Uganda's Ibanda schools receive science kits to boost practical learning

In a move to bolster science education, twenty government-aided primary schools in Uganda's Ibanda District have been equipped with science kits. The initiative, spearheaded by the Ministry of Education and Sports, aims to improve practical learning experiences and boost student performance in science subjects.

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The Ministry of Education and Sports allocated these science kits to twenty government-aided primary schools in Ibanda Municipality. The selection considered the fifteen best-performing schools and the five least-performing schools in the 2025 PLE.

The distributed kits contain essential materials for hands-on teaching, including electricity experiment sets, measurement tools, and magnetism equipment. The handover ceremony, held in Ibanda Municipality, saw education officials emphasizing the importance of these resources for fostering a deeper understanding of scientific concepts through practical application.

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While we want to reward excellence, we also want to support schools that are struggling so that they can improve through practical learning.

Johnson Abakunda, Ibanda Municipality Education Officer, explained that the beneficiary schools were chosen based on their results in the 2025 Primary Leaving Examinations (PLE). Fifteen top-performing schools and five that struggled were selected. "While we want to reward excellence, we also want to support schools that are struggling so that they can improve through practical learning," Abakunda stated.

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For a long time, we have been teaching science largely through theory because we lacked the necessary equipment. These kits will help learners understand scientific concepts better through practical demonstrations, which will ultimately improve their performance.

School administrators welcomed the initiative, noting that a lack of adequate equipment has long hindered effective science teaching, often forcing lessons to rely heavily on theory. They expressed confidence that the new kits will make science more engaging and easier for pupils to grasp. Deputy Mayor Fred Manywana praised the investment, calling it "a commendable investment in the future of our children," and appealed for the program's expansion to benefit more schools.

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This is a commendable investment in the future of our children. Practical learning makes science more interesting and easier to understand. We appeal to the government to extend this programme so that more schools can benefit from these science kits.