Let’s do more to have learners sit exams

This newspaper carried some rather startling figures in yesterday’s edition, that at least 122,000 candidates who registered for Primary Leaving Examinations over the past eight years did not make it to the exam room.

The causes, as stated by some experts, are manageable. They include lack of money to meet basic needs in school, early marriages and teenage pregnancies, and disease.

The revelation was made in a report from the release of last year’s PLE results on Thursday last week.

Coincidentally, on Friday, President Museveni and the First Lady, who is also the Minister for Education and Sports, Janet Museveni, made a stop-over at a village in Buikwe District to speak to children who he said were not in school because they had been sent away for not paying fees.

“On my way to Jinja today, Maama Janet and I stopped in Nyenga, Buikwe District and interacted with the wananchi, many of whom were children. It was disturbing to find out that many of these children are not in school because teachers have expelled them due to nonpayment of fees.”

The NRM government introduced UPE in 1997, but the headteachers and PTA are abusing it. If the capitation grant is not sufficient, they should inform us so that we can provide additional funding instead of sending these children out of school. Therefore, in the coming financial year or the one after, we will initiate a new campaign on this issue,” he posted on X, formerly Twitter.

While the President’s message partly speaks about some of the causes of drop-outs listed above, it is quite mind boggling that despite all the reports – complete with pictures - that this newspaper has done over the years on the sorry state of UPE schools and its underperformance, the Presidency was yet to know it.

Be it as it may, the problem highlighted during the exams’ release is one that should bother us all.

While the government underscores the literacy growth over the years, the drop-out rates ought to be looked into, just as Ms Museveni said last week.

Apart from the fees issue that the President points out, it is true that many families across the country cannot afford to put a meal on the table because of widespread poverty. The poverty alleviation schemes should, thus, be revised as well if we really mean it.

Likewise, it should not get lost on the relevant authorities that poor service delivery in other aspects as health and social services have a direct effect on the learning process.

Some children fall sick and take long to get medication and thereby drop out. Others spend most of their time helping homes fetch water and look for food, which denies them ample time to study. The problem goes beyond the capitation grant.

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