In May 2025, the Ministry of Education and Sports issued guidelines for the safe conduct of co-curricular activities in schools, including school trips.
The guidelines were sent to all local governments, head teachers of both primary and secondary schools, all principals of educational institutions, and all boards of governors and school management committees. This was after the ministry expressed concern at the growing exposure of learners to inappropriate, exploitative, and unsafe co-curricular activities.
According to the ministry’s guidelines, schools are supposed to specify the kind of trips or tours acceptable and approved by the governing bodies, to ensure that all trips are aligned with the educational objectives that are considerate to the financial implications of learners and their families.
The guidelines also call for field trips that support curriculum implementation. That these should take place in and around the school premises to minimise the possible challenges learners may encounter away from school.
Proposed sites under the guidelines are supposed to be communicated to parents and other concerned stakeholders before the trips, which must be evaluated for educational value and safety. Under the regulations, Nursery and Kindergarten learners are not permitted to undertake school trips and tours, and the Ministry is to provide strict controls on the study tours to prevent the financial exploitation of parents.
But many parents wonder whether these trips are necessary or if the organizers just plan to exploit parents. According to the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Education and Sports Dr Kedrace Turyagenda, some trips are educational. ‘For example, when you are learning geography, you learn about crater lakes, you learn about escarpments, you learn about all these things,’ Dr Turyagyenda says. ‘If you take a trip to Queen Elizabeth, you have seen all those now physical, and what you see, you remember, so it’s good for children.’ However, she has warned that not every subject should need a trip and that whatever is being learned should be within the syllabus.
Ms Deborah Wesonga, the immediate past president of the Association of Secondary School Head Teachers of Uganda (ASSHU), and headteacher of Wanyange Girls’ Secondary School in Jinja district, called for the enforcement of the guidelines to avoid exploitation of parents and to avoid losing focus.
‘They need to be coordinated, not concentrated in the same term, and should have clear guidelines for learners to remain focused. For example, the teacher draws questions for learners before they set off, so that they are looking out for specific information or features, to avoid idleness, redundancy, and indiscipline,’ she said.
She also encouraged the full involvement of the school administration, to ensure the safety and security of the learners and to ensure that learners and parents are not exploited by people who plan these trips. She added that even the information about trips should be shared and discussed with parents, during meetings, which in most cases is not done. Ms Turyagenda further advised the trip organizers to avoid long trips that strain parents, leading to missed trips by some students due to failure to pay.
‘The guidelines don’t have amounts of money for charges, but they guide how processes should be done,’ adding that, ‘If they are trips for learning purposes, there’s a lot of learning in the environment of every school and such school trips don’t need any money,’ she added. ‘So, when people have to charge for longer trips, that one has to be agreed upon in a PTA general meeting.’ About charges for school trips, Ms Wesonga warned schools against overcharging parents. ‘Organizers, who are mostly teachers, plan and organise trips in their departments/clubs/games. For example, a teacher patron of Chess wants to take students to participate in a chess tournament, a teacher of agriculture wants to take learners to Kabanyoro University farm, the history department wants to take learners to visit the Uganda museum, Kasubi tombs,’ Ms Wesonga said. ‘But these teachers should find ways of making trips affordable.’
Parents remain concerned
Mr Charles Kitonsa, a resident of Mityana Municipality wonders if school trips are organised for educational purposes, not for generating money.
‘I was directed to pay for a field trip before I even completed school fees. This, on top of giving a time frame to have the field money paid early,’ he said.
However, Ms Turyagenda encouraged school head teachers to ensure that these school trips are not mandatory for those who cannot afford to pay.
‘If they are forcing every child, for example, to go for a trip, that causes some children to miss learning, that’s unacceptable, especially in the UPE and USE schools,’ she said.
‘Because we can’t be at every school to know what is happening, if you are a parent, you are a guardian, and you have concerns, and you bring it to our attention, then we shall handle it according to what we told you in the guidelines.’
Travel safety
In May last year, the Ministry of Education and Sports issued new guidelines on school trips to protect learners. They include: Travel must conclude before 6pm on tour days. Schools must submit approved itineraries including overnight accommodations and designated stopovers. Kindergarten children are not permitted on school trips, while lower primary students are only allowed in exceptional cases. All trip details (routes, number of students, teacher contact info) must be communicated to police.