Prime
70% of pupils do not complete primary school, new report says
Pupils of Kirongo Primary School in Busamuzi Sub-county, Buvuma District walk out of class recently. PHOTO BY DENIS EDEMA.
What you need to know:
Although reports hint at a possibility of schools submitting wrong figures to education officials of pupils enrolling in Primary One, it is yet unclear why, how and where the pupils go before reaching P7.
KAMPALA
More than half of the pupils who enrolled in Primary One seven years ago have not made it to the Primary Leaving Examinations that are scheduled for November 5 and 6.
According to Ministry of Education statistics released recently, 1,763,284 pupils registered in P1 in 2006 across the country but only 564,804 candidates registered with Uganda National Examinations Board for this year’s exams.
This means 68 per cent of the pupils who enrolled have either dropped out of school, married early, died or repeated some classes along the way. Dr Daniel Nkaada, the commissioner of primary education, said the government needs to do a scientific research to ascertain why pupils do not make it to Primary Seven.
“We must admit that completion rate is very low. There is no scientific research on why many pupils don’t make it to P7. It is just a hypothesis. Some schools don’t register candidates at P7 because they have not been performing well and the school wants to keep good records,” Dr Nkaada said in an interview.
However, the Judicial commission set up by President Museveni recently, to probe the mismanagement of universal education funds found out that many schools inflate enrollment figures in order to get more funding.
The report noted that the number of ghost pupils is highest in P1 and lowest in P7. This means that the government could be spending big sums of money on ghosts.
For instance, at Aripea Primary School in Arua District, the commission head counted 35 pupils present in 2010 out of the 1,905 the school had officially recorded. According to THE Justice Ezekiel Muhanguzi-led report, the head teacher conceded the variation but said the school “inflates the enrollment in order to have money to meet the necessities of the school like construction of latrines”.
Ms Margaret Rwabushaija, the Uganda National Teachers Union chairperson, said universal education has been politicised with stakeholders using it to attain their selfish goals.
For example, she explained that while parents are expected to provide lunch for their children while at school, some politicians have used this opportunity to mislead the public, saying it is the responsibility of the government.
As a result, some parents have failed to provide for their children forcing many to dropout because they cannot study on an empty stomachs. “The completion rate is very low at 24 per cent. Where are the rest of the children? The education act allows parents to participate but this has been politicized in some cases head teachers dismissed. Failure of government to allow parents give food to children has led to 90 per cent either leave school or study hungry. But you can’t get a good output,” Ms Rwabushaija told Daily Monitor.
