A Ugandan psychiatry consultant based in the UK has suggested that the government takes a leaf from their UK counterparts and embraces mental and emotional components in the school syllabus, and stops what she called a wrong attitude of looking at the issue as an add-on.
She observed that because the children are going through a generation of uniqueness, the dot com, the youth have access to electronics with its good and bad elements, saying it’s the reason why the World Health Organisation (WHO) announced that after the COVID-19, the next pandemic is mental illness.
Dr. Justine Nakimuli Kigozi Odwongo, a 20-year experienced psychiatrist and on a fellowship for quality component of health services, was on Sunday closing an African Union Summit mock debate attended by ten secondary schools to review the escalating dilemma of mental and emotional wellbeing of learners in African schools, to identify root causes and possible remedial measures to the now phenomenal trend.
The one-day mock debate was held at St. Joseph’s Senior Secondary School Naggalama in Mukono district and attended by members of debating clubs from ten schools. It comes at a time when suicidal deaths are alarmingly escalating in schools, over what seem to be trivial matters that could be ironed out in simpler terms.
The latest being Alvin Ssekandi, a 19- year-old S6 student of Lubiri High School in Kampala who took his life by drowning for allegedly passing with 10 points in the 2024 UACE examinations, something which did not satisfy him. The 18-year-old Atwine Alvin, a S4 student of Ntare School in Mbarara died after taking rat poison in large amounts, for allegedly being forced to shower.
And last month, Maria Ndagire, a S3 learner of Mpoma School in Nama sub-county, Mukono district, fatally set herself ablaze when her parents declined to transfer her to a school of her choice. Meanwhile, Elshama Ssessaazi, a student of the main campus of Seeta High School in Mukono municipality up to the time of his death, is alleged to have hanged himself in a manner still shrouded in controversies, in a dormitory allegedly using a mosquito net.
During the Naggalama debate, students personified 13 African heads of state of Egypt, Rwanda, Uganda, Cameroon, Zambia, Ghana, South Africa, Mozambique, Somalia, Kenya, Tanzania, Zimbabwe, Kenya and South Sudan.
The debate was addressed by the Chairman of the AU summit (Ojok Daniel, St. Joseph’s SS Naggalama) and the General Secretary of the WHO (Kaneene Prince Gershum, Seeta High School).
Dr. Nakimuli observed that the present day childhood upbringing gives out products with a low resilience, with a microwave type of lifestyle and with no problem solving skills. “In the past we used to write to our parents about our requirements and it could take weeks for the letter to get to them and she would bring requirements on the next visitation day; today a student calls the mother in the morning and expects a response in the next few hours short of which they opt to the unthinkable,” she said in elaboration.
She noted that besides poor parenting styles which too has a lot of attachment to the children’s lifestyles, there is the unnoticed genetics (family lineage) and cited a child with an alcoholic lineage whom she said is likely to become an addict.
Dr. Nakimuli also hinted at bullying in schools which she noted is likely to lead to mental problems among victims, but with nobody bothered about bringing the vice to an end.
The Deputy headteacher for the host school, St. Joseph’s Naggalama SS, Vinasio Amone attributed the rampant school suicide incidents to the fact that Ugandan children want to adapt the European style of children’s rights, read a lot through outlets like tik tok which he said has bred a lot of problems in Africa generally and in Uganda particularly.
Amone suggested that the government identifies ways of strengthening the development of counselling and guidance in schools by making financial inputs in the venture beginning with government schools. He explained that mental related problems are more pronounced in government schools.
During the mock debate, the various ‘heads of state’ gave home-based experiences of causes of mental and emotional disorders among learners, and suggestions for possible remedies to the maladies.
The Tanzanian Prime Minister, Mwesigwa Pearl Eliana (Midland High School-Buntaba Mukono) underscored the need to immediately address shortfalls in the education sector, arguing that it is the cornerstone for any country’s development.
“The late South African hero Nelson Mohlahla Madiba Mandela rightly noted that education is the most powerful weapon for changing Africa, and issues like poor infrastructure set ups, shortage of qualified teachers and others should be addressed now,” she noted.
In her take, the Zambian President, Amongin Emmanuella (St. Mary’s College Lugazi) said that although her country has the most spectacular wildlife, its rural population is languishing in poverty, with a big number of HIV affected citizens, and suggested provision of scholarships as the basic intervention.
Ugandan President, Nakato Michella Veronica (Seeta High School Green Campus) lamented that mental disorders among students has of late gone on the rise, and added that due to social and academic pressures, some have opted to the nasty decision of taking their life.
Nakato observed that because suicide is something that brews up as a gradual process, the victim continues suffering mentally while colleagues are proceeding with academics, which further complicates the victims’ matters.” Schools do not follow individual students all the time, thus leaving the student to run the mile alone; let countries conduct research into this matter urgently and seriously,” she suggested.
She also advised learners to learn the art of balancing academics and other skills picked from school clubs, noting that while clubs are helpful in developing their other talents, they should not completely ignore the purpose for which they joined school.
And the South African President, Primer Elizabeth (St. Joseph’s Girls SSS Nsambya) admitted that the education system in her country is one of the most complex with the post-apartheid mentality still looming over their heads.
Elaborating, she said that in the transformation era, the previously white-only schools have an edge above African schools by way of resources and standards, with the latter more vulnerable to emotional and mental tendencies due to inadequacies.
She also singled out corruption saying it is haunting S. Africans, adding a 2020 report indicated that due to the vice, 55 per cent of the population are languishing in abject poverty, making education inaccessible to many.
The Somali President, Zuhra Ahmed (St. Noah Mawaggali SS Mbikko) said armed conflict has bred displacement which is haunting Somali nationals, and that because of conservatism, extremists like Al Shabaab insurgents continue kidnapping students and taking them to war fronts instead of going to school.
In general terms she said, females are considered as second rate citizens thus raising gender inequality. “We have a population where half the population are forgotten; political instability since the 1980s has affected the education sector through an unreliable social economic development trend.
In addition to Al Shabaab extremists having taken control of parts of the country, the language barrier hardship, with over 80 per cent of the population speaking only one language which is local, has had its toll. “Let all of us, civil society, private sector, the international community, come to the rescue of the Somali education sector,” the President prayed.
Other presidents who addressed the mock debate included Cameroonian leader Kaneene Prince Gershom (Seeta High School Green Campus), S. Sudanese head Abitimo Patience (St. Joseph’s Naggalama SSS), AU Chairman Ojok Daniel (St. Joseph’s Naggalama SSS), Rwanda’s Kukkiriza Gloria (St. Cyprian Kyabakadde), and Egyptian leader Kiyimba Darlton (St. Balikuddembe SS Kisoga).
Other heads of state included those from Ethiopia Omugabe Otahakarisibwa (St. Joseph’s Naggalama SSS), Mozambique’s Nyaketcho Doreen (St. John’s SSS Mukono), Zimbabwe’s Mwesigwa Pearl Eliana (St. Joseph’s Naggalama SSS) and Ghana (Nakiberu Mariam – Hamdan Islamic School Nakifuma.
