Rural pupils lose 75% of term to market days, public holidays
Aug 14, 2005
IN every community, particularly the rural settings, there is always a big market day that draws almost the entire community — adults and children alike. At the same time, while Kampala and other urban centres are awash with financial institutions, the reverse is true upcountry.
By Elvina Nawaguna
IN every community, particularly the rural settings, there is always a big market day that draws almost the entire community — adults and children alike. At the same time, while Kampala and other urban centres are awash with financial institutions, the reverse is true upcountry.
While those could just pass as part of the rural way of life, they have been found to have a very negative bearing on Universal Primary Education (UPE).
A research by Development Network of Indigenous Volunteer Associations (DENIVA) has revealed that rural schools could be losing up to three-quarters of the school days and time to market days or to teachers who have to shuttle long distances to get their salaries from the banks.
A study done in Kamwenge in conjunction with Kamwenge District Voluntary Development Organisations (KADVIVO), a union of non-governmental organisations working to upgrade the quality of primary education in the district, recommended that unless urgent interventions are made, the urban-rural divide in primary school performance will not only continue, but the country is unlikely to achieve the millennium development goal of having all children in school by 2015.
The two organisations did a comparative study between Kiziba primary school in Kamwenge and Kitante primary school in Kampala and discovered that about 51 of the 89 school days were lost in the first term of 2005 in Kamwenge rural schools to market days, teachers collection of salaries, problem days and public holidays.
Alex Mugisha, the KADVIDO chairperson, while presenting the report at a dissemination workshop recently, said in contrast, Kitante primary school was found to have a high level of pupils’ attendance and parental involvement in education. “In Kamwenge, parents show little interest in the school and never attend school meetings. The drop-out rate is also very high, especially among girls. Results of a similar research in Rwenzori area were not any different,†says the May 2005 report.
Despite the huge government investment in classroom-construction, the 560 pupils at Kiziba primary school were still housed in mud and wattle structures.
The school had six teachers with only three of them qualified. Most pupils are frequently absent from school, especially on market days, the report said.
A recent United Nations Children’s Fund (Unicef) report indicates that the situation in Kamwenge could be the same in other parts of the country. The UN agency reports that at least 1.5 million children in Uganda are economically active or involved in child work.
The few pupils, who attend school, escape at lunchtime to go to the market, thus the high levels of absenteeism in upcountry schools.
According to the 2004 UNDP critical country assessment report, the need to work, poor dwelling conditions, social cultural factors, especially for the girls, distance and lack of transport are some of the leading immediate causes of poor performance or school drop-outs in Uganda.
The Kamwenge report says the teachers were found not only to be disgruntled about low pay, but also spent a lot of time travelling to collect their salaries from Stanbic Bank in Fort Portal, a three-hour drive away.
As a result, there is glaring disparity in performance between Kiziba and Kitante in the national examinations. Prof. Jassy Kwesiga, the DENIVA executive director, says the Primary Leaving Examinations (PLE) results reflect the quality of education in a school. Like Kiziba, many rural schools take the tail in PLE results.
For instance, statistics show that only 57 out of 3,561 pupils in Kamwenge district passed in first grade, 12 out of 2,115 in Bundibugyo and 83 out of 4,125 in Kyenjojo districts.
“If you use PLE results as one of the measures of performance, you can see that those schools are doing badly,†Kwesiga says.
Kamwenge woman MP, Idah Mehangye, says rural teachers lack enthusiasm because of low pay and they have to engage in other income-generating activities, which eat into school time. Mehangye also says there is poor supervision by the education offices, which are also poorly funded. She says the girl-child in the rural schools is not well taken care of. “During menstruation, the girls stay at home because they don’t have sanitary towels and fear to stain their clothes. They may never catch up,†Mehangye explains.
According to Aggrey Kibenge, the Ministry of Education spokesman, as far as government’s investment in rural schools is concerned, there is balance in terms of facilitation of both rural and urban UPE schools. He, however, says there is a natural divide between rural and urban settings, which neither government nor UPE created. Kibenge asserts that government has educated all parents in Uganda about the value of education and the education of the girl-child, but they have responded differently. He says parents in rural areas earn less, are less educated and attach less value to education compared to urban parents. “Urban parents are willing to go the extra mile for their children’s education,†Kibenge says.
He adds that the disparity in the quality of education in rural and urban UPE schools is partly due to the fact that urban children have more exposure to facilities like Internet, newspapers, TV and computers, which help to improve their ability to conceptualise issues, which rural children do not have.
