Government
must invest more in the Education Sector.
By
Adellah Agaba
The Ministry of Education and Sports did a commendable job
ensuring that Universal Primary Education was introduced as one of the main
policy tool for achieving poverty reduction and human development in the
country. This was meant to provide the facilities and resources to enable every
child to enter and remain in school until the primary cycle of education is
complete, make education equitable in order to eliminate disparities and inequalities,
ensure that education is affordable by the majority of Ugandans and reduce
poverty by equipping every individual with basic skills. I should say the logic
behind this idea is good. But it’s high time an evaluation is done as to
whether UPE is achieving its objective looking at the just released Primary
Leaving Examination results and pupils’ performance countrywide.
Of all the 560, 784 candidates who sat for the final exams, only 52, 786
passed in division one. A
total of 247, 507 students were in division two, 125, 292 in division three
while 68, 554 made division four. About 66, 645 pupils failed and were not graded. It
was indicated that in about 5,022 primary schools there was no candidate with
first grade. It was also clear that urban schools performed better than their
counterparts in rural schools or what the Minister Hon. Jessica Alupo described
as “Hard to reach schools”.
If there is any Ugandan
who is surprised about the Primary Seven pupils’ poor performance in the just
concluded year 2013 and released PLE results, he or she lives on another planet.
We all remember the constant on and off teachers’ strikes which were seen as an
industrial action by the Uganda National Teachers’ Union protesting
Government’s failure to pay them a 20 per cent salary increment even after a
series of negotiations with the Government of Uganda. The 90 days ultimatum
which was finally brought to an end disorganized pupils and we can’t say this
has no bearing with the poor performance exhibited in the just released PLE
results countrywide.
Teachers have made it
clear that the working conditions are not favorable at all but at the same time
we expect them to deliver high quality services. With the introduction of
Universal Primary Education, pupils were exempted from paying school fees and
as a result parents relaxed leaving everything to the Government ignoring their
simple responsibilities like packing a lunch box for their children which
affects good intentions of UPE. As a result, class sizes are commonly over 100
pupils and the primary school completion rate is about 25 per cent, and
teaching conditions are poor. Teachers’ salary is insufficient for a single
person’s basic subsistence. There is no motivation to have the students learn
while on empty stomachs which explains the high failure rate in Government
schools compared to Private schools.
Among the challenges also comes the
inadequate teachers’ accommodation which can be called insignificant, but is
positively related to failure rate. At times the high rates of absenteeism reflects the challenges faced by
the teachers considering many schools lack housing and those that have are in
poor condition forcing teachers to rent and hence commute long distances, making
it difficult to deliver in class.
Government has made an effort to
provide universal primary education, but despite all the efforts, pupils’ performance
is still poor. It’s time for the Government of Uganda to make an evaluation of
the whole system and invest more in the Education sector for the future of the
young generation.
The
writer works with Uganda Debt Network
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