By Mathias Mazinga
The government has entered a partnership with PEAS Uganda, an educational non-governmental organisation, to improve access and delivery of secondary education.
The partnership was sealed with the launching of a joint strategy, PEAS Uganda/ Ministry of Education and Sports Systems Strengthening Strategy.
The strategy was launched by the education ministry’s director of education standards, Dr Kedrace Turyagyenda at Mestil Hotel, Kampala, recently.
Speaking on the conference’s theme, Leading Schools to Close the Gap, Turyagyenda reiterated government’s commitment to fostering continuous improvement of quality education.
She cited the teacher-tracing electronic system and the improved teachers’ incentives as some of the initiatives that the Government has instituted to ensure effective delivery/accessibility of inclusive quality education.
Turyagyenda commended PEAS Uganda for making the right option of partnering with the Government to improve education. She urged other organisations and stakeholders to work with the Government because “improving access to all-inclusive education is a responsibility of every Ugandan”.
The launching of the joint policy was preceded by a day-long education conference organised by PEAS.
During the conference, participants discussed current challenges in education, such as inspection, and the widely debated issue of pregnant teenage students.
Other issues discussed include lack of commitment to the educational policy of inclusiveness, which demands that all young people are given the opportunity to have convenient access to education.
Special areas discussed include the issue of students with disabilities, teacher absenteeism, disconnection between the stakeholders (school foundation bodies, school management, education ministry and development partners, among others).
The participants included representatives from the education departments of faith bodies, such as the Roman Catholic Church, the Church of Uganda, the Uganda Muslim Supreme Council, education ministry officials, educational managers and development partners.
The conference’s panellists were John Tereraho, the education advisor at World Vision Uganda and Commissioner Kule Baritazale (the education ministry’s commissioner for education standards).
The others were Rosette Nannyanzi, the gender technical advisor at the education ministry and the PEAS country representative, Henry Ssenkasi.
All the panellists were united in their call for proper results-oriented inspection of schools. The panellists also called for the observance of the principles of all-inclusive quality education.
For example, the need to accept and give special attention to students with disabilities, the pregnant and the poverty-stricken students.
The PEAS organisation’s country representative, Henry Ssenkasi, explained the purpose of the conference.
“It has been two years since we went into the COVID-19 lockdown. Many things have happened in the education sector during that time. Teachers generally lost pedagogical skills. School managers lost hope and many of them actually left the education sector. The students also lost a lot regarding their academic progress and now have to be subjected to an abridged curriculum.
“We also have the challenge of pregnant students. We realised it was important for stakeholders in the education sector to discuss how schools can be operated in a safe and conducive atmosphere after the COVID-19 lockdown,” he said.
ABOUT PEAS
PEAS (Promoting Equality in African Schools) is an NGO that runs over 30 secondary schools in Uganda. The NGO has a 13-year involvement in secondary education in Uganda.
According to the organisation’s country representative, Henry Ssenkasi, the NGO’s mission is to make education accessible to all children in Africa.
“Promoting equality is our name and we stand by it. We want to ensure that every African child has access to education, regardless of their situations or limitations,” he said.
“As an NGO inclined to promoting inclusive/equal access to quality education, we give opportunity to needy students to study. We also allow those that have got low grades to come and study. We are a UK-funded charity. This has helped us to keep our fees affordable,” Ssenkasi explained.
WHAT THE PANELISTS SAY
Rosette Nannyanzi, the gender technical advisor, education ministry
The two-year lockdown occasioned by the COVID-19 pandemic has caused enormous challenges for the education sector. Many of our children have fallen victim to domestic violence, sexual abuse, mental trauma, etc. These children need psycho-social support.
Please, do not treat them as wrongdoers. Talk to them in a friendly manner. Use their clubs to counsel them about their situation. Also, use the clubs to sensitise them about the challenges of life that they are likely to face as they continue to grow. The overall objective of every stakeholder should be to protect and give opportunity to the learner to stay in school, until they conclude their studies.
Government has already developed documents and guidelines, for example, the teacher’s handbook, for preventing challenges in secondary education, such as staff absenteeism.
However, we have to work together to put an end to the respective challenges.
We (the stakeholders in education) need to help each other to implement the respective preventive/ awareness mechanisms. It is by working together that we can put in place a conducive study environment for our students.
Kule Biritazale, commissioner for education standards, education ministry
We have a shared-duty to support high quality inclusive education so that all learners can learn and achieve.
The slow learners, those with disabilities, etc, should all have the opportunity to learn and achieve. We have to appreciate students as individuals.
The inspectors also need to acquaint themselves with the dynamics of each school. They need to know the different stakeholders of the school, that is, who is involved in what. This is because, the challenges facing the education sector can only be solved through the involvement of all the stakeholders, who must also first understand the same challenge in their right context. The role of inspection should be for support, not punitive. The inspector should give guidance to the teachers and the students. They should carry out a discussion with the teacher and the learners. The stakeholders should know what comes out of inspection. Their report should even be known by the Board of Governors and should guide them in their development plans/ commitments.
John Tereraho, education advisor, World Vision Uganda
Teenage pregnancy is an elephant in the room. Let us not fall into the trap of condemning our children who got pregnant during the lockdown. Let’s not stigmatise or even victimise these children. We do not have the right to condemn them. Let us assist them, knowing that they are vulnerable children giving birth to other vulnerable children.
Let’s just help them to achieve their aspirations. Please look for them, visit them, counsel them. This is a challenge that affects all of us. Failure to address it positively will worsen the problems that we are already struggling with. This is what inclusiveness means; even pregnant students should be allowed back to school.
Henry Ssenkasi, PEAS country representative
I am happy that the Government and all its partners in education are positive about inclusiveness, especially in regard to the pregnant teenage students.
At PEAS, we started dealing with the issue of pregnant students even before COVID-19. If a student became pregnant, we would not dismiss her from the classroom. We would let her study during the initial months of her pregnancy.
During the last month, we would give her maternity break. We would then let her come back and resume her studies after delivering. We also set up a clinic at our school to monitor the pregnant students.
Of course, we faced stiff opposition and criticism, even from our teachers. People called us champions of teenage pregnancy. But we remained true to our mission of promoting access to inclusive quality education in Africa.
We are happy to partner with the Government and all other players in the education sector. Together, we shall make it possible for all learners to have access to education.
Together, we want to transform secondary school inspection in Uganda: We shall promote equality in schools. We want schools to be safe places for our children. If the children are not safe, they cannot learn.
Dr Kedrace Turyagyenda, director of education standards, education ministry
We hold in high regard the safety of our children, both at home and school. Moral decadence is at its height in the home. Our girls are being preyed on by their own fathers and other close relatives.
Domestic violence has also increased the trauma and vulnerability of children.
Poverty is another challenge that is greatly limiting our young people from having equal access to education. We, thus, need to work together to ensure our children study in a safe environment, so that they can achieve their dreams. We cannot get the change we want unless our children get the right competences.
This conference has given us a good platform to discuss how we can best look after our students in schools after the lockdown. It has also given us hints on how we can deal effectively with the challenges that the pandemic has slapped on the education sector, among them the desertion of teachers, closure of some schools, domestic violence, loss of jobs by parents, broken families, teenage pregnancies, death of parents and relatives of our students, etc.
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