No more cost-sharing!

By Anthony Mugeere At last there will be no cost-sharing in all tertiary institutions. The issue had ignited several strikes and demonstrations in universities and other institutions. The abolition of the cost-sharing scheme also includes the sh50,000 registration fees levied on state-sponsored students at Makerere University. Government has also decided to elevate four Catholic-founded Primary Teacher Colleges to core status following consultations with Cardinal Emmanuel Wamala. The Minister of Education and Sports Dr. Khiddu Makubuya, also extended the half-term holiday to March 14 to enable students of voting age participate in today's election. Serwanga Lwanga Memorial Secondary School in Kalangala was commissioned last weekend by President Museveni. The mixed school, built in memory of the former army political commissar, has a capacity of 480 students and has already admitted half the number. It has also acquired a digital Satellite Television system donated by Discovery Channel, an NGO from the Global Education and other modern facilities so there is no doubt that Kalangala district has finally got a modern secondary school. The President must have been briefed about the school's challenges particularly the unwillingness by teachers to teach on the Lake Victoria island. He has already asked management to provide accommodation at the school campus from where he will stay and teach the students the good things that Sserwanga Lwanga did for this country. Talking of challenges, education planners must be prepared to bite more than they can chew following reports that up to one million pupils are expected to sit for Primary Leaving Examinations in the year 2003. The revelation indicates a remarkable increase from the current 300,000 which calls for more schools - both government-aided and private to absorb the primary school leavers. In Kumi district, Umar Okodel, the LCV chairman blamed the poor PLE performance in the district on poor pay and lack of accommodation for teachers. Okodel seems to have identified the main cause of the district's poor show for which it got only 53 first grades. The district was ranked second last in the whole country and its best candidate got aggregate eight! The security situation at Makerere University may improve when business resumes next week after the Vice Chancellor, Prof. John Sebuwufu decided to meet all student hostel owners outside the university to discuss security matters. A number of murder and rape cases have been reported at the university over the past few years, so any move to address it will certainly be music to our ears. Ends