Hand preference survey of 5136 school children in Western Uganda

Few handedness studies have been conducted with African populations. Our preliminary survey of 5136 primary school students from 16 schools in Western Uganda (age range: 4 to 19 years old) found that 4.8% (n = 248) wrote left-handed. Of the 248 left-handed writers, there were more males (57.3%, n = 141) than females (42.7%, n = 105). The average frequency of left-handed writing in males was 5.6%, while the average for females was 4%. Of the 24 primary school teachers we interviewed, half (n = 12) expressed no desire to have left-handed students switch to writing right-handed, and 29% (n = 7) advised left-handed students to write with their right hands, but did not insist upon their doing so. Only 17% (n = 4) could be described as strongly urging left-handed students to switch writing hands, with one comment (4%) not applicable. While handedness is not defined by a single manual activity (especially one sensitive to social pressure), this survey documents the incidence of left-handed writing among primary school children of Western Uganda.