ABSTRACT
Students join secondary school in Uganda at the age of 12, when they have acquired and mastered certain sub-skills of reading. For example, they can read whole simple books or novels, passages and simple poems. These reading skills however are more influenced by academic needs than personal interests. Scarcity of reading materials is a major challenge cited in the literature regarding the teaching of reading in developing countries. Books are costly and the schools often pass on the burden of acquisition to parents. Moreover, in some schools the effective use of books is hindered by the need to safeguard them, perhaps because of accountability to the school, local administrators or even parents. Lysistrata was one of the set texts on the Literature in English syllabus set by the Uganda National Examinations Board for 2009–2013. In the play, Lysistrata is the major character.
