Teachers grapple with limited textbooks in refugee schools

EDUCATION 

The pupil to textbooks ratio is alarming in some schools in Bidibidi refugee settlement.

In Twajiji Primary School, the pupil to textbook ratio is 100 pupils to one textbook which is inadequate for the pupils to effectively learn.

The headteacher Twajiji Primary School Boniface Aliga said the situation is bad because teachers divide the available textbooks to the students.

He said this is attributed to the growing enrolment at the school which is currently over 4,000 pupils.

A teacher during lessons at Twajiji Primary School (Photo by Edna Piyic)

"We normally find it hard to divide 200 books to all the pupils yet it is a pre-requisite for them to revise even before lessons so that they understand the lessons better", he said.

Emmanuel Jansuk, a Primary Seven teacher at Twajiji Primary School said some of the textbooks do not contain the content that is in the teaching curriculum.

"Sometimes we find it hard to teach because I prepare my lesson plan but later I realise that the content needed to teach is not in any of the textbooks", he said.

A primary five teacher at the same school, Freda Lenia said the enrolment is so high yet the textbooks are not commensurate to the pupils.

The headteacher Twajiji Primary School Boniface Aliga (Photo by Edna Piyic) 

The senior woman teacher, Twajiji Hope Primary School, Ezerida Paricia said the textbooks challenge is real and implementing partners need to help out.

The headteacher, Twajiji Hope Primary School,  Patrick Borne Maritia said with the increasing enrolment of pupils in the school there is  need to add more textbooks to facilitate the learning process.

However, a Canadian Charity organization, The Walking School Bus has started the process of solving the textbook to pupil ratio.

According to the coordinator the Walking School Bus, Uganda, Ran Sommer, they are constructing a building that will accommodate the computers that will help to store many soft copies of textbooks that are used for the Ugandan curriculum in Twajiji Primary School.

"Through curriculum supplement, we will use a gadget known as the Raspberry Pie that contains over 20,000 or more soft copies of textbooks and this will help every pupil have access to textbooks through a computer", he said.

He said the project that costs over sh199m will help the school generate revenue by charging over 100 phones with the solar that will power the whole school.

What is the use of reading a book with a British accent when they can read it in their own local language dialect", he said.

The executive director, The Walking School Bus, Aaron Friedland said the project has come to supplement on what the Ugandan government is doing in the education sector.

He said the project will also help to understand reading in correlation to the local language dialect.

Twajiji Primary School teacher, Emmanuel Jansuk said the computer hub will help the learners to understand a topic before it is taught in school.

Another teacher of the school, Freda Lenia said with the technology, they will manage to use one textbook for many students.

She said it will also help with the challenge of inadequate content in the textbooks that they use to teach pupils.

The director of Uganda operations, The Walking School Bus,Enosh Keki Mainah said Twajiji Primary School is one of the pilot schools and if funds allow they will reach other schools in the refugee settlements.

What pupils say

Joan Bayo Grace, a primary seven pupil from Twajiji Primary School said when the computer hub is fully constructed, they will have access to computers which will enrich their reading culture.

Jimmy Peter, a pupil of Twajiji Primary School said the teachers have been facing a challenge of the curriculum content missing in some of the text books but the computer system will solve the problem.

Anna Success, the head girl Twajiji Primary School said the availability of the computer system will help facilitate teaching in class even in the absence of the teacher.