Instead of the ordinary primary schools, Kalangala pupils attend multi-grade schools where
different classes are merged.
Gladys Kalibala reports

WHAT would come to your mind if you found three different classes studying together in one classroom using the same blackboard? I recently witnessed the situation in Kalangala, which left me dumbfounded. I later learnt that while many schools countrywide, under the universal primary education Schools (UPE) programme are struggling with large numbers in their classes, the story in Kalangala is different.

Here, school enrolment is so low that even with three classes in one room, you may not raise the recommended number of 37 pupils per class.

What first attracted my attention in Kalangala was primary school signposts. Whereas some schools are named as primary schools, others are referred to as multi-grade schools. Having failed to understand why some were called by the former name and others the later, I set out find out.

The following day I went to Buswa Multi-Grade School. The environment was so quiet you could conclude the pupils were on holiday. I had been told that the school had P.1 up to P.7. Because of the silence that engulfed the school, I thought the lower classes were off since they are the noisiest in most schools.

On the school compound I met Mary Namusisi, a P.1 pupil, who told me she was waiting for porridge because she was tired of sitting in the classroom. She led me to her classroom where I met her teacher, Aidah Naluzzi.

Naluzzi said she was handling P.1-P.2 in the same room. With 50 pupils, 40 in P.1 and 10 in P.2, her class was the most congested in the whole school. However, most P.1 pupils were absent.

Naluzzi was using the same blackboard which she divided into two groups to separate work for the two classes. She said she had to teach a related subject, starting with P.1 as P.2s waited for their turn. She later gives out slates to the P.1s to write on and switches to P.2.

“It is a difficult situation because instead of spending 30 minutes on a subject I need an hour to make sure they all understand. P.1s cannot read on their own,” she explained.

Naluzzi said registration for P.1 is always high but by the time the pupils get to P.2, many parents want to transfer them to mono-grade schools (ordinary primary) for a better education. Other parents, mainly fishermen, relocate to other islands.

In P.3 to P.4 classes, I met teacher Fatuma Nakazibwe who looked overwhelmed. Her register showed 14 P.3 pupils and 15 P.4s. The two classes were using the same blackboard. Her biggest challenge was the language of instruction. According to the education ministry policy, P.1 to P.3 should be taught in their mother tongue. English should be introduced in P.4.

Nakazibwe said she conducts P.3 lessons in Luganda then switches to English for P.4.
The grave situation became even more pronounced when I found the P.7 candidates studying with P.5 and P.6. No wonder, I said to myself, they can never compete with the candidates in Kampala schools, where pupils, especially candidates, are accorded individual attention depending on each pupil’s strengths and weaknesses.

Matovu Manisuulu, a teacher, explained that he gives out past papers to P.7 pupils to revise as he concentrates on P.5 and P.6. He then switches on to the candidates.

I left that class wondering whether a P.5 pupil can also register for P.7 exams if he is bright enough since they would have attended the same class. I also wanted to know how they feel when someone is promoted, for example from P.5 to P.6 but still has sit in the same class for three years. However, the pupils were too shy to answer the many questions that disturbed my mind.

Why a multi-grade?
According to Bernard Makubuya, the head teacher of Buswa, the teacher to pupil ratio in Kalangala moved from 1: 54 to 1: 37. This was because of the lower number of children going to school. He explained that if a school fails to have the total number of recommended pupils in a class it will automatically turn into a multi-grade one.

“Teachers are deployed in schools depending on the number of pupils in that school,” he explained. His school has four teachers including himself. He helps teach P.7.
It is unfair that although a teacher like Matovu teaches three classes, he earns a salary for teaching one class.

The unfortunate part is that none of the current teachers in these schools was trained to handle multi-grade classes. Many of them explained that once in a while officials from the education ministry checks and briefs them on how to handle the situation, but this is not enough.

Satellite schools could save the situation
According to Peter Ssenyanja, the co-ordinator of Kalangala District Education Forum (KADEFO), satellite schools are the only solution to Kalangala’s education where many parents are fishermen and never stay in one place for long.
KADEFO is an NGO workings towards making everybody in Kalangala appreciate the benefits of universal quality basic education and work towards achieving it.

Ssenyanja says in order to improve the education system, the Government needs to support public boarding primary schools where children from the neighbouring islands can be accommodated for a better education. He cites the unfriendly child environment at the landing sites and says children need to be helped.

Fredrick Sulwe, another employee of KADEFO, explains that of the 62 islands in Sese, there are only 11 schools, which leaves other places without schools. “Some children have to use boats to cross to school on another island even at times when the lake is so bad,” he explained. Sulwe noted that from mid June to mid August, strong waves sweep across the lake which puts the children’s lives at risk.