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Individual project sits at the heart of Uganda’s new Advanced Level Secondary Curriculum, yet its handling has left both teachers and students confused. The curriculum was enacted by the National Curriculum Development Center (NCDC) in 2025 with the approval of the Ministry of Education and Sports (MoES) despite pleas for more study about it. Nevertheless, the scheme was pushed forward and schools had to grapple with the implementation. Thhttps://www.kampalaedgetimes.com/asshu-tororo-workshop-key-insights-on-cbc-a-level-changes/e pioneers of the New Lower Secondary Curriculum who sat UNEB examinations in 2024 were once again offered as the sacrificial lab rats to test run the Advanced Level Secondary Curriculum.
A lot has been making rounds about this ever since then. Today we shade light on General Paper, one of the Subjects in this curriculum which is compulsory to all learners. It should be noted that the paper amounts to 1 point of the total 17 up for grabs. Initially word had it that this paper would be scraped but it was maintained and lately has been giving headache to not only students but teachers too.
In one of the prominent WhatsApp groups housing a number of top teachers, one of them typed an inquiry: “Colleagues, how are you handling these two elephants in General Paper; Projects and Research?”
The above question coming from a teacher of the subsidiary paper is a clear indication that the NCDC training in March earlier this year yielded little or no results. Teachers are still green about the extended essay.
Understanding Individual Project in Uganda’s Advanced Level Secondary Curriculum
To begin with, there is only one elephant in General Paper – that is Individual Project. This entails research, data collection, analysis and presentation, after all is said and done – the students now ought to write an extended essay. However, no clear guidelines or samples have been released by NCDC or MoES to help guide learners and teachers on the extended essay.
The learning and writing processes of the extended essay entirely dwells on the International Baccalaureate (IB) format of extended essay. It requires students to write essays of about 4000 words, using APA 7th edition referencing and citation formats. The only challenge with the IB format of extended essay is that it is a diploma level kind of essay that is more advanced for learners at Uganda’s Advanced level.
Despite the fact that the Advanced Level Secondary Curriculum General Paper Syllabus indicating that Extended Essay is supposed to be taught in Senior Five Term Two, a brief interaction with a few learners who are now in term two senior six has proved it is not the case.
Steps in Handling Individual Project in Uganda’s Advanced Level Secondary Curriculum
First and foremost, the knowledge of Extended Essay Writing and how to collect and understand data must have already been passed onto the students by now as the syllabus clearly stipulates. Secondly, the eleven topics listed in the syllabus such as social issues, culture, education, human rights, economics, agriculture among others plus their corresponding areas of emphasis should be the basis of learners choosing a topic to work on as they kick off with the Individual Project.
After identifying the topic, the learner writes his/her introduction and background. The role of the teacher is to guide and advise them along the entire process. The learners then to proceed to draft their data collection methods. Then they can proceed to the field and carry out surveys, interviews, observations and administration of questionnaires. When they come back for data analysis and discussions, he/she must provide the drafts (notes from the field, recordings and other items collected). These will be evidence.
So, the extended essay becomes the research, while the going into the field constitutes the implementation project.
Here is a sample extended essay:
The Article ” How to Handle Individual Project in Uganda’s Advanced Level Secondary Curriculum ” was Edited and Proof read by Musema Edmond:
Musema Edmond is a teacher of English Language and Literature, and General Paper at Owaffa Secondary School in Terego District. He is a Master’s degree student of Literature at Kyambogo University, a poet, editor and literary critic.
