Violent strikes mar education sector
Jan 02, 2005
SCHOOL fires, violent strikes, ghost pupils and high dropout rate in primary schools overshadowed the achievements in the education sector during the year 2004.
By John Eremu
SCHOOL fires, violent strikes, ghost pupils and high dropout rate in primary schools overshadowed the achievements in the education sector during the year 2004.
With over 40 fires, the highest ever recorded in schools in a single year, new strategies have to be designed to tame this new found method students now use to air their grievances.
The most devastating fire was that at Nabumali High School, which saw records of prominent personalities including Chief Justice Benjamin Odoki destroyed as the fire set by students reduced the administration block, the dining hall and the food store to ashes.
Despite the shortcomings, the year opened on a good note with the first Universal Primary Education (UPE) group sitting the Primary Leaving Examinations (PLE) and 79.7% of them passing. This level of passing, the highest in five years, put to shame the prophets of doom, who were critical that quality was likely to be diluted under UPE.
But such an impressive performance was shattered by reports that ghost pupils still abound in UPE schools. A survey by the Internal Security Organisation found that ghosts constituted up to 60% of the student population in some districts in West Nile.
A report by TERP Consults also cast a dark cloud on UPE. The September 2004 report said a shocking 70% of pupils do not make it to primary seven despite education being free at that level. The consultants cited several reasons for the high drop out and it is everybody’s responsibility to arrest the situation.
The year ended with a furore from a cross section of parents and school administrators following a pronouncement by education ministry that school visitations will henceforth be only once a term. Reason? Parents had turned the days into some kind of show of opulence and numerous visitations were economically strenuous.
In the news was also the big debate as to whether corporal punishment should be reintroduced in schools. While the ministry has stuck to its guns that the punishment remains banned, parents of Gomba sub-county in Mpigi have petitioned Geraldine Bitamazire, the state minister for primary education that the ban is lifted. They blame the poor academic performance in the area to absence of the cane from schools. The Kasese district chairman, Yokasi Bihande, did not wait for the ban to be lifted. He has already directed schools to reintroduce the cane in schools under his jurisdiction forthwith.
There was also bad news on the tertiary sub-sector. The National Council for Higher issued a damning report that the invasion of the sector by profit-motivated investors was likely to compromise quality if not checked by strong regulation. In their November 2004 report, the higher education watchdog said most of the private universities were actually ‘glorified high schools.’
Another sad news from the sector was the withdrawal of state funding to the six National Teachers Colleges of Kakoba, Kaliro, Masindi, Ngetta, Nkozi and Muni as government embarks on the process of phasing out grade five teachers.
Still in the higher education sector, the ugly war between Makerere University and its Nakawa-based business school spilled from 2003 into 2004. The business school took the parent institution to court in a bid to block it from offering similar programmes. The court verdict is yet to be delivered. At Makerere University, the longest-serving top guards, former vice chancellor, Prof John Sebuwufu and his deputy, Prof. Epelu Opio were finally replaced after more than a year’s search. At the helm of the Ivory Tower now is mathematician Prof Livingstone Luboobi while Epelu’s post as split into two and are now held by Prof David Bakibinga in charge of finance and administration and Dr Lillian Tibetemwa Ekirikubinza for academic affairs.
After a decade in operation, a review of the 1.5 affirmative action for female joining tertiary institutions has revealed the scheme has benefited mainly students from privileged schools. Nevertheless, QD Consultants who did the study said the scheme raised female enrolment in tertiary institutions from 29% in 1990 to 48% in 2004 and that at least 22.4% of girls, who would never have made it to the university found their way in because of the scheme.
The above scenario, however, does not mean the year was without successes.
The sector continued to take a lion’s share of the budget with the total approved budget rising from sh550.79b in the financial year 2002/03 to sh601.1b in 2003/04. The approved budget constituted 31.3% of government discretionary recurrent budget with 68.4% going to the primary sub-sector, according to the ministry’s annual performance report.
The ministry made several interventions to ensure equity, quality and efficiency objectives in the sector. The interventions that enabled additional 20,000 girls access education included the upgrading of school health and sanitation standards, the teaching of sexual maturation and reproduction health concerns, the introduction of Girls’ Education Movement (GEM) clubs and the provision of well targeted guidance and counselling services in schools.
There was good news for primary school teachers with President Yoweri Museveni proposing that they be paid a minimum monthly salary of sh200,000.
Government also went a step further to pay school fees for 23,380 students attending secondary education in the war-ravaged districts.
The year also saw the birth of Presidential Initiative on AIDS Strategy for Communication to the Youth (PIASCY) program, with a promotional focus on life skills, reproductive health, hygiene and HIV/AIDS awareness.
