Is Christian Education the Key to Uganda's Transformation?

Uganda is one of the least developed countries today. It has a Human Development Index of 0.516 against the Sub - Saharan Africa index of 0.523 and a world index of 0.717 (UNDP, 2020).   Its GDP in 2018 was only USD 724! According to the World Bank (2021), Uganda’s Human Capital Index (HCI) is so low that a child born in Uganda today is likely to be 38% as productive when she grows up, as she could be if she enjoyed complete education and full health. A child who starts schooling at the age of four is only expected to complete 6.8 years of school by their 18th birthday, compared to the Sub - Saharan average of 8.3.  However, actual years of learning are 4.3, with the 2.5 years considered ‘wasted’ due to poor quality of education. For instance, 83%of 10 - year - olds cannot read and understand a simple text by the end of primary school. This is higher than the average for its region (80%). Moreover, it is ranked one of the most corrupt countries in the world.

Christianity promises to have the solution to the world’s problems, with the Bible proclaiming that Jesus is the Way and the Truth and the Life (John 14:6). Thus, weith 84.4% of Ugandans claiming to be Christians as per the last Ugandan Census (2014), the country should be experiencing tremendous development and shalom. However, as seen above, this is not the case. This implies that either the Bible offers false hope, or that we have not applied Christian Education as envisaged by the Bible. There is therefore a need to reflect once again on the kind of education we have in Uganda, what Christian Education is, and what promise does it hold for our country.

Christian Education has had a profound effect all round the world, and so it cannot be denied that it has the power to transform. It played a key role in the establishment of the earliest Schools in developed countries like Sweden, Netherlands, the United Kingdom (UK) and the United States (US) (INT, 2018). Martin Luther built several schools based on Biblical principles in Germany in the early 1500’s. As a result, a reformation begun that lasted for more than 200 years and took Germany to the period of the Hapsburgs, a period of economic and political prosperity. After visiting Martin Luther, John Calvin built the Academy of Geneva which has since become known as the University of Geneva. He used this as a pilot to develop a curriculum and build several schools. He also developed an economic system from the Bible that brought Swiss Culture to a point where it was the envy of the world. For 400 years that system made Swiss banks the envy of the world

Following John Knox’ visit to John Calvin, he developed an education system based on Biblical principles in Scotland. In one generation, the Scottish peasants had become the best-educated people in the world. The system spread throughout England and the British awakening resulted. As a result, the King James Version Bible was developed. The little British Isles became  masters of the sea and their colonial movement reached round the world. Oxford, Cambridge, Harvard, Yale were all educational institutions that were founded by Christians

In Uganda, Education was originally carried on informally through social functions such as story telling around the fire, initiation rites such as circumcision, and apprenticeship. Reading and writing were introduced by the Arab merchants and traders around 1844. However, formal education was introduced by European missionaries in the early 1900s. They established schools such as Namilyango (1902), Mengo (1903), Gayaza (1905), Budo (1906), and St. Mary’s College Kisubi (1906) (Ssekamwa, 2000).

The Protectorate Government left Education largely to the missionaries, with minimal interference or direction. Unfortunately, in 1963, the government nationalised and took over all denominational schools  However, Government lost control of education in the anarchy of the 1970s’. This led to the rise of Parent Teachers Associations (PTAs) and Private Schools. Private Schools increased because of liberalisation policy of the NRM government in the 1980s’. Today,  the number of private secondary schools, at about 4000, is more than double the number of government-funded schools (MoES, n.d).

However, the biggest challenge of these Schools is that they approach education from a humanistic worldview as opposed to a Biblical one. They thus focus more on unhealthy completion where the grades rule the day. Holistic learning has thus been ditched for cram work in order to pass examinations. The result is unprecedented levels of unskilled, unemployed young people. With 68.5% of Ugandans being below the age of 25, Uganda has the highest youth unemployment rate in the world. Unfortunately, the education offered to them has not helped matters. The covid-19 pandemic since 2020, that has seen Schools closed for close to two years has just made matters worse, with the press awash of hundreds of teenage girls turned into mothers.  This calls for urgent action.

In the midst of this apparent despair, Christian Education offers the solution. Education that invites (learners) to see and understand the world through the perspective of God’s truth. The Bible is the ultimate truth and the lens in which students view what they are learning. (Christian Education National, n.d). christian Education touches the three key aspects of knowledge, understanding and wisdom. Proverbs 24:3-4 (NIV) states that “By wisdom a house is built, and through understanding it is established; through knowledge its rooms are filled with rare and beautiful treasures.” For their to be real building of lives, it will take knowledge (hard facts), understanding (applying these facts to solve our problems), and wisdom (discernment as we apply the facts).

