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Primary schools yet to conduct lessons as pupils stay away
Vending. Some of the schoolgoing children vend water melon in Mityana Town on Monday.There is still low pupil turn up in Mityana primary schools. PHOTO BY JESSICA NABUKENYA
What you need to know:
- In the recently released 2018 Primary Leaving Examinations, out of the 8,284 candidates who sat PLE in the district, only 886 got first grade, a total of 3,451 were in second grade while 1,564 and 316 candidates respectively passed in third and fourth grade.
Mityana. Three weeks into the new academic term, some primary schools in rural sub-counties in Mityana District are yet to start conducting lessons due to low pupil attendance, Daily Monitor has established.
In some of the schools this reporter visited on Monday such as Kabuwambo, Kisule and Danya primary schools in Malangala and Kalangalo sub-counties, only a quarter or half of the total population of the schools had reported.
At some schools, teachers report but leave at midday as there are few pupils to teach.
At Kisule Primary School, only 150 out of 600 pupils reported on Monday.
In some villages, school-going children were seen tending to their parents’ gardens and others doing house chores like washing utensils, while in towns, they are seen hawking foodstuffs on the streets and in markets.
“I am not surprised with what is happening. Whenever a new term opens, pupils here usually report in the third week while others spend the first month at home,” a teacher at Danya Primary School said.
According to a school calendar released by Ministry of Education last December, schools which opened for first term on February 4, will officially close for holiday on May 3.
This means pupils who have not yet reported to school have already missed classes for 13 days.
The Ministry of Education Permanent Secretary, Mr Alex Kakooza, has on several occasions warned schools against wastage of teaching and learning time at the beginning and end of term.
“Lessons should start promptly and terms should not be cut short without clearance from my office,” Mr Kakooza said in a recent circular to all school heads.
Ms Masitula Nambatya, the district secretary for education, said many pupils who attend schools under government’s Universal Primary Education (UPE) are living with careless relatives.
Failure by pupils to report to school has now prompted district leaders to announce a crackdown on all parents who have not yet taken their children to school.
2018 PLE results
In the recently released 2018 Primary Leaving Examinations, out of the 8,284 candidates who sat PLE in the district, only 886 got first grade, a total of 3,451 were in second grade while 1,564 and 316 candidates respectively passed in third and fourth grade. A total of 836 candidates were ungraded while 239 did not show up for the exams.
