PLE results: Is repeating a viable option?
Jan 19, 2010
THROUGHOUT school, repeating was and continues to be loathed by many students and parent alike. For the student, it attracts a volley of scorn. “That guy is mature, but dense,†comrades will say and laugh it off. The disdain gets worse when girls are prosecuted and give their verdict on a boy t
By Joel Ogwang
THROUGHOUT school, repeating was and continues to be loathed by many students and parent alike. For the student, it attracts a volley of scorn. “That guy is mature, but dense,†comrades will say and laugh it off. The disdain gets worse when girls are prosecuted and give their verdict on a boy they abhor!
Nicknames like jaja wa baana (granny) a commonplace in primary school. Back home, a child would not escape flogging. All windows and doors would be shut with the child on a ‘one-on-one’ with their armed mother or father, “John, the neighbour’s son is younger than you, but he passed with flying colours,†he or she yelled, gasping for air before unleashing the next whip. “What is wrong with
you?â€
Sometimes the student lost appetite for food. Then the parent would lash out again, “Since you don’t want to study (because you failed exams),†a parent went on. “I am taking you to Ivukula village to dig. You are not fit to stay in Kampala!â€
For all this treatment, a child would avoid that “sir†or “madam†who signed the report card while negotiating his or her way through the panya (short cut road). Added to the stigma of sitting in a class dominated by juniors and the high costs of repeating, a student worked his or her socks off to better the previous year’s recital.
Automatic promotion mooted
However, with launching of Universal Primary Education (UPE) in 1997, came automatic promotion and progression. The Government undertook this free-for-all schooling scheme to reduce the cost burden of basic primary education on poor parents. Consequently, there was a tremendous shooting in enrolment from three million pupils in 1997 to over seven million in public schools. This rise in enrolment exerted tremendous strain on classrooms, instructional materials and teacher-pupil ratio.
To deal with the increased numbers, the Government undertook a policy on automatic promotion where a pupil progresses to the next class annually. Incidentally, this meant transition from UPE to the Universal secondary Education (USE) without repeating, even when a pupil had failed.
According to Daniel Nkada, the commissioner in-charge of basic education, all UPE pupils are eligible for promotion to secondary school. “But there are exceptions,†he says. “Where a child was sick for a long time or continuously absent, he or she can repeat,†he says.
In defense of automatic promotion
The reasons for automatic promotion are various and varied. For instance, it reduces wastage of scarce resources in terms of time and scholastics which gets out of hand when large numbers repeat. According to the education ministry, repeating is a form of wastage, reflecting quantitative inefficiency due to its cumulative retrogressive effects. Also, many repeaters take the places of potential new pupils, increasing costs, class size and adversely affecting teacher effectiveness.
Repeating, too, lengthens the period which pupils take to reach a recognised endpoint, proving a stumbling block to provision of mass education.
“A child who repeats may suffer injured pride from having to continue with his or her juniors,†says education minister, Namirembe Bitamazire. This lowers a child’s self esteem without overcoming the problems leading to their repeating.
For girls, it fast-tracks school drop-out since they grow faster than boys. However, is repeating the only option?
WHAT EXPERTS SAY
Augustus Nuwagaba, a development consultant, says a child who fails to satisfy the minimum requirements for secondary education should repeat.
“Leaning is a process that involves taking in issues and interpreting them. When a child fails, they should repeat,†he says.
However, where a child has other specialties or expertise, it is imperative that their other talent is explored.
Moses Cyprian Otyek, an educationist, says repetition can benefit a child, acknowledging that some children are slow learners. “Others may sit exams when they haven’t matured,†he says.
He added that repeating may help them if parents think the child is capable of doing better. More so, a child may have potential, but fail end-of-year exams because of unfavourable conditions at school, but may do better when transferred and told to repeat.
Another option to repeating is joining technical institutions and pursuing careers in carpentry and joinery, building as well as brick-laying.
