Hello John: Your article raises very good points. The only problem is that the policy makers and implementers to whom most of your recommendations apply - have their children in private schools. It would be interesting if the President ordered an investigation by ISO of how many people affiliated with government own private schools!
The ball is back in our court to try to work with our local communities to take ownership of the education of their children. ========= Why our education standards have gone to the dogs http://www.monitor.co.ug/artman/publish/opinions/Why_our_education_standards_have_gone_to_the_dogs_80575.shtml John J. Avudria After spending 12 years teaching biology, chemistry and physics, I had to quit the teaching profession because there was no career growth. I am certain there are many teachers in the country who can relate to my story - that is why the fundamental problems haunting thousands of teachers in Uganda today have to be addressed. I was shocked to read about the 2008 O-level results where more than 60 per cent of the students failed chemistry and physics. Does this bother anyone in the Ministry of Education at all? Unfortunately, majority of the students who failed the examinations live in the rural areas and according to the Education ministry, these students either have no laboratories or the laboratories are poorly equipped. But the problems facing rural schools are much more than poor laboratories or lack of it. The quality of education has consistently declined in upcountry schools over the years and the Ministry of Education has not been paying keen attention to this problem for a long time. While it is true that most schools do not have laboratories, the sprawling number of private schools has worsened this problem. Some of these schools do not have enough qualified teachers and the patrons are milking parents, and exploiting students. All this is happening because there is lack of regulation given the lax policy on starting schools. Many rural schools also lack adequate facilities such as libraries. This, coupled with low morale among teachers, impacts greatly on performance. Often, teachers do not receive their salaries on time. Many have resorted to moonlighting to supplement their meagre income. How can teachers be expected to be in the classroom everyday while they must struggle to put food on the table? How can they provide quality instruction if they are spread so thin? When do they pay attention to the needs of every child? There are a series of problems that the ministry needs to address in order to improve the quality of education in upcountry schools, one of which is supervision of teachers. There is no performance appraisal standards in most schools and many teachers who should actually not been in the classroom, are teaching because nobody cares to stop them. They come to the classroom drunk and untidy. If we allow this state of affairs to continue in our schools, what message are we sending to the younger generation? The Ministry of Education and school administrators need to set high performance standards for teachers. Students need to be empowered to evaluate the performance of their teachers and those with poor performance records need to be dismissed. The quality of teacher education also deserves serious attention. For many years Teacher Training Colleges (TTCs) have been taking students who have passed with weak grades. If we pay teachers decent salaries, TTCs will be able to attract bright students who want to make a career in teaching. Most secondary schools are also crowded, with one teacher teaching 120 students or more. As a result the teacher cannot pay enough attention to students who are not doing well in class. These are fundamental problems that erode the quality of instruction in the classroom. The ministry needs to regulate the teacher-student ratios because this, with other related problems compound to erode the quality of education. There is also need to improve nutrition by providing a more balanced diet instead of feeding students on beans and ugali throughout the year. Balanced diet is essential for development of the body. And, most importantly, the ministry needs to look at the statistics of school performance and use it to allocate resources to address these problems. *Mr Avudria is a former teacher from West Nile **[email protected]* <[email protected]>
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