Education ministry issues new A'level guidelines

Oct 13, 2011

The ministry of Education and Sports has issued new guidelines to be followed by students wishing to seat for ‘A’ level.

KATAKWI, Uganda - The ministry of Education and Sports has issued new guidelines to be followed by students wishing to seat for ‘A’ level.

Beginning next year, no student is allowed to select a combination of more than three principal subjects. The commission for Secondary Education, John Agaba said doing many subjects is a waste of government resources including teachers.

“Beginning next year there is going to be only three combinations with two subsidiaries,” Agaba said.

He said in addition to General Paper which is a compulsory subsidiary subject, students will be required to do Mathematic as subsidiary in case they have not taken it as a principal subject or IT if one is doing Mathematic as principal subject.

Agaba said the move is intended to reduce on the pressure inserted on the teachers and government resources.

“And also government is moving towards giving Ugandans relevant skills necessary for the development of the country,” said Agaba.
 
He was on Friday October 7, 2011 addressing students of various secondary schools in Katakwi district during a two day official tour (starting Thursday) by Education and Sports minister, Rtd Lt. Jessica Rose Alupo Epel.
 
Also Present were; Commissioner Basic Education, Dr. Daniel Nkaada and Commisioner for Business, Technical, Vocational Education and Training (BTVET), Sarah Namuli.
 
With now the new guidelines, many schools contemplating to encourage their students to take more than three principal subjects at ‘A’ level in order to send more students to public universities will now find it hard.
 
Agaba also revealed that in order for one to qualify for Universal Post ‘O’ Level Education and Training (UPOLET) Programme scheduled to also begin next academic year, he or she has to get at least three credit six (18 aggragates) in any of the subjects offered in a combination.
 
“For a student at ‘O’ level to qualify for UPOLET Programme, he or she must get a minimum of three credit six in the subjects in combination,” he said adding that, but that does not deny one from getting a distinction.
 
He said government will for each of the qualified students pay a tuition fee of sh80,000. Currently government is paying USE students sh41,000.
 
Meanwhile Alupo said as government they are facing lots of challenges in the leadership of most secondary schools and warned that they are taking stunning action on them.
 
“Headteachers found keeping textbooks donated by government instead of giving them to the students will be interdicted,” Alupo said.
 
She said government is soon issuing a circular to all school instructing headteachers to give students the textbooks to use, adding that the books should be handed to the students at the beginning of the term, so they use them even at home, and be return when the term ends.
 
“In almost all the schools I have visited, instruction books are being kept ‘safely’ the boxes and cardboards, which is wrong and they at the end say children have failed,” Alupo said.
 
She said they don’t want to get the books clean they want them dirty because they have been used by the students.
 
“Give the students the books, because those are not reference books and whoever loses it, should be asked to buy and replace it,” she said.
 
Alupo appealed to the students to help government fight ghost schools and ghost students by themselves going to school.
 
“You should not be part of the ghosts. Help government fight ghosts in schools by you, being students going to school,” she said.
 
She asked the boys to help girls go to school to study till they finish by not defiling them. Alupo also said headteachers or teachers who are guests and visitors in their own schools will also be penalized.
 
She cited Ngariam Seed SS in Ngariam sub-county where she visited at 9:30am only to be welcomed by the headboy.
 
“I’m not going to allow this kind of things where headteachers are guest and teachers are visitors in their schools to continue because if I did I will be sacrificing the future of the future leaders,” the minister said. 
 
Alupo who is also the area MP refused even to shake hands with the school’s head teacher, Lawarence Katami who arrived 30 minutes later as she addressed the students.
 
“The headtecher comes to school at times once in a month saying he is contemplating of leaving because its located in a remote area,” one of the students said. The students told the minister that the teachers come in turns of one per week to teach them.
 
“Out of 14 teachers who are in the pay role, one or two can turn up to teach the four classes,” the students said.
Addressing the district leaders, Alupo urged them to work with government in improving the educational standards in the district.

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