Pamphlets, the cancer that is eating into our schools

By Stephen Ssenkaaba

With 10 subjects on his academic menu and O’level final exams looming, Joseph Kajira needed a saviour. For over three years, he has been battling a tremendous workload, trying to “eat up” the material on his academic plate: Physics, chemistry, history, Christian religious education and others.

His school had a well-stocked library. But he found reading textbooks difficult.

“They were often too detailed,” he says. He instead found a more convenient alternative: The pamphlet.
Pamphlets are locally published manuscripts with simplified notes on key topics on the secondary school syllabus. They provide summarised outlines to nearly all examinable topics in a particular subject. They also give possible exam questions and answers from those topics.

Many such documents are produced by experienced teachers and Uganda National Examinations Board (UNEB) examiners. These handy books are widely available. They are also cheap, costing anywhere between sh10,000 and sh15,000.

For instance, a good Christian religious education pamphlet costs about sh15,000 yet Christian Living for Today, a popular O’level text book costs sh68,000.

A physics pamphlet goes for sh20,000 or less. Ordinary Level Physics by A.F Abott, one of the key textbooks in the subject costs between sh43,000 and sh45,000. Often, students opt for the cheaper pamphlets.

The danger
In relying too much on these cosmetic handouts, students could be digging their own academic graves.

According to Mathew Bukenya, the Uganda National Examinations Board (UNEB) secretary, students are increasingly exhibiting incompetence in expressing themselves on paper, interpreting questions and properly analysing issues.

He attributes this to learners’ religious dedication to pamphlets.

“The use of pamphlets has continued to impact negatively on candidates’ performances,” he said while releasing last year’s O’level exams. Bukenya said instead of providing elaborate answers to questions, students instead reproduce material which they have crammed them from pamphlets, often giving irrelevant and shallow answers.

Teachers share Bukenya’s concerns.

Yet some of them feel using pamphlets is inevitable as they are cheaper and more accessible.

“Textbooks are expensive; you cannot have enough of them. This leaves teachers, parents and students with no choice but to go for the cheaper pamphlets”, says Raphael Bwire, former head teacher of Kalinabiri Secondary School.

Bwire says if efforts are made to make text books and other scholastic materials affordable, students would have more reading materials to choose from.

Other teachers suggest that scarcity and the high cost of textbooks is a red herring.

“Today’s average student is too lazy that even where textbooks are available, many prefer to read the more simplified pamphlets,” says a teacher from a top Kampala school.

“We have a number of good textbooks in our library, which are never used by students throughout the term,” he adds.

In an environment where measures to regulate the kind of reading materials available to students are none existent, all kinds of pamphlets have found their way into schools.

“Many pamphlets carry wrong information, others are plagiarised,” says Jasper Okello, a teacher at Nabisunsa Girls School. Okello says such handouts have a negative effect on learners because they cram and often go astray when answering questions.

And for that reason, teachers have called for tougher measures against use of pamphlets.

“The Ministry of education should come up with a policy to check on the wanton publication of poorly written books in the name of pamphlets,” says John Kaddu Tamale, the head teacher of Kawempe Royal College. He adds that schools should also put restrictions on the kinds of pamphlets students use at school.

A random survey of some secondary schools reveals an absence of guidelines on the kind of pamphlets that can be used in schools. Many head teachers asked said they had never thought about regulating use of reading materials.

The dilemma

This is especially difficult because the teachers that should be guiding students are the very ones that produce and promote the use of pamphlets. As authors of these publications, teachers encourage their students to use them, which sometimes validates their use,” says Kaddu.

When asked, some students said they find pamphlets convenient to use.

Henry Tumusiime of Old Kampala SS says he always uses pamphlets because they are simplified and make revising easy unlike textbooks which are “a little boring and too detailed.”

Ivan Matovu who recently sat his A’level exams from St. Stephen’s SS Jinja thinks pamphlets are worthy substitutes for scarce and expensive textbooks. He, however, says they need to be used with caution as some of them contain “outdated information and unnecessary duplications.”

Suzan Nakawunde from Old Kampala SS says that even though pamphlets remain popular in her school, she has increasingly become wary of them.

“They leave out crucial information and do not explain issues very well,” she says. She adds: “Some of our teachers have discouraged relying too much on these books. They should only help to supplement other materials.”

Are pamphlets that bad?
Dr. Tanga Odoi, one of the early producers of pamphlets, says these handouts are not an entirely bad thing if they are put to good use.

“Pamphlets should be used to guide students who have been taught very well, read from many other sources and are only seeking to improve their knowledge,” he says. He adds that adequate preparation, good teaching and wide reading are key to the success of students.

Odoi says UNEB is also at fault for setting vague questions which confuse students and lead to their failure. Citing questions from last year’s A’level history paper II exams, he says bad setting is affecting the way students interpret and answer questions.

There are calls for the Government to set minimum standards for reading materials and to put in place a policy to weed out poorly written pamphlets. Some teachers have also called for a textbook subsidy and other scholastic materials.

Aggrey Kibenge, the principal assistant secretary in the Ministry of Education and Sports says: “We have a directorate of standards and quality assurance whose job is to ensure that all these matters are addressed.”

He says all stakeholders have to work together to assist in enabling students obtain the required textbooks instead of expecting the Government to provide all for them.

From the early 1980s when the first pamphlets were produced, the role of these handouts has changed. From being used as supplements to scarce textbooks to becoming the sole source of knowledge.

Commercialisation of education, an exam-oriented system and lack of guidance from authorities has led to this negative trend. All stakeholders need to work together to change this situation.