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Look beyond packing food to improve child’s learning
Today, schools demand fees, stationery, money for swimming, money for uniform, etc. In such a circumstance, parents, many of whom are poor, are forced to sell their property, including the little foodstuff. FILE PHOTO
What you need to know:
- The issue: Feeding children
- Our view: Today, schools demand fees, stationery, money for swimming, money for uniform, etc. In such a circumstance, parents, many of whom are poor, are forced to sell their property, including the little foodstuff.
The Minister of Education, Ms Janet Museveni, is up in arms, calling on parents, to take up the responsibility of feeding their children in school. The minister urges parents to pack food for their children so as to boost their learning abilities to enable them excel in studies. No doubt, hunger inhibits children’s concentration in class. Ms Museveni’s discomfort with the status quo, which is shared by many other Ugandans, arises from the need to address children’s continued poor performance.
The report by Uwezo titled ‘Are our children learning; five stories on the state of education in Uganda in 2015 and beyond’, reveals that less than half of pupils in Primary Three up to Primary Seven, have the competence to count or read Primary Two level material.
The report also says only 33 per cent of the pupils evaluated, could perform all literacy and numeracy tasks they were given.
Coupled with poor performance in national exams and high dropout rates, it is critical that factors that contribute to this sad reality, are identified and addressed, hence Ms Museveni’s intervention.
However, the challenge of the less than impressive performance of primary school children calls for a holistic, not piecemeal approach. While packing food for children is imperative, we should not blind ourselves to the manner in which schools are run today, a factor that plays a big role in children’s poor performance and soaring dropout rate.
Unlike in the past when teachers would devote to teach because the profession was rewarding, the story is different today. Teachers are disgruntled. They share teaching time with activities such as riding boda bodas, hawking merchandise, moonlighting, etc, in order to make ends meet. Other times, they are on the streets protesting against low salary, lack of accommodation, etc. Consequence of the less attention they pay to children, are poor performance and abandonment of school altogether.
Besides, there is an urgent need for the minister to harmonise activities in the school calendar. In the past, parents were not as burdened as they are today, with mind boggling school demands. This made it easier for them to pay fees and pack food for their children.
Today, schools demand fees, stationery, cement, brooms, sugar, money for trips, money for swimming, money for uniforms, etc. In such a circumstance, parents, many of whom are poor, are forced to sell their property, including the little foodstuffs, in order to keep a child in school. Such a parent may not have resources to buy food flasks, prepare and pack food daily for the school child.
Therefore, there is need to look beyond packing food to improve children’s learning.
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