The effect of domestic child abuse on child educational performance in Uganda

Abstract

The purpose of the study was to examine the effects of domestic child abuse on child educational performance in Uganda; a case study of selected primary schools in Nyendo Ssenyange Division. Specifically, the study was intended to achieve the following objectives; to identify the forms of domestic child abuse, to identify the various educational activities primary school children engage in and to determine the level of engagement in educational activities by children who experience domestic child abuse. The study adopted a case study research design. Quantitative and qualitative approaches of data collection were employed. A total of 60 respondents constituted the sample of the study. These included 30 students, 20 parents and 10 teachers. The researcher used both the questionnaires and interviews to obtain data from the respondents. The research revealed that domestic child abuse affects the educational performance of children and it places them at risk in different forms which include; physical abuse, sexual abuse, emotional abuse and neglect. Children who experience domestic child abuse engage rarely in educational activities like quiz, tests/examinations, debates, sports, teaching and learning, physical education, music, dance and drama. This is because of coming late in classes, increased absences, school dropouts and increased disciplinary problems. The study recommended that strict laws should be put in place by the Government to decrease on the level of domestic child abuse among children. The community, parents and teachers need to be sensitized on how to treat the domestic abused children. All parents should be encouraged to provide basic needs to every child for example food, water, shelter and education in order to foster good quality educational performance of their children. Also the parents together with the school teachers should work actively in order to change the behaviors of the children and increase the level of engagement in educational activities by children who experience domestic child abuse, the community members should report immediately the offenders who harm the children and also the teachers need to be trained different techniques of addressing domestic child abuse issues in order to help children towards achieving high quality educational performance.