School offers hope to S.4 candidates amid fears over new curriculum

With the new Lower Secondary Curriculum in place, schools in Otuke District are doing everything within their means to enable students excel in the national examinations despite fears. 

Mr Alfred Omara Oyena, the vice chairman of Parents Teachers Association (PTA) of Adwari Secondary School, said: “We have been meeting Senior Four candidates and their parents. Parents expressed their worries that their children may end up failing because of the new curriculum.”

Mr James Ocen, the head teacher of Adwari Secondary School, however, ruled out any poor performance by candidates, saying most of their teachers have been trained on the new curriculum.

“We have teachers who go for in-service training during holidays and when they come back they mentor their colleagues. So, parents and candidates should not worry about the exams,” Mr Ocen said.

The national examinations are conducted by the Uganda National Examinations Board (Uneb), which last month released sample examination papers for UCE competency-based assessment under the new lower school curriculum.

The sample papers cover 36 subjects in the categories of humanities, sciences, vocational and languages, each with a corresponding scoring guide.

In a statement released on March 25, Uneb Executive Secretary, Mr Dan Odongo, noted that the purpose of the sample papers was to expose both teachers and learners to the question format of competency-based assessment.

However, some Senior Four students said the format of teaching may not give them the best chance to pass exams. 

Ms Tina Tracy Aguti, a Senior Four student at Adwari Secondary School in Otuke District, said the challenge they face under the new curriculum is that teachers give them the topics that they are supposed to study on their own.

She added that students often go to the library to do research using the textbooks of the old curriculum.

“What I understand about research is about using computers with the Internet, but we are instead using the old textbooks for research. Sometimes you don’t even understand what you are copying and yet in the new curriculum there are no notes. When we go to the library, we are presented with old textbooks,” she said.

Another challenge the learners are faced with is on scenario-based questions which require learners to think critically while answering them.

“Those scenario-based questions are so challenging. First of all, it needs critical thinking and if you are not a person who thinks critically you will fail because sometimes you may have the idea but answering it becomes a problem,” Ms Aguti said.

Mr Ronald Apenyo, another Senior Four candidate of the same school, said they lack  Internet access to do research.

“What I have witnessed about the new curriculum is that it wants us to be job creators, and so what we have been doing is discovery and research. The teachers always tell us to do research through the computers and library but our computer lab does not have enough computers for all the students and the internet is not always on. So, we do our research using old textbooks,” he said. 

Ms Sarah Obia, a parent and resident of Angwetangwet Ward in Lira City, is worried that her daughter who is sitting UCE this year might fail because she is scared of how exams are going to be set under the new curriculum.

“I am not alone but most parents with candidates in Senior Four this year are so worried that our children may fail the exams because they are the pioneer students. It is going to be the first time they are going to do this kind of exam,” Ms Obia said.

About curriculum
Under the new curriculum, teachers grade students on a scale of three, that is, one, two and three. All marks are out of a cumulative mark of 20 percent whose average at the end of Senior Four will be sent to Uneb as continuous assessment.

The new curriculum has continued to face some challenges. It was initially not welcomed by the teachers and experienced poor engagement from the parents and the wider community.