Browsing by Author "Bweyale, Josephine"

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    ‘Do Not Separate Sexuality Education from Religious Teachings’: Parents’ Perceptions and Suggestions towards Sexuality Education in Uganda
    (East African Journal of Traditions, Culture and Religion, 2023) Bweyale, Josephine; Sekaye, Nanfuka Annette
    The Uganda government designed a framework to teach sex education in Uganda primary schools starting from pre-primary school at the age of three up to high school. Sexuality Education (SE) is intended to be a school intervention to provide the right information to young people misled by peers, the media, and social networks that are now easily accessible. Besides, sexuality education is meant to be a school-based intervention to curb the increasing rates of premarital pregnancies that lead to school dropouts of teenage girls. However, the mention of sexuality education creates unease among parents, teachers, and policymakers. There are arguments and counterarguments that sex education potentially leads children into sexual immorality and permissiveness and sexualises the children. On the other hand, there are sections of people who are convinced that sex education is important and timely and important in Uganda. There have been barriers to the implementation of sexuality education in different contexts. The barriers include political, cultural, religious, and social concerns that influence the effective implementation of sexuality education. Besides, parents are critical in implementing any teaching about sexuality because they provide basic sexual information and knowledge to their children. For instance, they discuss issues concerning hygiene, and sexual health, such as STDs, abstinence, virginity, and relationships with their children. Binti et al. (2020) and Turnbull et al. (2008) stated that parents are influential in teaching sex education because they influence their children’s behaviours and sexual identity formation. Therefore, their opinions and attitudes are fundamental in handling sex education. In African contexts, parents impart knowledge and skills about puberty, courtship, and marriage. It is against this basis that the article discusses the perceptions and attitudes of parents towards teaching sex education in primary schools in Uganda. The article focuses on the following questions; (i) Is there a need for sexuality education? (ii) What is the appropriate content for sexuality education? (iii) Who is the best teacher for sexuality education? and (iv) What is the appropriate age for sexuality education in Uganda?
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    Teaching Religion OR about Religion: The Paradox of Religious Education in Secondary Schools in Uganda
    (East African Journal of Traditions, Culture and Religion, 2021) Bweyale, Josephine; Tugume, Lubowa Hassan
    The article reviews the teaching of Religious Education in schools in Uganda. Uganda is a religiously pluralistic country with Christianity and Islam the most popular. Ugandans are theists, their worldview is religious and they are passionate about their faiths. Therefore, Religious Education is a fundamental subject since the early years of education as it marked the beginning of formal education in Uganda. However, whilst Uganda has a diversity of religions such as Christianity with its different sects, Islam and its sects, Hinduism, Buddhism, and Sikhism, the education system considers only Islam and Christianity. Therefore, the article discusses whether the teaching of Religious Education where only Christianity and Islam are considered is justified to be referred to as Religious Education. The article concludes that there is a mismatch between the NCDC (2008) stated goals, objectives and content of Religious Education. The objectives and goals portray a false image that RE is intended to expose learners and to achieve educational purposes. Yet, the content, approaches and teaching methods are quite contradictory. The implementation of RE in Uganda is purely confessional; it does not aim at educational goals but at deepening learners' faith distinctively. Instead of teaching about religion, learners are taught religion. The article is based on documentary analysis of the Religious Education curriculum, syllabi and teachers' and learners' handbook documents. In addition, the article analysed literature about the teaching of Religious Education including the aims and goals of Religious Education, the pedagogical approaches, methods and techniques in Religious Education in modern pluralistic communities. In identifying the appropriate literature, suitable databases were identified and used Boolean operators and proper search terms, phrases and conjunctions were used. To further ensure the credibility of the reviewed publications for analysis, only peer-reviewed journal articles with ISBN numbers and Digital Object Identifiers (DOI) were used