The teaching and learning of Religious Education in Ugandan Schools after fifty years: A critical analysis

Abstract

Religious Education (RE) is a value-oriented subject that has been part of the Ugandan curricula since independence. Its main purpose, as stated by the National Curriculum Development Centre (NCDC) is to promote the development of moral, ethical, and spiritual values. It is an academic discipline, which is geared to the development of an inquisitive and critical approach to fundamental questions of religion and human existence. However, the extent to which the aims and objective of RE have been achieved is a subject of contention. There is no lack of evidence of all sorts of moral, ethical, and spiritual anarchy in the Ugandan society, which calls for a scholarly investigation into the content, methodology, and evaluation techniques in the teaching and learning of RE in primary and secondary schools. The study is based on textual information, observations, and personal experiences and purposeful interactions with fellow RE teachers. It is our opinion in this chapter that RE in Uganda's primary and secondary schools has been reduced to cognitive achievements without emphasis on the affective domain. The teaching and evaluation emphasise cognitive output rather than behavioural outcomes. Keywords: Religious Education, moral values, teaching/learning religion.