The Bible teaches that the purpose of education is to direct and guide a child onto the route s/he should take – to prepare them for life, and to give them the principles that they are to live by in order to live a fruitful life. (cf. Proverbs 22:6 - Start children off on the way they should go, and even when they are old they will not turn from it. (NIV))

Thus, education involves giving general direction to a child. The Application Study Bible (NLT) Commentary interprets this verse to mean that a parent should draw out the individuality in each child and set them off a course of self-discovery and actualization.  This will provide the child with clear guidance to be able to make it in life on their own (later). The purpose of Christian instruction thus is to help the individual learner to grow into a well - rounded person that makes the right decisions. “Train” infers instruction, direction and guidance.  Education is thus expected to provide guidance and not a rigid frame that each child must fit in. It must celebrate individuality and develop strengths, while minimizing weakness. This will bring out the best in each child, thus helping them become the best that God meant them to be – that is the ultimate purpose of Education – not just to make them great, but to make them the great person that God meant them to be. This can only happen if education leads to Christ, for Colossians 1:16b tells us, “all things were created by (Christ), and for him.”       

Christian Education is also disciplinary in nature, i.e. directing the child the right thing to do. Ephesians 6:4 says, “Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger by the way you treat them. Rather, bring them up with the discipline and instruction that comes from the Lord.”  The parent is thus supposed to use wisdom and direction from God to groom their child into what God meant them to be.  Education must impact and transform the total person.  Such a person will contribute significantly to the development of their fellow human beings and country.

According to Cherry (2020), transformational leadership theory, developed by James MacGregor Burns happens where leaders and followers make each other to advance to a higher level of moral and motivation. “Through the strength of their vision and personality, transformational leaders are able to inspire followers to change expectations, perceptions, and motivations to work towards common goals.”  Cherry points out four components of Transformational Leadership, i.e. intellectual stimulation, individualized consideration, inspirational motivation, and idealized influence. Relating to these considerations, Christian Education, implemented effectively is transformative.  Romans 12:1 charges believers not to be conformed to the patterns of this world but to be transformed by the renewing of the mind. Thus, Christian Education should renew the mind. Once learners are stimulated and inspired they will indeed be transformed.

The Bible gives the appropriate framework for Christian Education to happen. In the Bible times, Education was synonymous with life in the Bible times, and was never a separate event. Right from the Garden of Eden, God Himself educating Adam and Eve about how to live. He provided resources for them, and gave them instruction on their mandate, how to live, what to eat, and what not to eat (Genesis 2:15 - 17). Thus, Education ought to happen within the context of community, with Biblical standards being upheld. To this end, three Institutions can be deciphered as being responsible for Christian Education, i.e. the home/parents, Church, and Christian School. These three do not act as separate legs of a stool, but rather as interwoven, interconnected parts.

The Bible makes it clear that education is to begin in the home (Gen. 18:19; Deut. 6:7; Prov. 22:6; Eph. 6:4; 2 Tim. 1:5; 3:15).  It makes parents responsible for their children and charges them with an educational task.  Children are given to parents by God and parents are accountable to God for the education of their children. The parents are thus responsible to lead their children to Christ and then to encourage them to grow in their knowledge of Him.  This will mean that the parents need to teach their child how to live right in all respects. In this regard, the Parent must collaborate with the Church to receive instruction, and with the School to support the learning process.

The Bible further emphasizes the role of the Church in teaching, in order to disciple and bring believers to the fullness, starting with evangelism and then discipleship, and finally commissioning (Matt. 28:19 – 20; Acts 2:42; Ephesians 4:11 – 12, 2 Tim. 2:2). From the illustration of Moses and the Law in Leviticus and Numbers, we see that God gives Moses the Law, Moses teaches it to the Israelites and they are in turn supposed to teach it to their children. This Law did not involve only worship, but also conduct and guidance in all life.  The Church is thus supposed to equip both the Parents and the School to be able to teach in a Biblically sound manner.  The Church should also be an avenue for discipleship and growth both for the parents and the teachers.  Ephesians 4:11 – 12 shows that the primary role of Church leadership is to support the growth of the believers to attain the full stature of Christ.

In the Bible, we see that education was not only meant to happen in the home, but also in the community. This evolves into the Christian School. The work of the Christian school is an extension of the Christian educational ministries of the Christian home and the church. Its purpose, therefore, is the development of the student in the image of God.  Martin Luther King Jr. emphasized that the function of education is to teach one to think intensively and to think critically. That intelligence plus character is the goal of true education. This impacts on the academic curriculum, activities of the school and all relationships, policies, and procedures that are a part of the school itself. Thus, the distinctives of a Christian school include both Content (Christcentric) and Means (teachers and teaching methods). There are three key characteristics of a Christian School: Its leadership must be distinctively Christian; Its Curriculum should embrace a Biblical Worldview; and there should be a clear spiritual emphasis / instruction over and above the normal curriculum. In providing Christian Education, the School must be supported by the parents, as it is actually playing a role they have delegated to it, and the Church as the .instrument charged with discipleship.  It cannot operate in isolation if it is to be effective.

The ultimate result of Christian Education is transformation into a mature Christian. 2 Timothy 3:17 refers to this as “… perfect, thoroughly furnished unto good works.” Thus, the heart, head and hands of the learner will have been impacted so that they can make a positive contribution to society.  If Christian Education is effectively implemented, it will produce this kind of person, who will in turn contribute to the transformation of their community and nation.