Strikes: Portrayal of a failed system
STRIKES have eaten deep into schools and there is nothing in sight to tell of their end. At every feeble excuse, students are taking matters into their hands, it thus raises fundamental questions. What is it that students want? Must society watch as students turn into reckless vandals?
By Timothy Makokha
STRIKES have eaten deep into schools and there is nothing in sight to tell of their end. At every feeble excuse, students are taking matters into their hands, it thus raises fundamental questions. What is it that students want? Must society watch as students turn into reckless vandals?
On April 12, over 400 students of St. Paul’s Seminary, Kabale at Rushoroza were sent home after they went on a hunger strike, protesting poor meals. At the time, Kabindi S.S. in Kisoro was yet to recover from a strike a month earlier.
In the same region, the police had foiled a strike at Kigezi College. Students said they had been driven to the limit by the administration’s high-handedness.
Students of Mbarara High School had in March gone on strike, looted and vandalised the headmaster’s home, burnt his car and threatened to burn his family too. They accused the headmaster, Nathan Kateeba of embezzlement.
With the country peppered with all these strikes, the exact enormity of strikes in schools remains under-reported. According to Aloysius Chebet, a senior education officer in the ministry of education, school heads fear to report cases of strikes in their schools.
“This is because in most cases, a strike reflects an administrative weakness on the part of the head teacher,†Chebet says. He, however, says there are no reasons to sanction unbecoming student behaviour, violent strikes and wanton destruction of school property.
A report commissioned by the ministry of education on the Causes of Strikes in Secondary Schools, 2005 highlights embezzlement of school funds, poor-quality food, corporal punishment, high-handedness and lack of communication between students and the administration as responsible for strikes.
Other causes of strikes that are cited in a survey that involved over 1,000 students in the country include sexual harassment for the case of girls’ schools, poor performance in national examinations, sudden increment in tuition fees and lack of guidance and counselling in schools. The report took particular exception to northern Uganda, whose record of strikes hits a new high margin during examination period. The report attributes the surge in strikes in the region to tension, poor preparation for examinations, stress and failure to complete payment of tuition fees. Sometimes, schools have failed to register all its candidates, occasioning unrest in schools.
The report puts on the spot administrators who fail to contain the strikes. If the resolutions are endorsed, the ministry would punish headteachers and school administrators under whose stewardship the strikes brew.
The heaviest penalty however, seems to be in wait for teachers who incite students to acts of violence in schools.
The recommendations make it certain that students involved in strikes be held accountable for their acts.
Apart from dismissal, the report says students be made to pay in compensation of destroyed property, a move that is sure to bring the ministry on a collision course with parents.
Passed in their entirety, sections of the recommendations call for a prison sentence of those students implicated in school strikes “to mould them into responsible citizens.â€
According to the recommendations, candidates taking part in strikes would also be barred from sitting their examination.
Haji Musa Nsereko of Kawempe, a father of three in secondary school says the proposed resolutions fall short of addressing the problem.
“The idea that students pay in compensation is foolhardy,†Nsereko says.
“It sanctions strikes in schools. At the end of the day, some students will still afford to strike because they can pay.â€
Rose Birungi, a retired teacher and mother of four says the recommendation of prison sentence highlights the Government failure to address what could be problems of the system.
“How many students will you imprison to stop strikes in schools?†Birungi asks.
“Strikes could show an administrative weakness, but more importantly, they portray a deep-seated problem on the part of the students. A good teacher must identify these problems and invite parents to discuss them out before matters ferment to the stage of a strike,†she says.
Chebet says following the survey, the ministry is developing basic school rules to be used in all the schools across the country. He said only constructive dialogue between the administration and the students would tame the bane of strikes in schools.
He challenges teachers to help students observe discipline because that is what society demands.
He blamed the increasing strikes to communication breakdown between the teachers and students and autocratic administration.
“In this case, students only suppress their true selves and will certainly explode when circumstances demand so.â€
STRIKES have eaten deep into schools and there is nothing in sight to tell of their end. At every feeble excuse, students are taking matters into their hands, it thus raises fundamental questions. What is it that students want? Must society watch as students turn into reckless vandals?
On April 12, over 400 students of St. Paul’s Seminary, Kabale at Rushoroza were sent home after they went on a hunger strike, protesting poor meals. At the time, Kabindi S.S. in Kisoro was yet to recover from a strike a month earlier.
In the same region, the police had foiled a strike at Kigezi College. Students said they had been driven to the limit by the administration’s high-handedness.
Students of Mbarara High School had in March gone on strike, looted and vandalised the headmaster’s home, burnt his car and threatened to burn his family too. They accused the headmaster, Nathan Kateeba of embezzlement.
With the country peppered with all these strikes, the exact enormity of strikes in schools remains under-reported. According to Aloysius Chebet, a senior education officer in the ministry of education, school heads fear to report cases of strikes in their schools.
“This is because in most cases, a strike reflects an administrative weakness on the part of the head teacher,†Chebet says. He, however, says there are no reasons to sanction unbecoming student behaviour, violent strikes and wanton destruction of school property.
A report commissioned by the ministry of education on the Causes of Strikes in Secondary Schools, 2005 highlights embezzlement of school funds, poor-quality food, corporal punishment, high-handedness and lack of communication between students and the administration as responsible for strikes.
Other causes of strikes that are cited in a survey that involved over 1,000 students in the country include sexual harassment for the case of girls’ schools, poor performance in national examinations, sudden increment in tuition fees and lack of guidance and counselling in schools. The report took particular exception to northern Uganda, whose record of strikes hits a new high margin during examination period. The report attributes the surge in strikes in the region to tension, poor preparation for examinations, stress and failure to complete payment of tuition fees. Sometimes, schools have failed to register all its candidates, occasioning unrest in schools.
The report puts on the spot administrators who fail to contain the strikes. If the resolutions are endorsed, the ministry would punish headteachers and school administrators under whose stewardship the strikes brew.
The heaviest penalty however, seems to be in wait for teachers who incite students to acts of violence in schools.
The recommendations make it certain that students involved in strikes be held accountable for their acts.
Apart from dismissal, the report says students be made to pay in compensation of destroyed property, a move that is sure to bring the ministry on a collision course with parents.
Passed in their entirety, sections of the recommendations call for a prison sentence of those students implicated in school strikes “to mould them into responsible citizens.â€
According to the recommendations, candidates taking part in strikes would also be barred from sitting their examination.
Haji Musa Nsereko of Kawempe, a father of three in secondary school says the proposed resolutions fall short of addressing the problem.
“The idea that students pay in compensation is foolhardy,†Nsereko says.
“It sanctions strikes in schools. At the end of the day, some students will still afford to strike because they can pay.â€
Rose Birungi, a retired teacher and mother of four says the recommendation of prison sentence highlights the Government failure to address what could be problems of the system.
“How many students will you imprison to stop strikes in schools?†Birungi asks.
“Strikes could show an administrative weakness, but more importantly, they portray a deep-seated problem on the part of the students. A good teacher must identify these problems and invite parents to discuss them out before matters ferment to the stage of a strike,†she says.
Chebet says following the survey, the ministry is developing basic school rules to be used in all the schools across the country. He said only constructive dialogue between the administration and the students would tame the bane of strikes in schools.
He challenges teachers to help students observe discipline because that is what society demands.
He blamed the increasing strikes to communication breakdown between the teachers and students and autocratic administration.
“In this case, students only suppress their true selves and will certainly explode when circumstances demand so.â€