Save the Children intervenes to improve the quality of education

 

By Raymond Baguma

 

Although UPE enrollment in Bundibugyo district has generally been a success, the academic performance is still poor. The 2005 performance records in Primary Leaving Examinations indicate that out of 2,500 pupils, only 26 emerged in division one.

 

Factors for this include absenteeism, particularly in the pastoral sub County of Rwebisengo where boys look after cattle, and sell fish in weekly markets.

 

"Children carry items to markets on Wednesdays, sell on Thursday and return home on Friday. This means three days of study are wasted," says Nshabiirwe.

 

In Kasese, children work at fish landing sites during mornings and remain free in the afternoons. The dropout rate in Kasese is at 18% with the lake region registering the highest dropout rates especially in Lake Katwe and Katwe- Kabatoro Sub Counties . Boys are also attracted to do manual jobs in Bwera town on the Congo border.

 

Kasese District Education Officer, Mr. Douglas Katemba says in 2001, a total of 20,797 boys were in P1, while the girls were 20,345. However, by 2004 there were 12,974 boys and 12,974 girls in P4 class.

 

In Kanara Sub County in Bundibugyo, school authorities say boys dropout to go fishing on Lake Albert while girls are married off. In the mountainous Kasitu Sub County , boys engage in timber and cocoa carrying.

 

At Rwangara primary school, lessons for lower primary are disrupted whenever it rains because the pupils study in temporary structures. There is lack of infrastructure. The staff house was converted into an office and reading materials are kept in the head teacher's office because there is no library.

 

Children want to study but the education system of classes from 8am-5pm, is not favorable for the pastoral and fishing communities of the districts. At Katunguru primary school with a pupil population of 302, the head teacher says it is hard to find all pupils at school on a given day.

 

"We have never got a stable number of pupils. Fish being the only source of income, pupils' numbers are determined by seasons in the lake. When fish is there in the lakes, pupils do not come to school." Emily Ekyasimire says.

 

Currently, the district has about 875 qualified teachers and 300 licensed teachers. A recent report says only 25% of teaching posts in the district are filled. At Umoja Primary School in Kanara, teachers lack a staff room, chairs and tables and use pupils' desks. The blackboards at the school have also been vandalized because the classrooms lack doors and windows.

 

"In Kasenyi, there is nothing to eat and teachers can do nothing else but survive on their salaries. If teachers' quarters could be built, the situation could probably change," says Katemba.

 

In Bundibugyo, teachers and pupils at Umoja Primary Schoolshare a public toilet because the contractor abandoned construction of the school latrine.

 

In the mountainous Kasitu, the cost of transporting construction materials such as sand and cement is expensive and contractors find it hard to construct classrooms in the mountainous area.

 

Nshabiirwe says the standards in primary section directly affect secondary education and this might affect Universal Secondary Education when it is introduced.

 

Nshabiirwe says the challenges in the education sector in Bundibugyo, are compounded by few teachers born in the district.

 

"Many teachers come from outside the district. This is a challenge but we are trying to build a foundation right from primary one," he says.

 

In Kasese, Katemba says government should address the livelihood of salt mining communities by reviving the Katwe Salt factory.

 

James Otim, Save the Children regional manager for Western Uganda says, "In such settings, children's contribution to families cannot be eliminated completely. We have to work around the system. If education is to take children away from their family, there will be conflict. Children should contribute to household incomes while accessing education."

 

Save the Children will construct staff houses in hard-to reach areas in both districts as well as provide incentives to attract teachers to work in the areas. There will also be construction of latrines and provision of chairs and desks.

 

Eric Kitsa, Bundibugyo Save the Children district manager says the hard-to-reach and under-served sub counties of Kanara and Kasitu will benefit. Save the Children is in dialogue with the Ministry of Education and Sports to treat Bundibugyo district as a hard-to reach area. This will make it possible for the district to receive a token as a motivation as is the case in Karamoja where government gives an additional pay to teachers.