Automatic promotion: Quality or numbers?
Nov 27, 2007
THE Ministry of Education and Sports and its funding agencies have agreed to automatically promote all pupils, to address the low completion rates in primary schools. This has serious ramifications for Uganda’s education system.
By Conan Businge
THE Ministry of Education and Sports and its funding agencies have agreed to automatically promote all pupils, to address the low completion rates in primary schools. This has serious ramifications for Uganda’s education system.
Education minister Namirembe Bitamazire says there is a high wastage in primary schools, which she attributes to poor supervision, conflict, high repetition of classes and low marks.
The ministry expects every pupil who has successfully completed the curriculum of their respective class to be promoted. And successful completion means attainment of at least 40% in end-of-year exams.
The donors warn that the drop-out rate of almost 50% could undermine the Universal Primary Education (UPE) programme. “We pledge to continue funding the education sector but the challenges mentioned, including high drop-out and low completion rates, should be addressed,†said a joint statement by the agencies, at the just-concluded education sector performance review conference.
There is contention on who or what is behind rampant repetition of classes by pupils.
Fagil Mandy, an education consultant, says automatic promotion is very good. “No one has the right to force a child to repeat. It can only be through agreement between a parent and the teachers, for a child to repeat,†he explains, adding: “It is psychologically devastating for a child to repeat a class.â€
Peter Tusubira, a long-serving teacher, says: “This is going to bring the quality of education down. UPE’s progress should not be determined by numbers only, but also the quality.â€
However, other people think repeating is good for pupils. “When the ministry and donors now agree to abolish repeating, a large gate seems to be opening up for the majority of pupils considered as idiots,†says Richard Opio, a parents. He says like cows, pupils will together enter the kraal, whether satisfied or not.
According to the 2006/7 Education and Sports Sector Annual Performance Report released recently, the repetition rate of pupils ranged between 10% and 13 %, in the last 13 years.
According to Uganda’s progress report on MDGs (2007), assuming that all pupils who joined P1 in 2000 progressed through all the grades, findings from the household survey of 2005/06 show that only 38% reached P7. In absolute terms, of 1.8 million pupils enrolled in P1 in 2000, only 685,000 of them were estimated to be in P7 in 2006, meaning that the rest dropped out of school along the way or repeated a grade.
While enrollments have been rising in sub-Sahara Africa, the report notes that the school system continues to be wasteful. Many children drop out without completing the primary school cycle, while many repeat classes and take very long to go through the system.
“Repetition reflects poor conditions of teaching and learning. It also increases pressure on teachers and resources,†the report reads. It recommends that repetition of classes should be stopped, through automatic promotion.
The Department for International Development’s Malcolm Doney and Martin Wroe note: “In both Uganda and Malawi, dramatic increases in enrolment led to a drop in the quality of education, with a consequent decline in average test scores. This in turn led to an increased proportion of students repeating school years.â€
“To be successful, and to protect standards, the abolition of fees must be part of a comprehensive, long-term plan for universal primary school enrolment. This has to include complementary measures such as teacher recruitment and training, and the provision of teaching and learning materials,†explains the EU.
The 2003 Monitoring Report made by the national Education For All (EFA) agency notes that a recent case study of selected schools found that more boys than girls were repeating classes, contrary to what the education Monitoring Information System data has been reporting. However, both data sets agree that repetition is highest in the northern region.
The EFA report adds that the children who had repeated classes were interviewed and the findings indicated that more boys than girls were repeating as a result of failing end-of-year examinations; with 66.7% boys compared to 55.8 % girls.
While for boys the key factors for repetition were related to performance, 13.5% girls repeated because their parents decided so, compared to 6.7% boys for the same reason. The report adds that parents think through repetition, their children will improve their performance.
The EFA report adds: “Parents deciding to make their children repeat classes against their will can lead to low morale and lack of interest in school.â€
A research by Joseph Terch at the Graduate School of Rowan University, USA, reveals that being retained in the same class increases drop-out rates by 30%. The research adds that students who repeated a class failed to catch up with their peers and had negative self-concept, which led to an overall negative school experience, hence forcing them to drop out.
