Prime
Ministry of Education stuck with home schooling books
Ms Victoria Nayiga, a primary teacher, with learners in Kagote Village, Fort Portal City, during the Covid-19 lockdown last year. The government study materials were meant to help learners catch up on lost time. Photo/Alex Ashaba
What you need to know:
- The Ministry of Education in February printed 5.4 million copies of study materials for primary and lower secondary learners.
The Ministry of Education and Sports is stuck with thousands of copies of the home schooling study materials for 2,000 schools, citing insecurity and bad roads in districts where the institutions are located.
Ms Jane Francis Nasamba, the project coordinator of Covid-19 emergency response, on Friday said the distribution teams could not access schools in Agago District because of the flooded bridge.
She also said the teams were not able to access Kaabong District due to the insecurities caused by cattle rustling.
“Ninety per cent of the home schooling materials have been distributed to various schools across the country except in Agago and Kaabong. We are working with our district education officer to see how we can distribute these materials to these districts,” Ms Nasamba said.
The Ministry of Education in February printed 5.4 million copies of study materials for primary and lower secondary learners.
According to Ms Nasamba, the government was slated to give out the study materials to 34,231 government and private schools across the country.
Materials so far distributed
She said the ministry has so far distributed materials to 32,241 schools. This leaves a balance of close to 2,000 schools. This means that more than five million study materials have been distributed while 324,000 are yet to be distributed.
Meanwhile, Ms Nasamba said study materials for 1,000 schools are going to be returned to the Ministry of Education because the distribution teams found beneficiary schools closed.
“The suppliers came back with the study materials for 1,000 private schools because they found them closed. Most of these schools were renting and could not pay for these spaces during Covid-19 lockdown where all schools had been closed,” Ms Nasamba said.
Ms Nasamba accompanied by the Permanent Secretary at the Ministry of Education, Mr Alex Kakooza, and other officials were on Friday inspecting schools in Masaka and Mpigi districts to ascertain if all they received the required study materials.
On schools getting less copies
After the inspection, Mr Kakooza said the ministry established that some schools received fewer copies than the number of students they have.
For instance, St Henry’s College Kitovu received only 300 copies compared to the more than 1,000 students they have.
Mr Kakooza said the ministry used the old figures of learners in each school that was captured by the Uganda Bureau of statistics (Ubos), which figures have now changed. He, however, said the ministry is going to send more copies to all schools that received less copies, asking all schools with this challenge to write to the ministry.
