Travelling upcountry, especially to Moshi, Arusha, Tanga, Mbeya and Iringa regions in January is really a problem, as transport becomes very expensive.

This is because pupils travel back to boarding primary and secondary schools located in these areas, and their parents are confidently sure that education offered in these schools is good.

Apart from the academic performance, parents expect that by interacting with others, their children might be able to learn more positive issues, and thus be knowledgeable of other things they couldn’t learn in a classroom.

Since education system was privatized in this country over a decade ago, parents face the boarding school enigma. They ask themselves the following question. ’Should we or shouldn’t we send our children away from us?

For example, one city-based parent is currently lamenting, after his 12-year old son, who was studying in one of the boarding primary schools upcountry started showing all signs of homosexuality.

The couple has sent the boy to a local psychiatric, who has confirmed that the young lad is now showing all homosexual tendencies, which he say were acquired while in school.

With such behaviours, can parents risk staying away from their children who are still in primary schools?

Despite the above observation, which could be a rare case, boarding schools still present a more varied set of other challenges, when it comes to teen development, both for parents and children.

For example, it is difficult for a parent based in Dar es Salaam to frequently visit their children studying in remote areas due to some factors, including transport and commitment to their daily duties.

Often, parents who relocate to different places due to work opt for boarding schools for their children, so as to remove discontinuities in their children’s education, and that can be emotionally unsettling for teens to repeatedly leave their friends and familiar surroundings behind.

Academicians argue that a boarding school provides a greater level of stability in terms of the overall educational and social environment, and they offer ample extra-curricular activities that allow children to better explore their interests and potential.

Many people who went to non-residential schools lament the fact that their teachers did not know them well enough to contribute more effectively to their overall development.

Aloyce Shayo, a city based contractor says he finished his A-level education at Moshi- based Lyamungo Secondary School in early seventies, without being known to most of the teachers.

Parents who send their teens to boarding schools have fewer day-to-day interactions and significantly less time to spend with their teens during their formative years, and as a result, they complain that they could not fully and effectively contribute to the teen’s development due to time and proximity constraints.

On the other hand, teachers in boarding schools complain that they do not get enough support from parents who tend to rely excessively on the school. Above all, many boarding school alumni have one predominant complaint – homesickness.

The boarding school decision clearly must account for a large number of factors, including the particular teen’s personality, emotional needs, the distance, and parents’ commitment to staying in touch with the child.

The decision to send teenagers to boarding schools should be based on a thoughtful analysis of the child in question, in light of the unique challenges associated with growing up away from home.

Advantages of sending a child to a boarding school include greater scope for independent and experiential learning, more self-reliance and time management, and more opportunities for teamwork and to explore interests/potential.

Others include the possibility for teachers to know and understand the students well, better opportunity for self-assessment through extra-curricular activities, and lifelong friendships and traditionally stronger alumni networks.

Negatives associated with sending a child to a boarding school could be homesickness and fewer bonding opportunities with parents.

Others are lack of well-rounded social exposure, more affected by teacher favouritism, and inferiority complex from seeing others excel in sports and academics.

Close interaction between teens from different socio-economic backgrounds could cause resentments and insecurity, and pupils in boarding schools have the possibility to fall into destructive groups.