Dear All, Soory for my quite. I have read the various e-mails from the friends of West Nile. I must say, time has surely come for us to act and do something!!! Just imagine, the past few days as people in Western, Central, Southern, and South-western Uganda were out jubiliating about the performance of their children ( read…brothers, sisters, daughters and sons….) we in the north and especially in the West Nile region were busy hiding our faces like ostriches in the sand. I want to believe that even in our various workplaces none of use was excited seeing that no body came from our region…. The situation couldn’t be any worse. In my view, the PLE, UCE and UACE results of 2008 should be enough impetus for us to do something…serious!!!!!!!
Dear brothers and sisters, I want to share a few thoughts with you, as follows: 1. The plummeting educational standards in the region did not come at once, as you already know, a number of factors are in the play… poor self drive, shear laziness, and many more reasons as have already been mentioned. 2. These plummeting educational standards have to a great extent … been associated with poor educational efforts by the district education office and the implementing head teachers…and obviously the teachers as well… reports of corruption are widespread and sadly those perpetrating this corrupt tendencies are not sons and daughters of the region… I do not mean to be selfish here…! 3. There is genuine lack of concern for success among the parents and their children and therefore no really body cares. There are no realistic game plans for success, even the religious leaders seem to have either given up or feel powerless. 4. There is no solid statistical or phenomenological or interpretive or what others may call scientific data (cross sectional survey for descriptive information) on the reasons and the extent of this problem in both primary and secondary schools and the education offices. 5. There has been no formalised social networking group, such as the “Friends of West Nile mailing list” or the “Ombaci Old Boys Association” keen and mobilised enough to address this and the related issues. In view of the above and in keeping with the various views already expressed, I would like to humbly suggest the following mode of action: a. A formal in-depth research study be conducted in the entire region… covering all the districts in the West Nile region to document the extent of this problem. This study should have descriptive as well as statistical dimensions to give us the breath and depth of the problem. Another aspect of this study is that data should be cross sectional in nature as well as retrospective so that the present status is obtained as well as the data of say 10 years as has already been suggested. b. Whereas a thesis may be good to document these occurrences, however the sensitive nature of the inquiry will do no good for a person whishing to obtain his or her diploma in the shortest time possible and would usually not like to “step on peoples’ toes”. I therefore suggest that the research is handled as follows: i. A select or steering committee of the “Save West Nile Initiative” (SWI) be identified, comprising solid members of various background and experiences. ii. A “Save West Nile initiative” fund be set up under the tutelage of these steering committee iii. This committee then appeals for financial support from all the well wishers iv. As funds trickle in, a call is made for proposals, for an authentic research v. A group is formed to vet the proposals and to chose the best for implementation vi. The best person or persons are facilitated through this fund to conduct the study and produce results within a given period of time. vii. The findings are then disseminated in a grand seminar….where important stake holders are invited to participate… in both Arua and Kampala. viii. The steering committee then begins to implement the recommendations in line with the priorities identified in the study and in the seminars. c. It is thus my strong belief that this approach will lead to scientific information which will be used emphatically without fear or favour in various forums. In addition, it provides for incorporation of various ideas as the views from various persons or groups are used. d. It is also my wish that this steering committee eventually becomes a “formally constituted body”, obviously with the advice of the “Alaka’s” that will spearhead the social reform dynamics in the region especially those relating to the plummeting educational standards and performances and importantly the moral decadence of the youth in the region. Finally I welcome further discussions on these issues as we refine them further, Long live West Nile!!! Amandu Gerald Matua, RN; D. Litt et Phil.(cand), Associate Dean, School of Nursing Sciences, Kampala International University- Western Campus P.o Box 71 Ishaka-Bushenyi, Uganda Tel: +256 772 522 938 or +256 701 522 938 Email: [email protected] Amandu Gerald Matua, RN; D. Litt et Phil.(cand), Associate Dean, School of Nursing Sciences, Kampala International University- Western Campus P.o Box 71 Ishaka-Bushenyi, Uganda Tel: +256 772 522 938 or +256 701 522 938 Email: [email protected] _______________________________________________ WestNileNet mailing list [email protected] http://orion.kym.net/mailman/listinfo/westnilenet % WestNileNet is generously hosted by INFOCOM http://www.infocom.co.ug/ The above comments and data are owned by whoever posted them (including attachments if any). The List's Host is not responsible for them in any way. _______________________________________________
