Monitor urged on newspaper reading clubs in schools
MPL circulation manager Ronald Seguya (right) and sales and operations supervisor Micheal Kazinda (2nd right) have a discussion with the management of Kitukutwe Church of Uganda Primary School in Kira, Wakiso District, at the school on January 31, 2023. PHOTO/STEPHEN OTAGE
What you need to know:
- Some parents argue that learners who regularly read newspapers easily interpret questions in examinations.
The management of Kitukutwe Church of Uganda Primary School in Kira, Wakiso District, has asked the Monitor Publications Ltd (MPL) and its partner KPMG to establish newspaper reading clubs in schools because of their impact on examinations.
While presenting the 2022 Primary Leaving Examinations (PLE) results to MPL circulation manager Ronald Seguya and sales and operations supervisor Micheal Kazinda at the school yesterday, Mr Henry Ssekidde, the secretary for education at Kitukutwe LCI, and also a parent at the school, said newspapers are helping the learners to interpret questions.
“When you look at the way national examinations are set, you will find that answers to questions in Section A are found in Section B and vice versa. The student is required to interpret and the newspapers have helped our learners to learn this trick,” he said.
He explained that just like other school clubs, the newspaper club is sustainable because it can be used as a career guidance club targeting all Primary Six and Primary Seven candidates.
He said these can also be used to set up inter-school current affairs competitions to sharpen both the students’ and teachers’ knowledge of the environment around them.
Mr Julius Siima, the school deputy head teacher, said since 2017 when KPMG started buying for the school copies of Newspapers in Education (NiE) and “Excel in PLE” magazines, both products of MPL, the results have been improving and this year, they got four learners passing in Division One, 38 in the Second Division, 14 in the Third Division, and six in division Four.
Mr Salome Seruyange, the senior manager at KPMG advisory services, said they were going to sit with the management and see the areas where they can make improvements on the programme and get the best out of it.
“Every beginning of the year, we sit down with the school management committee to see where we can intervene to make things better. Since 2017 when we started supporting the school, the results have been getting better,” he said.
Mr Seguya advised the school management to look out for individuals and companies that can also support the school through their corporate social responsibility so as to cover the other critical needs of the school.
