Title: Mandated Experiential Learning Versus Learner Safety: Analyzing Uganda's Nationwide Suspension of School Trips
Authors: Dr. Arinaitwe Julius
Akampulira Sarah
Nabaasa Desire
Volume: 10
Issue: 8
Pages: 310-318
Publication Date: 2026/08/28
Abstract:
Uganda's 2024 nationwide administrative suspension of school trips and educational tours, issued in the aftermath of a fatal road accident involving school children, precipitated an abrupt disjuncture between the pedagogical imperative for experiential, outside-classroom learning embedded in the Competency-Based Curriculum and the government's overriding duty to safeguard learner safety. This study set out to examine how school administrators in Uganda perceived and reconciled this tension, and to model the structural relationships linking perceived safety risk, policy support, perceived experiential learning loss, and institutional adaptation capacity. A cross-sectional survey design was adopted, drawing a multistage stratified random sample of 420 head teachers, deputy head teachers, directors of studies, and senior teachers from government, private, and community schools across the Central, Eastern, Northern, and Western regions of Uganda. Data were collected using a structured, pre-validated questionnaire comprising five-point Likert-scaled constructs and analysed using univariate, bivariate, and structural equation modelling (SEM) techniques in Stata and Python. Univariate results indicated that respondents perceived safety risk as comparatively high (mean = 3.93, SD = 0.57) and rated perceived experiential learning loss even higher (mean = 3.73, SD = 0.60), while institutional adaptation capacity remained comparatively modest (mean = 2.98, SD = 0.63). Bivariate analyses revealed a statistically significant regional variation in perceived learning loss (F = 4.17, p = 0.006) but no significant association between school ownership type and categorical risk perception (chi-square = 5.97, p = 0.201). The structural model demonstrated that safety risk perception exerted a strong positive effect on policy support (beta = 0.537, p < 0.001), policy support in turn predicted perceived learning loss (beta = 0.468, p < 0.001), and perceived learning loss was negatively associated with institutional adaptation capacity (beta = -0.379, p < 0.001), together explaining between 13 and 29 percent of variance across the endogenous constructs. The findings suggest that while the suspension was broadly supported as a safety-protective measure, it was simultaneously perceived to erode a curriculum-mandated pedagogical function, and that schools with weaker adaptation capacity were least able to substitute alternative experiential learning modalities. The study concludes that a blanket, indefinite suspension is an incomplete policy response and recommends a risk-tiered, regulated resumption framework, investment in school-level adaptation capacity, and closer alignment between curriculum policy and safety regulation.