Jinja Primary Schools Improve By 60%

OVER 60 percent of pupils in Jinja district who sat for Primary leaving examinations (PLE) passed in Division one and two.Jinja District Education Officer Mr Abraham Were said, out of the 4,661who sat for PLE, 567 pupils passed in Division 1 while a total of 2,396 passed in Division 2.The DEO said, the 88 primary schools in the district, registered a 12.2% and 51.4% improvement in performance among pupils who passed in division 1&11 compared to compared to 10% and 45.1% in the same grade the previous year.Mr Were, however, attributed improvement in performance grossly to government School Facilitation Grant (SFG). The majority of pupils especially in the rural areas of the districtbefore government introduced the UPE programme, used to learn under very poor environment.Teachers used to conduct lessons under tree sheds due to lack of infrastructure (Classrooms),” the DEO said.During rainy seasons, he regretted, schools would be compelled to close down prematurely as numerous schools had no permanent shelter that served as classes.The constraint, Mr Were added, rendered efforts of teachers to complete the syllabus difficult, subsequently leading to poor performance.He disclosed that a total of 400 classrooms have been put in palace and 48,000 desks provided to the learners in the primary schools of Jinja district, since the inception of UPE programme.“We have also made special arrangements for teachers especially those responsible for subjects that are poorly go on refresher course,” Were added. PLE results were released two weeks ago. 12,000 candidates had their results cancelled owing to examination malpractices. However, MPs want the affected candidates to resit PLE so that they can join secondary school. Senior One students, all over the country report to school today, for their first term.Ends