School Heads Cry Foul As Student Numbers Go Up
Feb 01, 2004
IN an effort to accommodate the first cohort of Universal Primary Education (UPE), government has announced that all the pupils who passed Primary Leaving Examination must be admitted into secondary schools.
By Fortunate Ahimbisibwe
IN an effort to accommodate the first cohort of Universal Primary Education (UPE), government has announced that all the pupils who passed Primary Leaving Examination must be admitted into secondary schools.
This has led to bloated figures in the schools and complaints were raised by the over 2,000 head teachers as soon as the announcement was made.
Education Vision obtained a copy of the list of the intake of about 600 schools in the country which shows that the intake in most upcountry schools increased by 100%. Some schools in the central region were asked by government to have as many as 10 streams. Each stream shall accommodate an average of 55 students.
Schools such as Old Kampala SS, Jinja SS, Mengo SS, Lubiri SS, Soroti SS, Masaka SS, Bukoyo SS, Mbale SS and Bukooli SS in Bugiri will have 10 streams and 550 students in senior one.
Others like Kitante Hill School, Bishop’s College Mukono, Kololo High School, Mityana SS, Nkoma SS will have nine streams and an average of 495 students. Several other school were allocated eight or seven streams with an average of 400 students.
In such a situation, the head teachers’ objections were rendered ‘un-nationalistic.’ “Don’t these head teachers want Ugandan children to access education,†a senior official at Ministry of education and Sports.
The headteachers were ‘kindly’ asked not to raise any questions regarding the increased numbers. Strict guidelines were issued requiring the headteachers to admit anyone who passed PLE as long as ‘there is some space to squeeze’ the student in the school.
They were further asked to be lenient to students who may have a problem with school fees. “Do not be too rigged, let the parents pay in bits. You have to be as understanding as the situation in your area stands. The money is a lot for a poor Ugandan, do not scare away the parents,†the Deputy commissioner in Charge of Secondary Education, who is also the Senior One Selection Committee Chairman, Francis Uma Agula said.
Education Vision randomly spoke to over 100 headteachers who were participating in the admission exercise and all of them agreed that the facilities will not be enough.
Since it was a government directive, they spoke on anonymity for fear that they risked being scolded by authorities.
The headteachers cited teaching staff, instructional materials, classrooms, desks, textbooks as being severely inadequate. They pointed out that the ban on recruitment of teachers has not been lifted.
All their complaints were, however, dismissed by ministry officials as “alarmist and not taking into account the future of hundreds of children who are yearning for secondary education.â€
Agula told the headteachers that most of the government-aided schools were under enrolled.
“We carried out a research and discovered that most schools could accommodate more students. We did not increase the numbers out of nowhere. The Ministry knows that it will work out,†he said.
According to the Ministry of Education documents, there are 157 government aided boarding schools which admitted 35, 565 students, 593 government aided day schools which admitted 146, 532 students while the majority 2,169 private schools admitted 130, 228 students. Each private school was given up to 60 students.
About the paying of school fees, the acting commissioner said that
The technical and Vocational sector has not yet expanded and the 47 institutions admitted only 7, 505 students making the total of the Of the 360,000 who sat PLE last year, only about 50,000 floated because they failed.
“We tried as much as possible to admit all the students who passed,†Agula said.
A random sample to show the inflated figures Onono Memorial School in Gulu had proposed 135 but it was given 220, Yumbe proposed 180 but given 385, Luteete SS (Luweero) proposed 180 but given 330, Bugobi SS (Bushenyi) proposed 90 but given 220.
In Kampala, Kitante Hill School proposed 300 but given 495. Jinja SS proposed 400 but given 550. Government insists that this has been done so that more Ugandans can access education. Whether this will be achieved is a matter of time.
Ends
IN an effort to accommodate the first cohort of Universal Primary Education (UPE), government has announced that all the pupils who passed Primary Leaving Examination must be admitted into secondary schools.
This has led to bloated figures in the schools and complaints were raised by the over 2,000 head teachers as soon as the announcement was made.
Education Vision obtained a copy of the list of the intake of about 600 schools in the country which shows that the intake in most upcountry schools increased by 100%. Some schools in the central region were asked by government to have as many as 10 streams. Each stream shall accommodate an average of 55 students.
Schools such as Old Kampala SS, Jinja SS, Mengo SS, Lubiri SS, Soroti SS, Masaka SS, Bukoyo SS, Mbale SS and Bukooli SS in Bugiri will have 10 streams and 550 students in senior one.
Others like Kitante Hill School, Bishop’s College Mukono, Kololo High School, Mityana SS, Nkoma SS will have nine streams and an average of 495 students. Several other school were allocated eight or seven streams with an average of 400 students.
In such a situation, the head teachers’ objections were rendered ‘un-nationalistic.’ “Don’t these head teachers want Ugandan children to access education,†a senior official at Ministry of education and Sports.
The headteachers were ‘kindly’ asked not to raise any questions regarding the increased numbers. Strict guidelines were issued requiring the headteachers to admit anyone who passed PLE as long as ‘there is some space to squeeze’ the student in the school.
They were further asked to be lenient to students who may have a problem with school fees. “Do not be too rigged, let the parents pay in bits. You have to be as understanding as the situation in your area stands. The money is a lot for a poor Ugandan, do not scare away the parents,†the Deputy commissioner in Charge of Secondary Education, who is also the Senior One Selection Committee Chairman, Francis Uma Agula said.
Education Vision randomly spoke to over 100 headteachers who were participating in the admission exercise and all of them agreed that the facilities will not be enough.
Since it was a government directive, they spoke on anonymity for fear that they risked being scolded by authorities.
The headteachers cited teaching staff, instructional materials, classrooms, desks, textbooks as being severely inadequate. They pointed out that the ban on recruitment of teachers has not been lifted.
All their complaints were, however, dismissed by ministry officials as “alarmist and not taking into account the future of hundreds of children who are yearning for secondary education.â€
Agula told the headteachers that most of the government-aided schools were under enrolled.
“We carried out a research and discovered that most schools could accommodate more students. We did not increase the numbers out of nowhere. The Ministry knows that it will work out,†he said.
According to the Ministry of Education documents, there are 157 government aided boarding schools which admitted 35, 565 students, 593 government aided day schools which admitted 146, 532 students while the majority 2,169 private schools admitted 130, 228 students. Each private school was given up to 60 students.
About the paying of school fees, the acting commissioner said that
The technical and Vocational sector has not yet expanded and the 47 institutions admitted only 7, 505 students making the total of the Of the 360,000 who sat PLE last year, only about 50,000 floated because they failed.
“We tried as much as possible to admit all the students who passed,†Agula said.
A random sample to show the inflated figures Onono Memorial School in Gulu had proposed 135 but it was given 220, Yumbe proposed 180 but given 385, Luteete SS (Luweero) proposed 180 but given 330, Bugobi SS (Bushenyi) proposed 90 but given 220.
In Kampala, Kitante Hill School proposed 300 but given 495. Jinja SS proposed 400 but given 550. Government insists that this has been done so that more Ugandans can access education. Whether this will be achieved is a matter of time.
Ends