Second-term holidays come with a lot of academic pressure, especially for candidates preparing to write their national examinations administered by the Uganda National Examinations Board (UNEB) in the third school term.
Candidates are usually restless, hoping to achieve excellent grades. However, some parents and school administrators tend to force both parties to defy the recent government ban on holiday classes by shifting unauthorized holiday coaching and teaching to online platforms for a fee.
While some parents can afford the costs associated with online lessons—such as providing their children with devices like laptops and smartphones, purchasing internet data, and paying the school or teacher for the service—others are stuck between a rock and a hard place.
“I have two children in candidate classes, but unfortunately, I lack extra phones or laptops that they can use to attend online lessons. Besides, I cannot afford the Shs 300,000 each has been asked to pay to attend lessons for three weeks. Right now, I am focusing on how to raise tuition fees for the next term, which is just a few weeks away,” said a concerned father in Kampala.
Ms. Rebecca Kampumure, the deputy headteacher of Gayaza High School in Wakiso District—one of Uganda's best-performing schools—confirmed that their administration does not conduct holiday classes, as they strive to ensure the curriculum is covered on time.
“We ensure that we complete the Senior Four syllabus by the time mock examinations start, but that effort begins in Senior One. The Senior One curriculum has its designated content, so by the time students move to Senior Two, the Senior One material has already been fully taught. We follow the same approach for Senior Two, and by the time students reach Senior Four mock exams, we have completed the entire O-Level syllabus. Third term is then dedicated strictly to revision,” she explained, adding that Gayaza High School being a boarding school enables students to seek guidance from teachers at any time, including weekends.
Ms. Kampumure added that students need to rest at the end of the term, which is why her school sends a circular to parents and guardians reminding them to allow learners to relax.
However, she acknowledged that parents and guardians in some schools demand extra lessons or holiday classes to keep learners occupied or to help weaker students catch up with their classmates.
“Some parents ask individual teachers to keep their children occupied while they are away. In other cases, it is the parents who request online teaching because when they go to work, the children spend a lot of time on WhatsApp and Instagram. When they are engaged online, they are kept away from their phones and social media,” she explained.
Dr. Augustine Mugabo, the former headteacher of St. Henry's College Kitovu in Masaka, asserted that over his 12-year tenure, students were not subjected to holiday lessons yet consistently excelled because the administration fully utilized the time allocated in the official school calendar.
Dr. Mugabo, who described holiday lessons as a form of exploitation and corruption, said schools must respect holiday periods to let children rest and give parents time to look for tuition fees.
“People must plan and use the official term time to teach. This practice of wasting time during the term and then turning to holiday classes to charge parents must stop,” Dr. Mugabo said. “What happens to the children whose parents cannot afford those fees? If you teach new material during the holiday that was not covered in the previous term, what happens to those who didn't attend? Are you going to skip those topics for the whole class just because some had money?”
Dr. Mugabo, an educator, administrator, and former chairperson of the Association of Secondary School Headteachers of Uganda (ASSHU), suggested that if schools want to keep learners engaged, they should give them revision materials to read independently at home for free.
Emily, a Senior Two student at St. Janan Schools in Bombo, recalled the exhausting holiday lessons she endured while in Primary Seven.
“We would spend only one week at home and then report back for holiday classes. It was hectic. We studied most of the time and had very little time to rest, but I am glad it was free of charge and the extra effort helped me excel,” she recalled.
Government position
Education Minister Dr. John Chrysostom Muyingo insists that all holiday classes and coaching remain illegal, reiterating that children need time to rest and bond with their families.
He noted that most schools advocating for holiday programs do so to generate extra revenue rather than to provide genuine educational benefits.
District Education Officers have since been directed to crack down on schools defying the directive by running holiday classes outside the official calendar.
According to the official 2026 school calendar, Term 2 ran from May 25 to August 21, while Term 3 is scheduled to run from September 14 to December 4, 2026.
