Katakwi leaders decry poor performance in schools

By Okori Mackey Alexander

KATAKWI - The secretary of education in Magoro sub-county in Katakwi district has decried the continuous poor performance of schools in the district, attributing it to laziness by teachers and education officials.

Simon Peter Onapatum said schools in the area have continued performing dismally because district education officials do not supervise the teachers, thus giving them room for laxity.

Onapatum told New Vision it's rare to see education officials visiting schools to assess how learning is being conducted.

This has potentially contributed to the continued poor performance in schools especially in Primary Leaving Examinations (PLE) as evidenced last year where the district was among the worst performers.

"As a leader and a parent, I think massive transfers of head teachers and school inspectors would help to improve performance in the district," he said.

He appealed to the district education officials to embark on serious inspection of schools to scale down rampant absenteeism among teachers if the district is to perform better in PLE.

In his response, Patrick Ongwali, the district inspector of schools, attributed the poor performance of schools in the district to a series of challenges the education department is facing including under-staffing.

"I also want to remind leaders and parents that the issue of inspecting schools is a shared responsibility.

He explained that most often, leaders and parents have the impression that school inspection is only for the district education officia