Schools register low turn up on first day of Term One

KAMPALA- As schools warmed up to begin the first term of the 2016 academic year yesterday, many across the country experienced a low turn up of students and teachers.

A random survey Daily Monitor conducted across the country yesterday showed that many parents feared that there would be post-election violence while others had not accessed financial institutions such as banks since last week as they were closed.

Mr Isaac Katoma, the Arua Public Primary School head teacher, blamed the low turn up on parents who failed to provide school requirements to their children in time.
“I see many parents coming to register their children minus the children themselves. Parents should know that lessons start on the first day. Many of them complain of school fees problems,” he said.

The Ebenezer Primary School administrator, Mr Moses Tumwesigye, said few of their pupils managed to report because majority of the parents hadn’t paid school fees but was optimistic that the turn up would improve in the course of the week.
“Banks have been closed following the many public holidays we had last week. Some parents feared there would be chaos after the election but even then, many parents could not access banks to pay fees as they have been closed. We hope this will change this week,” Mr Tumwesigye said.

Ms Joseph Anguyo, a parent, said: “The timing of the start of the term is bad because many parents rely on salaries and with the festive season we had, it was difficult to save for school fees.”

A visit to Uganda Martyrs Primary School in Katwe, Good Foundation Primary School, Leos Junior Primary school and KY Day and Boarding Primary School, Nyendo and Hill Road Public School, among others, revealed that although the schools had opened, the students were few.
Masaka Municipality inspector of schools, Mr Joseph Kakeeto, was skeptical as to whether his students will be able to complete the syllabus in time and appealed to parents to send their children to school immediately to enable them cover the syllabus.

According to the 2016 school calendar, first term is expected to end on May 13. This means the school term will have two months of study instead of three.

“We urge parents to send their children to school in time. The term is too short to complete the syllabi, especially for candidate classes. Gone are the days when first days of the term were devoted to cleaning school compounds. These days serious studies start the moment schools open,” Mr Kakeeto explained.

Parents hesitant
However, some parents were still hesitant by yesterday to send their children back to school amid reports that presidential candidate Dr Kiiza Besigye was arrested.

“We have a problem of getting fees due to the blocking of mobile money services. I expected some money from people upcountry but this was not possible,” said Agape Olaboro, a parent.

Teaching and learning was normal at Nakasero Primary School and Kololo SS in Kampala although the school administrators admitted that few teachers and students had reported.

In Tororo, the district education officer, Mr Yonah Gamusi Doya, said whereas teachers turned up ready to teach, few students reported for the term, with some classes not registering a single student.

He said the poor turn up is likely to affect performance of learners in the district because they may not be able to complete the syllabus since the term is too short.

Mr Doya appealed to parents to send their children to allow teachers effect teaching and learning in their respective schools.

Ms Helen Wataba, the head teacher of Tororo Girl’s School, confirmed that unlike in the past, the turn up of learners for the term is not encouraging and is likely to affect their school programmes.

She said it had become a tradition that students report on the first day but this time round ,the school has only registered 700 students with Senior One having the least yet a big number sought admission to the school.

“We have been in touch with some of our parents from distant areas but they have attributed the delay to lack of transport, especially in hard-to reach districts like Kotido, but we hope to realise normal turn,’’ she said.

She added that others say they were frustrated by none operations of banking institutions and mobile money services, which halted their operations from Thursday last week.

Teaching to start immediately
In Mbarara, the district education officer, Mr Gabriel Ahimbisibwe, said he will ensure that teaching across the district starts today and will go on normally. This is after many schools in the district opened normally for the First Term.

“Classes have started normally. Teachers are present and children are reporting for classes in most of the schools I have visited so far,” Mr Ahimbisibwe told Daily Monitor yesterday. “ I will ensure by the end of tomorrow everybody is back since there is no alarming situation to stop school programmes.”
Mr Ahimbisibwe said he had visited more than 20 primary schools out of over the 190 in the district.

The head teacher Ntare School, Mr Jimmy Turyagyenda, said they opened the school gates to students last Saturday to allow them ample time to prepare for classes which started yesterday.

“People here do not even remember that there was an election because now we are in another world of academics,” said Mr Turyagyenda.

He said the school has 82 teachers and 1,100 students (excluding S4 and S6). Mr Turyagyenda said two thirds of the students have reported even when there was a scare of violence.

The director Global High School, Mbarara, Mr Laban Kanywa, said student turn up was fair. He, however, said some parents from Kampala and Nakivale Refuge Settlement Camp in Isingiro District, still feared to send their children as they were anticipating election-related violence.

“Most of my students are from Kampala and Nakivale. They are Burundians, Congolese, and Somalis but they still fear to come anticipating political violence since they know the impact of such unrest,” said Mr Kanywa.

By Yonah Ahabwe, Peace Eyotaru, Felix Warom Okello, Joseph Omollo, Malik Fahad Jjingo, Felix Ainebyoona
& Patience Ahimbisibwe

[email protected]