Teachers urged to be innovative

Teachers have been encouraged to be innovative to improve reading and writing skills for Primary One learners.

The advice was given to Primary One teachers attending literacy training at Busuubizi Core PTC in Mityana district and Mukuju Core PTC in Tororo district.

The training included 250 teachers from Bugiri and 278 from Mubende districts.

It was conducted by the Ministry of Education, Science, Technology and Sports, under the program Early Grade Reading Assessment (EGRA) and funded by Global Partnership for Education (GPE).

Bazilio Opio, the deputy principal outreach at Busuubizi Core PTC in Mityana displays a TV made out of simple materials that teachers should use to encourage P1 learners.

According to education experts, reading and writing skills can be achieved by using simple instruction materials and applying the techniques of Teacher's Guide in English as well as Pupil's Guide in English.

Emphasis was also put on using local languages spoken by the community where learners come from to reinforce Thematic Curriculum policy.

"We have had a challenge in literacy performance right from P1 to P7 and therefore, teachers need to be innovative to improve performance," Rose Akaki the principal of Busuubizi Core PTC said.

A facilitator trains teachers during the literacy training at Mukuju Core PTC in Tororo district.

She pointed out that recent research has shown that Uganda's children are unable to read in both their mother tongue and English.

She advised teachers to use items such as bottle tops, boxes, water bottles, straws and others to objects as instruction materials.

The principal also emphasized that teachers should apply continuous assessment technique to improve learning outcomes.

Wilber Wanyama, principal education officer primary teacher education said that the training which was conducted over 20 centres across the country is aimed at improving teaching in literacy skills.

He said 12,000 teachers for P1-P3 are to be trained in phase 1 under EGRA project while 3,600 will be trained in phase 2.

Teachers reading teacher's guide in Lusoga during literacy training at Mukuju Core PTC in Tororo district.

The principal of Mukuju Core PTC, Tino Oriada, underlined the need to sensitize the parents as they are opposed to teaching their children in local languages.

"Some parents ask why teach my child in Lusoga and yet she speaks the same language while at home?" Oriada noted.

Henry Kabulo the inspector of schools Bugiri district agreed with the principal and called for all stakeholders' involvement.

The teachers were also told to champion the interventions focused on quality instruction to improve the mother tongue and English reading abilities of children.