Textbook, pupil ratio to improve
Jul 27, 2003
Under cycle 8 and 9 of government’s textbook procurement project, it is hoped that more pupils will have access to textbooks. However, this remains a dream for many children as textbooks remain locked up
Under cycle 8 and 9 of government’s textbook procurement project, it is hoped that more pupils will have access to textbooks. However, this remains a dream for many children as textbooks remain locked up. Sidney Miria reports
AS Universal Primary Education enrolment in schools spirals so does the need for more textbooks and other instructional materials.
With 7.2 million pupils currently in primary schools there is an enormous obligation on Ministry of Education and Sports to improve the textbooks to pupil ratio from an approximation of 1:6 to 1:1.
This goes for the six subjects of Mathematics, English, Religious Education, Integrated Science, Social studies and Agriculture for P3 -P7.
The current drive by the Education Ministry to procure textbooks and other instructional materials is geared towards meeting this need.
The donor community is funding the multi-million-dollar project and the textbooks are to be distributed free of charge to all government aided primary schools.
Ms. Alice Ibaale, the Head of Instructional Materials Education Ministry says it is hoped that with the procurement of textbooks under cycle 8 and 9, the textbook to pupil ratio will come down to 1:3.
These textbooks have been designed to suit the new primary school curriculum that was launched in 1999. The curriculum aims at promoting a child friendly school and learning concepts.
To the classroom teacher, the textbooks are a welcome relief due to the fact that they have been handling the new curriculum without tailor made reference textbooks.
Samuel Kewaza, a teacher at Buganda Road Primary School says the textbooks have been long overdue.
“We received the first batch of textbooks for P3 and P4 just a few weeks ago,†he said.
Schools expect to receive textbooks for P5 - P7 between November 2003 and January 2004, according to Arnold Ntungwa, a teacher, Buganda Road Primary School.
“In the mean time we have been relying on our own creativity and other relevant instructional material in order to keep abreast with the new curriculum,†he said.
Whereas it is true that more pupils are going to have textbooks in their classrooms, it is also evident that they may not readily gain access to these textbooks as often as they wish.
Esther Luwamanya a P4 pupil at Buganda Road Primary School says that although they can use the textbooks at school, they are not allowed to borrow them for use at home, because they are not enough to go round.
However, there are pupils who never get to look at textbooks because the headteacher keeps them under lock and key.
There is need for the Education Standards Agency (ESA) to look into this and ensure that the beneficiaries get to use the textbooks.
Education analysts say the procurement of textbooks under cycle 9 exhibited a greater degree of transparency in comparison to cycle 8, which was dogged with controversy over irregularities.
The implications of this have led to delays in the distribution of cycle 8 textbooks. The spill over effect from this has slowed the distribution of cycle 9 textbooks meant for the upper primary classes of P5 to P7.
A team of 30 primary school teachers, Swiss Procurement Company (SWIPCO) and International Book Development (IBD) experts conducted the recently concluded evaluation of cycle 9 tender proposals.
The successful publishers have already signed a memorandum of understanding with government and are due to sign the suppliers’ contract after all the schools have returned their order forms.
However, Religious Education textbooks for P1 to P4 and P5 to P7 are to be re-tendered because no qualified books were selected.
The items are to be re-tendered to meet the minimum requirement of three books for each subject.
More importantly a major positive step in the procurement of cycle 9 textbooks has been the strict adherence to time and the fact that publishers were given access to the evaluation results unlike in cycle 8.
“Several publishers had either all or some of their bids locked out because they failed to beat the 10:00a.m. deadline. These include Rorash Educational publishers, which was late by just five minutes, MK publishers, Monitor and Longhorn among others.
This was a positive step towards greater transparency in the procurement process,†a source said.
Nevertheless, the level of transparency displayed in the procurement of cycle 9 textbooks is commendable. It sheds light on the shadows of irregularities that had been cast against procurement of textbooks in cycle 8. What is left now is for the books to get into the hands of the pupils.
AS Universal Primary Education enrolment in schools spirals so does the need for more textbooks and other instructional materials.
With 7.2 million pupils currently in primary schools there is an enormous obligation on Ministry of Education and Sports to improve the textbooks to pupil ratio from an approximation of 1:6 to 1:1.
This goes for the six subjects of Mathematics, English, Religious Education, Integrated Science, Social studies and Agriculture for P3 -P7.
The current drive by the Education Ministry to procure textbooks and other instructional materials is geared towards meeting this need.
The donor community is funding the multi-million-dollar project and the textbooks are to be distributed free of charge to all government aided primary schools.
Ms. Alice Ibaale, the Head of Instructional Materials Education Ministry says it is hoped that with the procurement of textbooks under cycle 8 and 9, the textbook to pupil ratio will come down to 1:3.
These textbooks have been designed to suit the new primary school curriculum that was launched in 1999. The curriculum aims at promoting a child friendly school and learning concepts.
To the classroom teacher, the textbooks are a welcome relief due to the fact that they have been handling the new curriculum without tailor made reference textbooks.
Samuel Kewaza, a teacher at Buganda Road Primary School says the textbooks have been long overdue.
“We received the first batch of textbooks for P3 and P4 just a few weeks ago,†he said.
Schools expect to receive textbooks for P5 - P7 between November 2003 and January 2004, according to Arnold Ntungwa, a teacher, Buganda Road Primary School.
“In the mean time we have been relying on our own creativity and other relevant instructional material in order to keep abreast with the new curriculum,†he said.
Whereas it is true that more pupils are going to have textbooks in their classrooms, it is also evident that they may not readily gain access to these textbooks as often as they wish.
Esther Luwamanya a P4 pupil at Buganda Road Primary School says that although they can use the textbooks at school, they are not allowed to borrow them for use at home, because they are not enough to go round.
However, there are pupils who never get to look at textbooks because the headteacher keeps them under lock and key.
There is need for the Education Standards Agency (ESA) to look into this and ensure that the beneficiaries get to use the textbooks.
Education analysts say the procurement of textbooks under cycle 9 exhibited a greater degree of transparency in comparison to cycle 8, which was dogged with controversy over irregularities.
The implications of this have led to delays in the distribution of cycle 8 textbooks. The spill over effect from this has slowed the distribution of cycle 9 textbooks meant for the upper primary classes of P5 to P7.
A team of 30 primary school teachers, Swiss Procurement Company (SWIPCO) and International Book Development (IBD) experts conducted the recently concluded evaluation of cycle 9 tender proposals.
The successful publishers have already signed a memorandum of understanding with government and are due to sign the suppliers’ contract after all the schools have returned their order forms.
However, Religious Education textbooks for P1 to P4 and P5 to P7 are to be re-tendered because no qualified books were selected.
The items are to be re-tendered to meet the minimum requirement of three books for each subject.
More importantly a major positive step in the procurement of cycle 9 textbooks has been the strict adherence to time and the fact that publishers were given access to the evaluation results unlike in cycle 8.
“Several publishers had either all or some of their bids locked out because they failed to beat the 10:00a.m. deadline. These include Rorash Educational publishers, which was late by just five minutes, MK publishers, Monitor and Longhorn among others.
This was a positive step towards greater transparency in the procurement process,†a source said.
Nevertheless, the level of transparency displayed in the procurement of cycle 9 textbooks is commendable. It sheds light on the shadows of irregularities that had been cast against procurement of textbooks in cycle 8. What is left now is for the books to get into the hands of the pupils.