Youth want schools' inspection strengthened

EDUCATION

Youth have called on the government to strengthen the inspection and regulation of schools to ensure quality education for all Ugandans.

According to the youth, many people are taking advantage of the fact that Ugandans are yearning for education services and are setting up schools where they offer substandard education.  

Uganda has the youngest population in the world with 75% of the population being youth below the age of 35years.

Youth say, with such a population the country is rich in human resource, however, the quality of education they receive determines whether they will develop the future or not.

These youth made the remarks while attending the National Policy Dialogue on Education that was organised by Uganda Youth Network (UYONET) in Kampala recently.

Some of the youth during the Uganda Youth Dialogue. (Photo by Lawrence Mulondo)

The dialogue that was organised under the theme ‘Transforming Education for Responsible Citizenship and Job Creation, is one of the events that were put up to commemorate the International Youth Day that is celebrated every August 09, 2019.

Uganda National Students Association leader Alfred Ongwen said many institutions especially universities offer courses without accreditation from the National Council for High Education.

"Many institutions are training courses where they have no specialty. This leads to graduating half-baked students that offer poor quality work to the public leading to losses," he said.

He further called on the government to enforce making of sanitary pads in both primary and secondary schools compulsory as to give students skills that can help them earn a living in future as they help out girls that cannot afford the pads.

"This will fight menstruation stigma in communities especially schools as all children will learn that it is natural," he said.

Ongwen further called for a budget increment for the ministry of education to enable officials build more government schools and rehabilitee old ones for better services.

He thanked the education ministry for emphasizing on vocational training adding that this will help the country realise its middle-income status dream as people will be starting up their own jobs.

UYONET chairperson Ronald Otim said transformed education is paramount in attaining Sustainable Development Goal 4.

SDG 4 says countries must ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all.

UWONET programs officer, Munirah Nalunga said there is need for the completion of the curriculum review. She said the current one does not support graduates to start their own jobs but instead leads them to job hunting.

Nalunga said youth should help out government to see that both girls and boys get to school and complete by carrying out sensitisation on education's importance in their communities.

What government says

Ministry of Education, Acting Commissioner Private School, and Institutions Edward Ssebukyu said they are in agreement that there is a need for more regulation and supervision of schools as a result of poor quality education delivered by some schools.

"Supervision starts with community members as they visit schools, ask questions and report problems to the ministry," he said.

He said to ensure education for all, government has put in place tangible policies like Universal Primary Education where children enrol and receive free education.

Ssebukyu said they also put in place Universal Secondary Education for everyone to access free ordinary level education.

Ssebukyu further noted that they have also introduced universal post Advanced level and technical education to enable people to receives higher education.

He, however, said only 25% of pupils that join primary mange to enrol for secondary education.

He attributed this to lack of secondary schools in some sub-counties however said the ministry is trying its best to have a secondary school in every sub-county.

"About 380 sub-counties in the country have government secondary schools. Government is trying its best to put up more," he added.

What others say

Sharon Kaitesi a student at Baptist High School Kitebi, said there is need for government to regulate on the fees schools charge to enable everyone access quality education in good schools.

Kinaawa High School deputy head teacher, Hannifah Nanyonjo said there is need for government to train teachers in handling children with special needs to help them extend fair and proper services to these people  

"In teachers' colleges we are not taught how to handle children with special needs yet we meet them when we are employed in schools," she said.

Makerere Universty, third year Law student Cynthia Amodig said government should revise the National merit to prevent national education gaps.

"Students that receive national merit are those from good schools who also can afford paying university tuition. This makes many from ‘low standard' schools miss out on the sponsorships as they perform a little poor," she said.  

Gulu University student, Samuel Oyet said Ugandans should stop lamenting on the quality of education in the country but help government improve it as they play their roles like giving students scholastics materials.