The Ethiopian leader, Ornstein Omugabe Otahaknisibwa of St. Jospeh’s S.S Naggalama noted that education in the conflict-infested country is subjected to a sizeable mental related hardship and that coupled with financial strain among parents, the academic pressure continues to mount to levels leading to mental and emotional anxiety.
A one-day mock African Union summit debate on the mental and emotional wellbeing of learners in African schools is currently underway at St. Joseph’s Senior Secondary School Naggalama in Nakifuma-Naggalama Town Council, Mukono district.
The seemingly well timed mock debate comes at a time when suicide in schools is turning out to be the order of the day in the country, with reports of suicide among learners over what could be termed trivial issues not deserving the trend.
Alvin Ssekandi, 19, a Kampala-based Lubiri Senior School student up to the time of his death, last week took his life by drowning allegedly over unsatisfactory 2014 UACE results. The 18-year-old Atwine Alvin, an S4 student at Ntare School in Mbarara district took his life for allegedly being forced to bathe, while last month, Maria Ndagire a S3 learner of Mpoma School in Mukono fatally set herself ablaze when her parents declined to transfer her to a school of her choice.
In a directly related incident, a story that went viral was the death of Elshama Ssessaazi of Seeta High School Main Campus alleged to have hanged himself using a mosquito net. The list is endless.
In a well-rehearsed show, learners effectively represented heads of state of ten countries including Zambia, Rwanda, Mozambique, Ethiopia, South Sudan, Uganda, Tanzania, Ghana, Cameroon and Egypt. The debate was addressed by the mock ‘Director General of the World Health Organisation’ (WHO).
In their various presentations, the ‘heads of state’ voiced utmost concern over cases of biting poverty, HIV/Aids prevalence, lack of scholastic materials, poor sanitary conditions in many schools, issues eroding learners’ hope for a meaningful future like absence of adequately trained teachers, armed insurgency like Al Shabab’s insurgency leading to abductions, and a host of other reasons.
The Ethiopian leader, Ornstein Omugabe Otahaknisibwa of St. Jospeh’s S.S Naggalama noted that education in the conflict-infested country is subjected to a sizeable mental related hardship and that coupled with financial strain among parents, the academic pressure continues to mount to levels leading to mental and emotional anxiety.
And the Ghanaian leader, Mahad Kisuule of Hamdan Islamic S.S Nakifuma observed that when mental unwellness is not arrested in its early stages, it leads affected leaners to think that they are a social misfit and not fit to attend school alongside others, and in some cases they get to degrees of believing that the best place for them to go is hell.
Lubiri SSS S6 Candidate Drowns After Receiving Dissatisfying UNEB Results
The president, Kisuule therefore suggested that governments should step up counselling and guidance with the element of promoting the spirit of equality among the learners.
The South Sudanese leader, Mathew Kibaalya of St. Joseph SS who is the host noted that although they are the youngest democracy on the continent and faced with a multitude of challenges, they similarly have an abundancy of opportunities through the spirit of ‘Ubuntu’ intended to build the spirit of unity.
The Rwandan leader, Gloria Kukkiriza said that being the only African country colonized by two European countries Germany and Belgium, they inherited a diversified culture which did not go far in building a society safe from misfortunes like the civil war in the last century and the 1994 genocide which saw hundreds of Rwandans kill each other.
