Govt should address other challenges facing Sciences
Students in a Biology practical class. President Museveni has directed the Ministry of Public Services to increase the salaries of secondary school head teachers and deputies who specialise in Sciences. Photo/File
What you need to know:
- Whereas Science teachers can attribute the improvement in some areas to motivation, we need to address the other challenges facing the field of study. Government needs to ensure that more Science teachers are trained and recruited
Mid-last year, President Museveni directed the Ministry of Public Service to increase the salaries of secondary school head teachers and deputies who specialise in Sciences.
The directive from the President was in response to a query from the Ministry of Education that whereas salaries of Science teachers had been enhanced, head teachers and their deputies who specialise in Sciences had been left out.
In the directive, the President re-echoed government’s stance on improving the salaries of all Science teachers, a promise he made in 2017. The 300 percent pay rise in 2021 resulted in a graduate and Grade V teachers’ pay increase to Shs4 million and Shs3m, up from Shs1.1m and Shs796,000 respectively.
In explaining the improvement in performance in some Science subjects in the 2023 Uganda Certificate of Education (UCE) results released by the Uganda National Examinations Board (Uneb), Mr Vincent Elong, the chairperson of the Uganda Professional Science Teachers’ Union (UPSTU), attributed the improvement in performance to the increased motivation of teachers.
Indeed, there has been improvement in performance in the number of O-Level candidates who excelled in Mathematics and Biology. Among the subjects where many candidates got distinctions one and two, Mathematics was ranked number three, just after Islam Religious Education (number one) and Christian Religious Education subjects (number two).
However, the same results show that close to half of the candidates were unable to pass essential science subjects: Chemistry and Physics. Mr Dan Odongo, the Uneb executive director, said less than 20 percent of the candidates obtained Credit pass levels in Physics and Chemistry, and 40 percent or more were unable to pass.
Whereas Science teachers can attribute the improvement in some areas to motivation, we need to address the other challenges facing the field of study.
Government needs to ensure that more Science teachers are trained and recruited. It is hard to believe, but it is true that some schools in Uganda today have no Science teachers.
Then we must ensure that learners get enough practical teaching. Last year, Uneb observed that some candidates showed weaknesses in the handling of apparatus during the practical tests. Government should ensure that schools, especially those in rural areas, get laboratories that are fully equipped so that learners can manipulate science apparatus and carry out the procedures prescribed in the examination papers.
It is only when we address the challenge of inadequate teaching that we shall register the kind of success in Sciences that the President desires.
