World Literacy Day: Do we have anything to celebrate?
Sep 07, 2011
AT 16, Joseph Kanyesigye still struggles to communicate in English. I asked him a few questions such as: What problems do you find in school? What job would you like to do when you leave school? And all I got were blank stares. We had to find a translator to make any headway.
By Stephen Ssenkaaba
AT 16, Joseph Kanyesigye still struggles to communicate in English. I asked him a few questions such as: What problems do you find in school? What job would you like to do when you leave school? And all I got were blank stares. We had to find a translator to make any headway.
Kanyesigye is in Primary Six at Ryamyonga Primary School in Isingiro district. Next year, he will sit his Primary Leaving Examinations, which will put him on course to join secondary school. He explains all this with a few words: “No books.â€
As Uganda joins the rest of the world to mark World Literacy Day tomorrow, the state of the country’s literacy is worrying. Kanyesigye’s tale resonates with the findings of a study recently released by UWEZO, a regional initiative that promotes learning outcomes for primary school-going children.
The study indicates that pupils in both lower and upper primary have limited ability to comprehend, read and use simple English language.
The study conducted in primary schools in 80 districts indicates that one in five of P3 pupils could not recognise letters of the English alphabet, while one in five P7 candidates could not read and understand an English story of (P2) level.
The report highlights a number of likely causes to this situation in school is the availability, or lack of instructional materials.
Thematic curriculum woes
One of the major strategies put in place to improve literacy and numeracy was the thematic curriculum.
“The strategy, which aimed at ensuring that pupils learn under chosen relevant themes in their local language (to enable faster comprehension of concepts in other languages), has been bogged down by absence of trained teachers and most importantly, instructional materials to aid reading, says James Tumusiime, the founder and longtime chairman of the National Book Trust of Uganda.
Nearly five years since its implementation, some schools are still finding it hard to implement the thematic curriculum.
“Most of our pupils can hardly read and write by the time they reach Primary Four,†says Florence Bonabaana, the headteacher of Nyakamuri II Primary School in Isingiro.
Bonabaana attributes this slow progress to lack of sufficient instructional material.
“A single book is shared among 12 to 16 pupils.†This, she says, makes it hard for pupils to learn adequately.
Wanting procurement policies
“In earlier days, up to five publishers were allowed to supply reading material to schools and the teachers had a chance to choose what material suited their learners. This somehow catered for various reading capacities of different pupils,†says David Kibuuka, the chairperson of Uganda Publishers Association.
Some time back, there was an arrangement to have 10% of Universal Primary Education funds in schools dedicated to procurement of instructional material in the first quarter of the year. This system was, however, scrapped in 2007/2008.
Dr. Daniel Nkaada, the commissioner for basic education at the education ministry, says efforts to equip schools with instructional materials have been affected by limited funds, but significant strides have been made, especially as far as thematic curriculum implementation is concerned. He also says failure for pupils to interpret some concepts cannot be attributed to one factor.
As the world marks Literacy Day, more questions will continue to arise for Uganda. There is still concern that we do not have much to celebrate about, just yet.
AT 16, Joseph Kanyesigye still struggles to communicate in English. I asked him a few questions such as: What problems do you find in school? What job would you like to do when you leave school? And all I got were blank stares. We had to find a translator to make any headway.
Kanyesigye is in Primary Six at Ryamyonga Primary School in Isingiro district. Next year, he will sit his Primary Leaving Examinations, which will put him on course to join secondary school. He explains all this with a few words: “No books.â€
As Uganda joins the rest of the world to mark World Literacy Day tomorrow, the state of the country’s literacy is worrying. Kanyesigye’s tale resonates with the findings of a study recently released by UWEZO, a regional initiative that promotes learning outcomes for primary school-going children.
The study indicates that pupils in both lower and upper primary have limited ability to comprehend, read and use simple English language.
The study conducted in primary schools in 80 districts indicates that one in five of P3 pupils could not recognise letters of the English alphabet, while one in five P7 candidates could not read and understand an English story of (P2) level.
The report highlights a number of likely causes to this situation in school is the availability, or lack of instructional materials.
Thematic curriculum woes
One of the major strategies put in place to improve literacy and numeracy was the thematic curriculum.
“The strategy, which aimed at ensuring that pupils learn under chosen relevant themes in their local language (to enable faster comprehension of concepts in other languages), has been bogged down by absence of trained teachers and most importantly, instructional materials to aid reading, says James Tumusiime, the founder and longtime chairman of the National Book Trust of Uganda.
Nearly five years since its implementation, some schools are still finding it hard to implement the thematic curriculum.
“Most of our pupils can hardly read and write by the time they reach Primary Four,†says Florence Bonabaana, the headteacher of Nyakamuri II Primary School in Isingiro.
Bonabaana attributes this slow progress to lack of sufficient instructional material.
“A single book is shared among 12 to 16 pupils.†This, she says, makes it hard for pupils to learn adequately.
Wanting procurement policies
“In earlier days, up to five publishers were allowed to supply reading material to schools and the teachers had a chance to choose what material suited their learners. This somehow catered for various reading capacities of different pupils,†says David Kibuuka, the chairperson of Uganda Publishers Association.
Some time back, there was an arrangement to have 10% of Universal Primary Education funds in schools dedicated to procurement of instructional material in the first quarter of the year. This system was, however, scrapped in 2007/2008.
Dr. Daniel Nkaada, the commissioner for basic education at the education ministry, says efforts to equip schools with instructional materials have been affected by limited funds, but significant strides have been made, especially as far as thematic curriculum implementation is concerned. He also says failure for pupils to interpret some concepts cannot be attributed to one factor.
As the world marks Literacy Day, more questions will continue to arise for Uganda. There is still concern that we do not have much to celebrate about, just yet.