North to get special education curriculum

Aug 30, 2007

THE curriculum for schools in northern Uganda will be reviewed to cater for the special needs of traumatised children. The ministry of education has drafted a law compelling parents to enroll and sustain all primary school-going children in school.

North to get special education curriculum
By Anne Mugisa

THE curriculum for schools in northern Uganda will be reviewed to cater for the special needs of traumatised children.

“The North is emerging from a conflict and we need to focus on the special needs of the children there,” education minister, Namirembe Bitamazire said yesterday.

She said her ministry and the Joint Monitoring Council in the Prime Minister’s office had started a campaign for all children in the northern region to return to school.

The minister added that several teachers were being retrained in handling the needs of the children in the region.

Bitamazire was briefing journalists at the NRM headquarters on Kyadondo Road in Kampala about the progress made in implementing President Yoweri Museveni’s 2006-2011 election pledge of education for all.

The ministry has drafted a law compelling parents to enroll and sustain all primary school-going children in school.

She said the Cabinet had vetted the law, which will be sent to Parliament soon.
According to Bitamazire, the Government has also put up 41 new primary schools in 41 sub-counties. The schools will be ready by the beginning of this year’s third term. A total of 2,320 teachers were recruited and the teachers’ pay was increased to a minimum of sh200,000.
She dismissed reports that only teachers that favour the NRM would be recruited.

“There is a procedure for recruitment. You can also go to the Education Service Commission and look at the list of teachers recruited and see where they belong. We want someone who can teach because Science or Mathematics are not based on political leanings,” Bitamazire quipped.

The minister said the Government was also expanding university education, pointing out that Busitema University opens this year. This, according to her, would cater for the big number of qualifying students in the eastern region.
Career guidance is being intensified to help students choose appropriate courses.

She also said all teachers should teach children about the Commonwealth adding that the Uganda National Examinations Board (UNEB) will start examining students on the Commonwealth.

She was concerned that teachers were not teaching children facts about their country, yet children of similar ages in the western world can discuss important issues concerning their countries.

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