Keep CHOGM torch burning in schools
Oct 18, 2007
EDITOR—Perhaps the most hopeful item of news about the upcoming CHOGM came recently from Wanyange Hill near Jinja. The New Vision of October 16 carried a story about Wanyange Girls Secondary School that uplifted my spirits and renewed my hopes for our country’s future economic growth and develop
EDITOR—Perhaps the most hopeful item of news about the upcoming CHOGM came recently from Wanyange Hill near Jinja. The New Vision of October 16 carried a story about Wanyange Girls Secondary School that uplifted my spirits and renewed my hopes for our country’s future economic growth and development.
A statement attributed to Daniel Eryatu, Wanyange’s CHOGM patron, made my day. He was quoted as saying that incorporating the CHOGM programme into the school’s activities had caused a fundamental change. How, you might ask? Here is how he put it: “The students are now avid readers of any literature, not only about Uganda, but about current affairs worldwide.â€
Here is a statement that our educational policy planners should cut out and paste on their mirrors where they can see it every morning.
This was a very important statement. No society can lay claim to any kind of development if it does not have a suitably educated population. And you cannot have a suitably educated population if your people do not read widely. Let us face it. We have a problem. We have more and more universities and other institutions of higher learning opening their doors every other day to admit every Okodel, Kalinaki and Birungi.
But these people do not want to read! Unless, of course, there is an approaching examination they must sit for. That kind of attitude is responsible for the functional illiteracy we see among graduates of our educational institutions nowadays. It is unacceptable. We must put an end to it.
The relevant authorities should move with decisive speed to find out more about the kind of fundamental change Eryatu is talking about. Let us try to quantify it and see how we can harness the excitement that CHOGM is unlocking to achieve more productivity among our future leaders.
If it is temporary fun that is driving students to read about the world, how can the Ministry of Education and other curriculum developers institutionalise fun in reading? A national debate on educational reform might be a good starting point. Currently, China is in the middle of such a debate as it strives to become the centre of the global economy.
Thirty years ago, China re-introduced the national university entrance examination, which had been abolished during the contentious “cultural revolution†of 1966-76.
This policy shift, according to the weekly news magazine, Beijing Review, of September 6, changed the destiny of millions of young Chinese by giving them access to university education based on academic merits.
Significantly, this progress has been a big part of improving China’s fortunes, as many qualified and motivated young Chinese were empowered to assist with national revitalisation programmes.
Nevertheless, there is now a clamour for new reforms amid concerns that China's education system is so exam-oriented that it is turning the graduates into “robotsâ€.
That is precisely why we too must pursue radical reforms on programmes affecting the young people who can turn out to be the nation’s most precious strategic resource. Let us try and keep the CHOGM torch burning in our schools.
Okodan Akwap
okodanakwap@yahoo.com
A statement attributed to Daniel Eryatu, Wanyange’s CHOGM patron, made my day. He was quoted as saying that incorporating the CHOGM programme into the school’s activities had caused a fundamental change. How, you might ask? Here is how he put it: “The students are now avid readers of any literature, not only about Uganda, but about current affairs worldwide.â€
Here is a statement that our educational policy planners should cut out and paste on their mirrors where they can see it every morning.
This was a very important statement. No society can lay claim to any kind of development if it does not have a suitably educated population. And you cannot have a suitably educated population if your people do not read widely. Let us face it. We have a problem. We have more and more universities and other institutions of higher learning opening their doors every other day to admit every Okodel, Kalinaki and Birungi.
But these people do not want to read! Unless, of course, there is an approaching examination they must sit for. That kind of attitude is responsible for the functional illiteracy we see among graduates of our educational institutions nowadays. It is unacceptable. We must put an end to it.
The relevant authorities should move with decisive speed to find out more about the kind of fundamental change Eryatu is talking about. Let us try to quantify it and see how we can harness the excitement that CHOGM is unlocking to achieve more productivity among our future leaders.
If it is temporary fun that is driving students to read about the world, how can the Ministry of Education and other curriculum developers institutionalise fun in reading? A national debate on educational reform might be a good starting point. Currently, China is in the middle of such a debate as it strives to become the centre of the global economy.
Thirty years ago, China re-introduced the national university entrance examination, which had been abolished during the contentious “cultural revolution†of 1966-76.
This policy shift, according to the weekly news magazine, Beijing Review, of September 6, changed the destiny of millions of young Chinese by giving them access to university education based on academic merits.
Significantly, this progress has been a big part of improving China’s fortunes, as many qualified and motivated young Chinese were empowered to assist with national revitalisation programmes.
Nevertheless, there is now a clamour for new reforms amid concerns that China's education system is so exam-oriented that it is turning the graduates into “robotsâ€.
That is precisely why we too must pursue radical reforms on programmes affecting the young people who can turn out to be the nation’s most precious strategic resource. Let us try and keep the CHOGM torch burning in our schools.
Okodan Akwap
okodanakwap@yahoo.com