41 Luzira inmates sit for UCE exams
Oct 18, 2016
Two of the inmates sitting the exams are on death row
Though incarcerated, Luzira Maximum Security Prison inmates still have hope for the future. A total of 41 inmates have sat for Uganda Certificate of Education Examinations which started yesterday.
Uganda Government Upper Prison Inmate's Secondary School registered 44 candidates for the exams with two of the inmates on death row. Among the candidates who sat for the exams only five were female.
In an interview with New Vision, Gilbert Niwamanya, the head teacher, said besides the various security points that require everyone to go through before accessing prisons, there were no challenges along the way since the exam papers arrived on time.
"Having received a number of teachers from the Ministry of Education and Sports, education behind bars will probably improve and this year's candidates are expected to perform better than the previous years" Niwamanya observed.
Research conducted by the Luzira Inmate's Schools indicates that over 50% of the inmates were illiterate at the time they were imprisoned, but prison provides them with functional adult literacy classes as well as other aspects of informal and formal education.
"Science teaching offers some difficulty though. It involves delicate and expensive equipment. To get round that, Government has equipped the science laboratory with the necessary equipment to enable students go through science disciplines" Niwamanya stated.
He however said that formal education is rather difficult for adults and most learners drop out opting to join the informal adult literacy programme, before completing their education behind bars.
Improvement of the educational system in jail will help to ensure that prisoners undergo the necessary rehabilitation hence become responsible citizens upon discharge Niwamanya stated.