Kibenge says the government is focusing on rural areas and continues to fund local governments to support rural schools.
Ends
IN every community, particularly the rural settings, there is always a big market day that draws almost the entire community — adults and children alike. At the same time, while Kampala and other urban centres are awash with financial institutions, the reverse is true upcountry.
While those could just pass as part of the rural way of life, they have been found to have a very negative bearing on Universal Primary Education (UPE).
A research by Development Network of Indigenous Volunteer Associations (DENIVA) has revealed that rural schools could be losing up to three-quarters of the school days and time to market days or to teachers who have to shuttle long distances to get their salaries from the banks.
A study done in Kamwenge in conjunction with Kamwenge District Voluntary Development Organisations (KADVIVO), a union of non-governmental organisations working to upgrade the quality of primary education in the district, recommended that unless urgent interventions are made, the urban-rural divide in primary school performance will not only continue, but the country is unlikely to achieve the millennium development goal of having all children in school by 2015.
The two organisations did a comparative study between Kiziba primary school in Kamwenge and Kitante primary school in Kampala and discovered that about 51 of the 89 school days were lost in the first term of 2005 in Kamwenge rural schools to market days, teachers collection of salaries, problem days and public holidays.
Alex Mugisha, the KADVIDO chairperson, while presenting the report at a dissemination workshop recently, said in contrast, Kitante primary school was found to have a high level of pupils’ attendance and parental involvement in education. “In Kamwenge, parents show little interest in the school and never attend school meetings. The drop-out rate is also very high, especially among girls. Results of a similar research in Rwenzori area were not any different,†says the May 2005 report.
Despite the huge government investment in classroom-construction, the 560 pupils at Kiziba primary school were still housed in mud and wattle structures.
The school had six teachers with only three of them qualified. Most pupils are frequently absent from school, especially on market days, the report said.
A recent United Nations Children’s Fund (Unicef) report indicates that the situation in Kamwenge could be the same in other parts of the country. The UN agency reports that at least 1.5 million children in Uganda are economically active or involved in child work.
The few pupils, who attend school, escape at lunchtime to go to the market, thus the high levels of absenteeism in upcountry schools.
According to the 2004 UNDP critical country assessment report, the need to work, poor dwelling conditions, social cultural factors, especially for the girls, distance and lack of transport are some of the leading immediate causes of poor performance or school drop-outs in Uganda.
The Kamwenge report says the teachers were found not only to be disgruntled about low pay, but also spent a lot of time travelling to collect their salaries from Stanbic Bank in Fort Portal, a three-hour drive away.
As a result, there is glaring disparity in performance between Kiziba and Kitante in the national examinations. Prof. Jassy Kwesiga, the DENIVA executive director, says the Primary Leaving Examinations (PLE) results reflect the quality of education in a school. Like Kiziba, many rural schools take the tail in PLE results.
For instance, statistics show that only 57 out of 3,561 pupils in Kamwenge district passed in first grade, 12 out of 2,115 in Bundibugyo and 83 out of 4,125 in Kyenjojo districts.
“If you use PLE results as one of the measures of performance, you can see that those schools are doing badly,†Kwesiga says.
Kamwenge woman MP, Idah Mehangye, says rural teachers lack enthusiasm because of low pay and they have to engage in other income-generating activities, which eat into school time. Mehangye also says there is poor supervision by the education offices, which are also poorly funded. She says the girl-child in the rural schools is not well taken care of. “During menstruation, the girls stay at home because they don’t have sanitary towels and fear to stain their clothes. They may never catch up,†Mehangye explains.
According to Aggrey Kibenge, the Ministry of Education spokesman, as far as government’s investment in rural schools is concerned, there is balance in terms of facilitation of both rural and urban UPE schools. He, however, says there is a natural divide between rural and urban settings, which neither government nor UPE created. Kibenge asserts that government has educated all parents in Uganda about the value of education and the education of the girl-child, but they have responded differently. He says parents in rural areas earn less, are less educated and attach less value to education compared to urban parents. “Urban parents are willing to go the extra mile for their children’s education,†Kibenge says.
He adds that the disparity in the quality of education in rural and urban UPE schools is partly due to the fact that urban children have more exposure to facilities like Internet, newspapers, TV and computers, which help to improve their ability to conceptualise issues, which rural children do not have.
Kibenge says the government is focusing on rural areas and continues to fund local governments to support rural schools.
Ends