Candidates lose hope as academic year nears end

As the academic year draws to an end, candidate students expecting to do their final examinations are losing hope as the Ministry of Education remains silent on when schools will reopen, a Daily Monitor survey across the country shows.

The Ministry of Health closed learning institutions as one of the measures to control the spread of Covid-19, a pandemic that has affected global businesses and livelihoods.

Although government issued directives for reopening the education institutions such as each classroom accommodating 10-15 learners, school owners say the guidelines are impractical.

Education minister Janet Museveni said it was still unsafe for government to reopen schools after observing the coronavirus trends within the country and picking lessons from other countries which had tried to reopen but closed again after a resurgence of the virus.

Since there is no definitive date for reopening of schools, Samson Apegu, a Primary Seven pupil at Soroti Parents’ Primary School, has lost the morale to attend e-learning lessons.

“I intend to join my mother in Otuboi, Kalaki District, on Friday to uproot groundnuts because I am not sure whether there is any hope for sitting PLE this year,” he says.

In case the schools reopen this year, Apegu says he will start preparing for the exams.

E-learning loopholes
While government is developing an ICT and e-learning framework which will guide education institutions on distance learning, Grace Irene Ijoot, a candidate at Akaikai Primary School, Arapai Sub-county in Soroti, has given up on the method.
“There are no teachers at school, I do not know whether what I have learnt on radio is correct. I need guidance,” the 12-year-old says.

Ms Julian Fade Iseet, the Amuria Resident District Commissioner, urges students to continue learning.

“There are learning materials distributed for all sections, our children should not be engaged in only domestic work, they should be encouraged to attend to their books,” she says.

Mr Charles Bony Maginot, the Kalaki District Education Officer, says all sub-counties in the area are mandated to distribute learning materials to students while village chairpersons are tasked to ensure that pupils learn.

Mr James Okola, the director of Cambridge School, a private institution in Ojwina Division, Lira Municipality, doubts whether parents will allow their candidates to return to school this year.

Mr Okola says many parents have been laid off due to the financial meltdowns orchestrated by the pandemic.

“Even if government is to announce the reopening of candidate classes, they will not be in position to bring back their children to school because they (parents) do not have money for paying school fees,” he says.

John Baptist Okello, a retired teacher, says, the possibility of reopening learning institutions should be weighed in respect of children whose parents have lost jobs.

Mr Okola says there is little hope that candidate classes will sit the national examination this year because other classes will also be affected.

Gipsy Noi Lamunu, a candidate at Unifat Primary School in Gulu District, says government’s continuous unfulfilled promises to reopen schools has affected their concentration.

“My hope was to score Aggregate 4 this year since I scored Aggregate 6 to join P.7, but I feel demoralised, and learning from home is destructive unlike school,” Lamunu says.

Mr Joseph Joe Ojok, the head teacher of Mount Olive Nursery and Primary School, concurs with the learners.

“It is really hard to keep hopes of children high and the government’s continuous postponement of reopening,” Mr Ojok says.

However, Beatrice Kabakama, a Senior Four student at Rwebisengo Secondary School in Ntoroko District, is still optimistic.
“I have been revising books, and in case government reopens schools, I am ready,” she says.
In Jinja District, Rayan Lukyamuzi, a Senior Four student at Kiira College Butiki, is also well prepared to pass the Uganda National Examinations Board this year because he has been revising and attending online lessons.

“Our teachers have been in touch with us by sending us the remaining notes on WhatsApp chat groups and I have been doing revision, my parents have also been supportive, so I’m ready to sit for my final examinations,’’ he says.

Lukyamuzi adds that it will be a disservice to him and his colleagues if the government declared 2020 a dead year because their efforts will be wasted.

On the other hand, Grace Mugume, a Senior Six student at Jinja Progressive Academic, Annex Section, says he is not ready to sit for Uganda Advanced Certificate of Education examinations because he had not yet completed the syllabus by the time schools were closed.

Mr John Baptist Kimbowa, the Rakai District Education Officer, says while they have distributed the learning materials, their worry is whether candidates are reading.

“Many parents in Rakai are into farming and it is the children they use as labour. We have been getting complaints from some pupils,” he says.

Mr Moses Mugarura, a parent at St Cecilia Boarding Primary School in Rakai, says he is worried that their children in villages won’t be able to compete with their counterparts in towns.

“Candidates in the villages are not catered for like we see those in Kampala and besides, the rural setting does not favour them at all,” he adds.

President Museveni made a number of proposals to facilitate the distance learning programme, including provision of two television sets to each village and a radio set to each home.

However, some local leaders note that some areas lack radio access because they cannot afford batteries.

Students abandon revision
In Karamoja Sub-region, the teaching fraternity says students are likely to perform poorly because they have had no time for revision.

“Most teachers are not at school, they have gone to do their garden work because pupils are not there,” Mr Daniel Engwau, the head teacher of Moroto Municipal Primary School in Moroto District, says.

Mr Peter Dengel, a teacher in Kotido, says most students in the district are from other areas, making it hard for teachers to continue teaching, adding that a possibility of a dead year will be advantageous.

Mariam Kamukama, a Primary Seven pupil in Kabale Town, says although the e-learning programme on radios is boring, they are concentrating on the revision of materials.

By Simon Peter Emwamu, George Muron, Polycap Kalokwera, Susan Nanjala, Patrick Ebong, Tausi Nakato, Phillip Wafula, Ambrose Musasizi, Steven Ariong, Alex Ashaba & Robert Muhereza

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