Importation of teachers is not good
THE Government should be appreciated for all its efforts to raise our standards of living through different avenues. Among these is the strengthening of trade relations with other countries and exporting professionals.
Harriet Naluggya
THE Government should be appreciated for all its efforts to raise our standards of living through different avenues. Among these is the strengthening of trade relations with other countries and exporting professionals.
However, the latter may cause problems. According to the bilateral agreement between Uganda and Burundi within the context of East African Community general agreement on co-operation, teachers for English Language and Literature will be travelling to Burundi for employment, hence boosting their income. But is it all well with us?
Although we shall receive teachers for French, we should not celebrate over this because of the following reasons:
Scarcity of professionals: In the area of humanities, Literature in English and English Language are some of the subjects with few professional teachers. Therefore, there will be scarcity of teachers at home leading to poor results since English is the key to both theory and practical subjects at all levels of education.
Poor performance: Performance in final exams is poor partly because of the high teacher-student ratio of 1: 90.
Unsatisfied demand at home: Some government-aided schools have no teachers for English Language and Literature in English.
Expenditure on imported teaching aids: These include novels used in the teaching of literature. It is absurd that less than three Ugandan writers have their work recommended at ‘0’ and ‘A’ levels syllabi. Let the Government and the education ministry clear young writers to compliment the contributions of old blood like Prof. Timothy Wangusa, Rugambwa Otim and Rhoda Nsibambi instead of relying on Wole Soyinka, William Shakespeare, Chinua Achebe and other foreign authors.
Schools like St. Lawrence Group have embanked on a programme to train bilingual students. The education ministry, among others, is a potential employer of these students.
However, importation of teachers is not good. If possible, let us send our own teachers to study French in Burundi universities. Therefore, we should solve the problem at home before helping our neighbours.
The writer is a librarian at Sacred Heart Kiteredde S.S, Kyotera
THE Government should be appreciated for all its efforts to raise our standards of living through different avenues. Among these is the strengthening of trade relations with other countries and exporting professionals.
However, the latter may cause problems. According to the bilateral agreement between Uganda and Burundi within the context of East African Community general agreement on co-operation, teachers for English Language and Literature will be travelling to Burundi for employment, hence boosting their income. But is it all well with us?
Although we shall receive teachers for French, we should not celebrate over this because of the following reasons:
Scarcity of professionals: In the area of humanities, Literature in English and English Language are some of the subjects with few professional teachers. Therefore, there will be scarcity of teachers at home leading to poor results since English is the key to both theory and practical subjects at all levels of education.
Poor performance: Performance in final exams is poor partly because of the high teacher-student ratio of 1: 90.
Unsatisfied demand at home: Some government-aided schools have no teachers for English Language and Literature in English.
Expenditure on imported teaching aids: These include novels used in the teaching of literature. It is absurd that less than three Ugandan writers have their work recommended at ‘0’ and ‘A’ levels syllabi. Let the Government and the education ministry clear young writers to compliment the contributions of old blood like Prof. Timothy Wangusa, Rugambwa Otim and Rhoda Nsibambi instead of relying on Wole Soyinka, William Shakespeare, Chinua Achebe and other foreign authors.
Schools like St. Lawrence Group have embanked on a programme to train bilingual students. The education ministry, among others, is a potential employer of these students.
However, importation of teachers is not good. If possible, let us send our own teachers to study French in Burundi universities. Therefore, we should solve the problem at home before helping our neighbours.
The writer is a librarian at Sacred Heart Kiteredde S.S, Kyotera