LCs advised to feed UPE kids

Dec 12, 2007

EXPERTS in education have agreed that lunch should be provided to orphans and vulnerable children in Ugandan primary schools.<br>

By Joyce Namutebi

EXPERTS in education have agreed that lunch should be provided to orphans and vulnerable children in Ugandan primary schools.

Concerned by the absence of parents to cater for such children, the experts said the initiative should be taken up by local governments and school management committees, proposing that this initiative be implemented in districts performing poorly in primary education, the Ministry of Education principal assistant secretary, Aggrey Kibenge explained.

Amuru, Nakapiripirit, Kitgum, Bududa, Oyam, Maracha-Terego, Kaabong, Bulisa and Pader were identified by the ministry as the worst-performing districts in primary education in 2006.

The decision to provide lunch for orphans was one of the numerous interventions agreed on at the end of the national conference on enhancing the quality of primary education in Uganda.

Under the policy of Universal Primary Education (UPE), parents are responsible for feeding the pupils.

In their roadmap, the participants, including MPs, representatives of the Education Funding Agencies Group, chief administrative officers as well as district and municipal education officers, also agreed that teachers houses be provided in the worst-performing districts to help teachers work effectively.

The conference, aimed at addressing the persistent constraints to the attainment of quality education at the primary education level, was prompted by the fact that despite the huge investment by the Government in the sub-sector over the last 10 years, pupils have not acquired the desired competencies in literacy and numeracy.

The participants emphasised the importance of placing textbooks in the hands of Primary Four to Primary Seven pupils instead of keeping them in library shelves.

They charged local governments and schools with the responsibility of submitting monthly returns on enrollment and attendance by school children in addition to putting in place by-laws to ensure compulsory attendance by the pupils.

Teacher attendance, teacher-to-pupil ratio and pupil-to-classroom ratio will also be used as parameters for determining the performance of districts.

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