To cope up with the increasing number of UPE graduates, more secondary schools were grant aided.
Ends
SCHOOL fires, violent strikes, ghost pupils and high dropout rate in primary schools overshadowed the achievements in the education sector during the year 2004.
With over 40 fires, the highest ever recorded in schools in a single year, new strategies have to be designed to tame this new found method students now use to air their grievances.
The most devastating fire was that at Nabumali High School, which saw records of prominent personalities including Chief Justice Benjamin Odoki destroyed as the fire set by students reduced the administration block, the dining hall and the food store to ashes.
Despite the shortcomings, the year opened on a good note with the first Universal Primary Education (UPE) group sitting the Primary Leaving Examinations (PLE) and 79.7% of them passing. This level of passing, the highest in five years, put to shame the prophets of doom, who were critical that quality was likely to be diluted under UPE.
But such an impressive performance was shattered by reports that ghost pupils still abound in UPE schools. A survey by the Internal Security Organisation found that ghosts constituted up to 60% of the student population in some districts in West Nile.
A report by TERP Consults also cast a dark cloud on UPE. The September 2004 report said a shocking 70% of pupils do not make it to primary seven despite education being free at that level. The consultants cited several reasons for the high drop out and it is everybody’s responsibility to arrest the situation.
The year ended with a furore from a cross section of parents and school administrators following a pronouncement by education ministry that school visitations will henceforth be only once a term. Reason? Parents had turned the days into some kind of show of opulence and numerous visitations were economically strenuous.
In the news was also the big debate as to whether corporal punishment should be reintroduced in schools. While the ministry has stuck to its guns that the punishment remains banned, parents of Gomba sub-county in Mpigi have petitioned Geraldine Bitamazire, the state minister for primary education that the ban is lifted. They blame the poor academic performance in the area to absence of the cane from schools. The Kasese district chairman, Yokasi Bihande, did not wait for the ban to be lifted. He has already directed schools to reintroduce the cane in schools under his jurisdiction forthwith.
There was also bad news on the tertiary sub-sector. The National Council for Higher issued a damning report that the invasion of the sector by profit-motivated investors was likely to compromise quality if not checked by strong regulation. In their November 2004 report, the higher education watchdog said most of the private universities were actually ‘glorified high schools.’
Another sad news from the sector was the withdrawal of state funding to the six National Teachers Colleges of Kakoba, Kaliro, Masindi, Ngetta, Nkozi and Muni as government embarks on the process of phasing out grade five teachers.
Still in the higher education sector, the ugly war between Makerere University and its Nakawa-based business school spilled from 2003 into 2004. The business school took the parent institution to court in a bid to block it from offering similar programmes. The court verdict is yet to be delivered. At Makerere University, the longest-serving top guards, former vice chancellor, Prof John Sebuwufu and his deputy, Prof. Epelu Opio were finally replaced after more than a year’s search. At the helm of the Ivory Tower now is mathematician Prof Livingstone Luboobi while Epelu’s post as split into two and are now held by Prof David Bakibinga in charge of finance and administration and Dr Lillian Tibetemwa Ekirikubinza for academic affairs.
After a decade in operation, a review of the 1.5 affirmative action for female joining tertiary institutions has revealed the scheme has benefited mainly students from privileged schools. Nevertheless, QD Consultants who did the study said the scheme raised female enrolment in tertiary institutions from 29% in 1990 to 48% in 2004 and that at least 22.4% of girls, who would never have made it to the university found their way in because of the scheme.
The above scenario, however, does not mean the year was without successes.
The sector continued to take a lion’s share of the budget with the total approved budget rising from sh550.79b in the financial year 2002/03 to sh601.1b in 2003/04. The approved budget constituted 31.3% of government discretionary recurrent budget with 68.4% going to the primary sub-sector, according to the ministry’s annual performance report.
The ministry made several interventions to ensure equity, quality and efficiency objectives in the sector. The interventions that enabled additional 20,000 girls access education included the upgrading of school health and sanitation standards, the teaching of sexual maturation and reproduction health concerns, the introduction of Girls’ Education Movement (GEM) clubs and the provision of well targeted guidance and counselling services in schools.
There was good news for primary school teachers with President Yoweri Museveni proposing that they be paid a minimum monthly salary of sh200,000.
Government also went a step further to pay school fees for 23,380 students attending secondary education in the war-ravaged districts.
The year also saw the birth of Presidential Initiative on AIDS Strategy for Communication to the Youth (PIASCY) program, with a promotional focus on life skills, reproductive health, hygiene and HIV/AIDS awareness.
To cope up with the increasing number of UPE graduates, more secondary schools were grant aided.
Ends