What if I don’t make it to A’level?

Feb 02, 2010

IT is that time of the year again, when O-Level leavers look for A- Level schools to join and parents worry if their children will join good schools. But there are critical questions most parents do not take time to address. What if your child does not qualify to join A’Level? What can he or she

CAREER

By Arthur Baguma


An examination invigilator checks S4 students before they sit their exams. Experts say students and parents must explore other avenues for future career not limited to going through A’Level
IT is that time of the year again, when O-Level leavers look for A- Level schools to join and parents worry if their children will join good schools. But there are critical questions most parents do not take time to address. What if your child does not qualify to join A’Level? What can he or she do?

As a parent you hope your child will pass well to get a place in A’Level. But has it occurred to you that the current school system can only take in a limited number of students? What about those that do not have the money to send their children to A-level, is there an option? A total of 217,358 S4 students across the country sat O’level exams last year. This was an increase of over 53,000 pupils compared to those who sat in 2008.

While over 164,000 students sat O-Level in 2008 only 98,219 S6 students across the country registered to do exams last year. This means that over 65,000 thousand students did not make it to A-Level.

Education experts partly attribute this to limited capacity of A-Level schools to handle big numbers of O-Level leavers, poor performance by some students and lack of fees to pay for A-Level education.
What other alternatives are there after S4?

Certificate training

Nathan Twesigye, the Makerere Business Institute (MBI) principal says most students who fail to make it to A-Level either do not have the qualifications or school fees.
He, however, advises that one can enrol for single and group certificate courses which are recognised by Uganda National Examinations Board (UNEB) and upgrade to a diploma level. These can be done by any one who has completed P7.

Twesigye says the certificates can be got after completing three stages, after which one can enrol for a diploma course. If one completes two stages of the certificate course, they qualify for a diploma.

Apprenticeship

Fagil Mandy, a consultant on education echoes a similar school of thought. He says not everyone will go to A-Level or join university.

“Most people think that because they did not proceed to A-level, they are failures. We have to change this perception,” Mandy says.
He advises those who fail to make it to A-Level to sign up for apprenticeship programmes. Depending on one’s career dream, one can attach themselves to an expert or group of experts after S4 and acquire a skill.

It could be an electronic workshop, a mechanical workshop or carpentry. Others are building contractors, acting groups, singing groups, tailors, bakers, hotels and restaurants.

“The essence of apprenticeship is for one to be willing to be attached to a practising person/group so that you can learn the skills and use them to either join them or start on your own,” says Mandy.Apprenticeship programmes range from six months to two years. Other alternatives are teacher training colleges, farm schools, computer training firms, technical institutes and community polytechnics.

Technical education provides social and educational opportunities for secondary school leavers and others who missed their chance at school.
Mandy gives his own experience to illustrate the fact that one does not have to go through A’Level to make it in life. He dropped out of school in S4 and joined Kyambogo University (then a college) for a diploma.

Ten years later, he joined Makerere University as a mature entrant for a degree after which he enrolled for a master’s degree. “A career doesn’t have to be achieved through the straight line of academic institutions,” Mandy says.

A-level education expensive

Experts say A’Level education is expensive. At the range of sh400,000 to sh600,000 per term compared to certificate fees at sh250,00 per term, a student can complete a certificate course of three terms with only shs750,000 while one requires at least sh2.4m of school fees to complete S5 and S6. After the introduction of Universal Secondary Education (USE), experts say, Uganda should review her schooling system to allow students choose a career path after S2.

At an education conference in Maputo, Mozambique, an education expert suggested that a learner would have nine years of compulsory basic education before choosing to proceed to S3 or to take other learning paths like vocational training.
This, the expert says, should be preceded by reforms in the curriculum so that a limited number of core subjects are taught at the junior secondary level.

The World Bank senior education specialist in Uganda, Harriet Nnanyonjo, told participants at that conference that the current school system was conservative. “Some of the students shouldn’t necessarily go through the mainstream school structure.

“We have those who would want to go to vocational school, but the system cannot reward or recognise them if they dropped out at whatever stage. They have to wait for S4 before they proceed,” she said. According to her, letting learners choose after S2 would help reduce costs of education.
At the same conference, The World Bank’s lead education specialist for Africa, Jacob Bregman, said a nine-year basic education cycle was a common model worldwide.

“The cycle is followed by diversified learning paths, which allows students to develop their full potential,” Bregman said, adding that, “This also gives an answer to the soaring demand for places at secondary level and helps to align the system with international benchmarks.”

Vocational institutions According to the African Economic Outlook of ADB (2008), until recently, technical skills development in Uganda was fragmented and lacked substantive policy direction.

However, in 2003, a Business, Technical and Vocational Education and Training (BTVET) policy was formulated and adopted by the education ministry.

The aim of the policy is to provide a framework for technical skills development as an alternative to the early years of secondary education.

Uganda’s BTVET system is currently comprised of 145 public institutions, about, 600 of them private training service providers and an unknown number of apprenticeship and enterprise-based training programmes.

The public BTVET system includes Uganda technical institutes, vocational training institutes and centres, technical schools, farm schools and community polytechnics.

Public BTVET institutions cover: agriculture and forestry, business, cooperative programmes, hotels and tourism, health, wildlife, survey and planning, meteorology and technical studies.

Formal BTVET programmes (colleges, schools and institutes) generally target students who have passed primary education grade seven. Typical programme duration is one to three years leading to the award of diplomas or certificates.

Other training programmes vary in terms of intake requirements, duration, subjects and certification. They include institutional and enterprise based training as well as on-the-job training programmes.
Although enrolment has been rising — from 23,206 students in 1999/2000 to 40,435 in 2006/07 — the public BTVET institutions reach only a fraction of the potential demand.

Females accounted for 50% of total intake in 2007. While most BTVET institutions registered with the education ministry are government-owned (87.1%), 4.3% are owned by the private sector and 2.6% by the local community.

Private BTVET institutions include vocational training centres and schools, vocational secondary schools and technical schools.

Several government departments, such as the Ministry of Trade and Tourism, offer vocational and technical training outside the BTVET umbrella. Some government units offer similar training and support programmes, like business incubation, without any coordination.

This underscores the need for central registration and coordination of public and private BTVET activities in order to increase efficiency.

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