THE Ministry of Education and Sports and its funding agencies have agreed to automatically promote all pupils, to address the low completion rates in primary schools. This has serious ramifications for Uganda’s education system.
Education minister Namirembe Bitamazire says there is a high wastage in primary schools, which she attributes to poor supervision, conflict, high repetition of classes and low marks.
The ministry expects every pupil who has successfully completed the curriculum of their respective class to be promoted. And successful completion means attainment of at least 40% in end-of-year exams.
The donors warn that the drop-out rate of almost 50% could undermine the Universal Primary Education (UPE) programme. “We pledge to continue funding the education sector but the challenges mentioned, including high drop-out and low completion rates, should be addressed,†said a joint statement by the agencies, at the just-concluded education sector performance review conference.
There is contention on who or what is behind rampant repetition of classes by pupils.
Fagil Mandy, an education consultant, says automatic promotion is very good. “No one has the right to force a child to repeat. It can only be through agreement between a parent and the teachers, for a child to repeat,†he explains, adding: “It is psychologically devastating for a child to repeat a class.â€
Peter Tusubira, a long-serving teacher, says: “This is going to bring the quality of education down. UPE’s progress should not be determined by numbers only, but also the quality.â€
However, other people think repeating is good for pupils. “When the ministry and donors now agree to abolish repeating, a large gate seems to be opening up for the majority of pupils considered as idiots,†says Richard Opio, a parents. He says like cows, pupils will together enter the kraal, whether satisfied or not.
According to the 2006/7 Education and Sports Sector Annual Performance Report released recently, the repetition rate of pupils ranged between 10% and 13 %, in the last 13 years.
According to Uganda’s progress report on MDGs (2007), assuming that all pupils who joined P1 in 2000 progressed through all the grades, findings from the household survey of 2005/06 show that only 38% reached P7. In absolute terms, of 1.8 million pupils enrolled in P1 in 2000, only 685,000 of them were estimated to be in P7 in 2006, meaning that the rest dropped out of school along the way or repeated a grade.
While enrollments have been rising in sub-Sahara Africa, the report notes that the school system continues to be wasteful. Many children drop out without completing the primary school cycle, while many repeat classes and take very long to go through the system.
“Repetition reflects poor conditions of teaching and learning. It also increases pressure on teachers and resources,†the report reads. It recommends that repetition of classes should be stopped, through automatic promotion.
The Department for International Development’s Malcolm Doney and Martin Wroe note: “In both Uganda and Malawi, dramatic increases in enrolment led to a drop in the quality of education, with a consequent decline in average test scores. This in turn led to an increased proportion of students repeating school years.â€
“To be successful, and to protect standards, the abolition of fees must be part of a comprehensive, long-term plan for universal primary school enrolment. This has to include complementary measures such as teacher recruitment and training, and the provision of teaching and learning materials,†explains the EU.
The 2003 Monitoring Report made by the national Education For All (EFA) agency notes that a recent case study of selected schools found that more boys than girls were repeating classes, contrary to what the education Monitoring Information System data has been reporting. However, both data sets agree that repetition is highest in the northern region.
The EFA report adds that the children who had repeated classes were interviewed and the findings indicated that more boys than girls were repeating as a result of failing end-of-year examinations; with 66.7% boys compared to 55.8 % girls.
While for boys the key factors for repetition were related to performance, 13.5% girls repeated because their parents decided so, compared to 6.7% boys for the same reason. The report adds that parents think through repetition, their children will improve their performance.
The EFA report adds: “Parents deciding to make their children repeat classes against their will can lead to low morale and lack of interest in school.â€
A research by Joseph Terch at the Graduate School of Rowan University, USA, reveals that being retained in the same class increases drop-out rates by 30%. The research adds that students who repeated a class failed to catch up with their peers and had negative self-concept, which led to an overall negative school experience, hence forcing them to drop out.