a boarding school and a problem arises, who do you blame? We need to take personal responsibility,” Alupo says.

At what age should children go to boarding school?

Nalumaga explaining to pupils from the blackboard on what age would be ideal for the child to join boarding school, experts agree that it should depend on how much a child is able to cope without the parents.

“Can she, for instance, bathe herself. What about homesickness? Have you been away from the child and she was able to cope?” Locoro asks. Locoro says he joined boarding school at the age of nine. He speaks positively about that experience because he was older.

He admits that he hated it at fi rst,because the reality of being left behind by his parents was much more scary. “But then, because I was older, I pulled myself
together and decided to get on with it. I loved it, all the sport and activity, and I think it has made me a very confident person.” Globally, the issue remains a contentious one. In the UK, around 90,000 children attend boarding school, with the majority joining at the age of eight.

But several studies have suggested that taking a child away at the age of eight or 11 to a boarding school is not the wisest thing to do for the development of the child as it ruptures family attachments. The Daily Mail recently surmised that while children struggle to keep a brave face at fi rst, almost all are later shown crying for their parents.

Their mothers admitted the situation was distressing, but they believe it is in their child’s best interest to go to boarding school. In the US, there is a debate that early boarding eventually leads to hooliganism and bullying among children.

However, with the reality of more working parents, several studies show that if the family is highly mobile and the situation is unlikely to change, boarding school can provide stability and life-long friends often from a young age. However, in such cases, schools are equipped with well-trained early childhood specialists
and psychologists to help the children cope.

Inspection
Uganda’s education ministry seems to have been caught unaware. When contacted on Friday, Resty Muziribi, the assistant commissioner for pre-primary and primary education refused to divulge details on whether the ministry had guidelines on boarding schools.

“Please do not disturb me. You press people, we give you information, but you just keep it,” Mubirizi said before hanging up her phone. Alupo, however, admits that they have had challenges to do with inspection. “We have been having weaknesses in the inspection unit with lack of funds and inadequate staff, but this is going to change. With the new budget, we are going to fund it.”

Bottom line
Legislators call for the ministry to come up with guidelines barring parents from taking young children to boarding school. MP Mpuuga also says there is need to clearly spell out the appropriate age group for boarding school.

Alupo says the ministry officials are to meet today to discuss the issue. She also warns schools to have safety measures in place. “We shall arrest anybody we find with congested dormitories or operating an illegal boarding section. We expect fi re alarms and all the safety precautions in place. We are going to set an ultimatum for this,” Alupo says.