Criticisms
The class size under UPE is too large for quality teaching and learning, which neglects weak pupils
Few teachers can effectively handle large classes again, resulting in poor quality education that does not give justification for pupils to move on to the next grade
Inadequate instructional materials
While the mean age for joining UPE is six years, even younger children flood the scheme. Such a child is not ready for formal education and should not be hurried by automatic promotion.
In some UPE schools, the teacher to pupil ratio stands at 1:100. Repeating only makes it worse.
THROUGHOUT school, repeating was and continues to be loathed by many students and parent alike. For the student, it attracts a volley of scorn. “That guy is mature, but dense,†comrades will say and laugh it off. The disdain gets worse when girls are prosecuted and give their verdict on a boy they abhor!
Nicknames like jaja wa baana (granny) a commonplace in primary school. Back home, a child would not escape flogging. All windows and doors would be shut with the child on a ‘one-on-one’ with their armed mother or father, “John, the neighbour’s son is younger than you, but he passed with flying colours,†he or she yelled, gasping for air before unleashing the next whip. “What is wrong with
you?â€
Sometimes the student lost appetite for food. Then the parent would lash out again, “Since you don’t want to study (because you failed exams),†a parent went on. “I am taking you to Ivukula village to dig. You are not fit to stay in Kampala!â€
For all this treatment, a child would avoid that “sir†or “madam†who signed the report card while negotiating his or her way through the panya (short cut road). Added to the stigma of sitting in a class dominated by juniors and the high costs of repeating, a student worked his or her socks off to better the previous year’s recital.
Automatic promotion mooted
However, with launching of Universal Primary Education (UPE) in 1997, came automatic promotion and progression. The Government undertook this free-for-all schooling scheme to reduce the cost burden of basic primary education on poor parents. Consequently, there was a tremendous shooting in enrolment from three million pupils in 1997 to over seven million in public schools. This rise in enrolment exerted tremendous strain on classrooms, instructional materials and teacher-pupil ratio.
To deal with the increased numbers, the Government undertook a policy on automatic promotion where a pupil progresses to the next class annually. Incidentally, this meant transition from UPE to the Universal secondary Education (USE) without repeating, even when a pupil had failed.
According to Daniel Nkada, the commissioner in-charge of basic education, all UPE pupils are eligible for promotion to secondary school. “But there are exceptions,†he says. “Where a child was sick for a long time or continuously absent, he or she can repeat,†he says.
In defense of automatic promotion
The reasons for automatic promotion are various and varied. For instance, it reduces wastage of scarce resources in terms of time and scholastics which gets out of hand when large numbers repeat. According to the education ministry, repeating is a form of wastage, reflecting quantitative inefficiency due to its cumulative retrogressive effects. Also, many repeaters take the places of potential new pupils, increasing costs, class size and adversely affecting teacher effectiveness.
Repeating, too, lengthens the period which pupils take to reach a recognised endpoint, proving a stumbling block to provision of mass education.
“A child who repeats may suffer injured pride from having to continue with his or her juniors,†says education minister, Namirembe Bitamazire. This lowers a child’s self esteem without overcoming the problems leading to their repeating.
For girls, it fast-tracks school drop-out since they grow faster than boys. However, is repeating the only option?
WHAT EXPERTS SAY
Augustus Nuwagaba, a development consultant, says a child who fails to satisfy the minimum requirements for secondary education should repeat.
“Leaning is a process that involves taking in issues and interpreting them. When a child fails, they should repeat,†he says.
However, where a child has other specialties or expertise, it is imperative that their other talent is explored.
Moses Cyprian Otyek, an educationist, says repetition can benefit a child, acknowledging that some children are slow learners. “Others may sit exams when they haven’t matured,†he says.
He added that repeating may help them if parents think the child is capable of doing better. More so, a child may have potential, but fail end-of-year exams because of unfavourable conditions at school, but may do better when transferred and told to repeat.
Another option to repeating is joining technical institutions and pursuing careers in carpentry and joinery, building as well as brick-laying.
Criticisms