War-torn regions fight their way up PLE ladder
Jan 15, 2006
THE most interesting thing about the 2005 Primary Leaving Examination (PLE) results was the good performance by candidates from disturbed areas.
By Stephen Ssenkaaba
THE most interesting thing about the 2005 Primary Leaving Examination (PLE) results was the good performance by candidates from disturbed areas.
The results released on Friday showed the pass level of candidates from Gulu, Pader, Kitgum, Lira, Apac and Soroti comparing well with candidates from peaceful areas.
Other than Gulu, Soroti and Apac districts, which had failure rates of 28.4%, 23% and 22.1% respectively, Kitgum and Lira had a failure rate of 15.7% and Pader 22.7%. They fared well against failure rates in stable districts like Mbale 30%, Kiboga 29.4%, Bundibugyo 28.1%, Kayunga 27.8%, Iganga 26.6%, Mubende 25.8%, Mpigi 24.6%, Tororo 22.7% and Kyenjojo 22.2%.
However, while education minister, Geraldine Bitamazire, salutes candidates from such areas for the impressive performance and no explanation is given, a report by the Uganda Child Rights NGO Network (UCRNN) says the apparent good performance is a fallacy.
The NGO said in the November 2005 report that the conflict has distorted livelihoods and the earning capacity of parents to pay for secondary education. As such, many candidates who fail to join secondary education opt to rebound Primary Seven with the hope of getting scholarships.
“This could explain the seemingly good performance,†says the UCRNN coordinator Stella Ayo.
Disparity in performance between rural and urban schools has dogged primary education for some time. The same problem still remains an eyesore in last year’s PLE.
Although the failure rate dropped from 20% in 2004 to 15% in 2005, the majority of the 62,530 candidates who failed were from up-country schools. Girls accounted for 33,992 of those who failed.
In urban areas for instance, the municipalities of Fort Portal registered a failure rate of 0.2%, Mbarara 0.6%, Jinja 0.9%, Kabale 1%, Tororo 3.1%, Masaka 3.7% and Kampala district 4.6%.
Urban candidates also posted stronger scores than those in rural areas. Most candidates in urban schools scored aggregate four, while in some districts like Kalangala and Kaberamaido, even candidates with aggregate 15 were listed among the best.
Bitamazire said plans to address this anomaly were high on the ministry’s agenda. She believes that narrowing this gap is not the ministry’s work alone, but needed a concerted effort.
“I call on all stakeholders and lovers of education to provide quality education for all, regardless of location,†she said.
The minister said lack of adequate facilities, absenteeism of teachers and poor utilisation of time in rural schools were the major drawback to performance in rural areas.
“Studies have indicated that there is more contact time in urban areas than rural areas,†Bitamazire said. “Absenteeism of head teachers, teachers and pupils still remains high in rural areas.
There is no optimal utilisation of time as stipulated in the school programme and calendar,†she said at the release of the PLE results.
A report on Education for Rural People in Africa observes that while Uganda and other African countries have made substantial progress towards widening access to primary education over the last decade, there is lower participation and a poorer educational outcome in rural areas.
The report attributes this problem to what it calls demand-supply factors. On the demand side, children in rural areas may be considered more difficult to educate.
They are likely to have less parental encouragement to go to school and more alternative demands on their time, such as helping with agricultural tasks.
When they attend school, they may find the curriculum less relevant to their lives, and find less support for their learning from the home environment,†says the report presented at the Ministerial Seminar on Education for Rural People in Africa held in Addis Ababa Ethiopia in September 2005.
It was based on studies in Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Uganda and Tanzania in 2005.
On the supply side, governments find it more difficult to provide quality education in rural areas because teachers prefer to teach in urban areas.
The other drawback results from poor quality teaching due to less access to support services and fewer opportunities to attend in-service courses, says the report sanctioned by the International institute for Education Planning (IIEP), the Association for the Development of Education in Africa (ADEA) and Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) and done in conjunction with the World Bank.
THE most interesting thing about the 2005 Primary Leaving Examination (PLE) results was the good performance by candidates from disturbed areas.
The results released on Friday showed the pass level of candidates from Gulu, Pader, Kitgum, Lira, Apac and Soroti comparing well with candidates from peaceful areas.
Other than Gulu, Soroti and Apac districts, which had failure rates of 28.4%, 23% and 22.1% respectively, Kitgum and Lira had a failure rate of 15.7% and Pader 22.7%. They fared well against failure rates in stable districts like Mbale 30%, Kiboga 29.4%, Bundibugyo 28.1%, Kayunga 27.8%, Iganga 26.6%, Mubende 25.8%, Mpigi 24.6%, Tororo 22.7% and Kyenjojo 22.2%.
However, while education minister, Geraldine Bitamazire, salutes candidates from such areas for the impressive performance and no explanation is given, a report by the Uganda Child Rights NGO Network (UCRNN) says the apparent good performance is a fallacy.
The NGO said in the November 2005 report that the conflict has distorted livelihoods and the earning capacity of parents to pay for secondary education. As such, many candidates who fail to join secondary education opt to rebound Primary Seven with the hope of getting scholarships.
“This could explain the seemingly good performance,†says the UCRNN coordinator Stella Ayo.
Disparity in performance between rural and urban schools has dogged primary education for some time. The same problem still remains an eyesore in last year’s PLE.
Although the failure rate dropped from 20% in 2004 to 15% in 2005, the majority of the 62,530 candidates who failed were from up-country schools. Girls accounted for 33,992 of those who failed.
In urban areas for instance, the municipalities of Fort Portal registered a failure rate of 0.2%, Mbarara 0.6%, Jinja 0.9%, Kabale 1%, Tororo 3.1%, Masaka 3.7% and Kampala district 4.6%.
Urban candidates also posted stronger scores than those in rural areas. Most candidates in urban schools scored aggregate four, while in some districts like Kalangala and Kaberamaido, even candidates with aggregate 15 were listed among the best.
Bitamazire said plans to address this anomaly were high on the ministry’s agenda. She believes that narrowing this gap is not the ministry’s work alone, but needed a concerted effort.
“I call on all stakeholders and lovers of education to provide quality education for all, regardless of location,†she said.
The minister said lack of adequate facilities, absenteeism of teachers and poor utilisation of time in rural schools were the major drawback to performance in rural areas.
“Studies have indicated that there is more contact time in urban areas than rural areas,†Bitamazire said. “Absenteeism of head teachers, teachers and pupils still remains high in rural areas.
There is no optimal utilisation of time as stipulated in the school programme and calendar,†she said at the release of the PLE results.
A report on Education for Rural People in Africa observes that while Uganda and other African countries have made substantial progress towards widening access to primary education over the last decade, there is lower participation and a poorer educational outcome in rural areas.
The report attributes this problem to what it calls demand-supply factors. On the demand side, children in rural areas may be considered more difficult to educate.
They are likely to have less parental encouragement to go to school and more alternative demands on their time, such as helping with agricultural tasks.
When they attend school, they may find the curriculum less relevant to their lives, and find less support for their learning from the home environment,†says the report presented at the Ministerial Seminar on Education for Rural People in Africa held in Addis Ababa Ethiopia in September 2005.
It was based on studies in Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Uganda and Tanzania in 2005.
On the supply side, governments find it more difficult to provide quality education in rural areas because teachers prefer to teach in urban areas.
The other drawback results from poor quality teaching due to less access to support services and fewer opportunities to attend in-service courses, says the report sanctioned by the International institute for Education Planning (IIEP), the Association for the Development of Education in Africa (ADEA) and Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) and done in conjunction with the World Bank.