Most schools don't have laboratories to speak of, and students only see something as basic as test tubes on examination day. Maths is a long story, and its sorry state is blamed on many factors ranging from boring overbearing teachers, to the wrong claim that Africans are largely incapable of logic and don't have the problem-solving culture necessary to crunch numbers. The people who make these arguments commit the obvious mistake of thinking that the idiocy of African politicians is widespread among the people whom they rule. The one question that never gets asked with any seriousness is whether Ugandan children get good value for all the money and heartbreaks their parents invest in their education. The answer is no, they get short changed.
Education is possibly the biggest con industry in Uganda today.
Many headmasters and school owners are interested primarily in making a profit. No problem with that, except that they don't give students any decent education at all in the process. Many headmasters want their schools to be the best so that they can charge high fees and still fill classrooms. Apart from outright cheating, they employ two very harmful tactics for getting good results. At the time of registration for examinations, they sort out the smart and average students.