According to the recently announced Uganda National Examinations Board for Uganda Certificate of Education (UCE), as announced by Executive Director Mr. Dan N. Odongo, boys once again outperformed girls.
According to research, the difference in performance can be attributed to the following issues;
In Uganda, most families have continued to assign girls more roles and responsibilities at home than boys.
When the boys continue to go to school on time and without missing lessons, the girl child is overworked and sometimes misses out on study days due to the hard domestic work and responsibilities assigned to them.
Sexual harassment of young girls is still prevalent among their classmates, teachers, relatives, guardians at home, and other men in the community, such as boda boda riders. This distracts them from class and limits their concentration, resulting in poor performance.
Some girls have such excruciating agony during their periods that they must skip days of school. This is why their performance varies from that of their male colleagues, who have unbroken sessions.
Still on their cycles, some girls who can’t afford pads opt to avoid going to school while they have their periods, skipping important lessons and performing poorly as a result.
In some communities, boys are always prioritized over girls, and if a parent has two children in need of school fees, they will send the boy to school first while the girl stays at home. In terms of competition, this does not favor the girl child.
In Uganda, communities are still pushing for early marriages, so while the girl child is in class trying to concentrate, she is thinking about how she will be married off soon, which affects her mentally and limits her concentration in class.
Female genital mutilation (FGM) is still practiced in some parts of the country, which has a negative impact on the girl child. Girls miss school due to psychological and physical pain, resulting in lower performance compared to their male counterparts.
There are also cases of self-pity and inferiority complexes in which some females have always considered themselves inferior to their male counterparts. This reduces their confidence in class and during other extracurricular activities, affecting their performance in class.
Communities, schools, and parents are urged to create an environment that is just as supportive of females as it is of boys.
