For years, the affluent parents have invested in expensive kindergarten education. The less affluent never realised its importance until last week, when the Uwezo report highlighted its benefits in learning. MOSES TALEMWA was on hand as Uwezo released their fifth annual report.
Last Wednesday, several educationists gathered at Nakasero primary school for the release of the fifth annual Uwezo report by Twaweza Uganda. From the start, it was an occasion to assess Uganda’s education outcomes.
Introducing the report, Dr Mary Goretti Nakabugo, the manager for Uwezo Uganda, declared that P3 pupils, who had completed a kindergarten education, were three times more likely to read a P2 level story than those who had missed out preschool.
Dr Nakabugo explained that the findings were drawn from data collected in 2014 from a nationally-representative sample of 28 districts in Uganda. She added that the report entitled Are our Children Learning?
Five Stories on the State of Education in Uganda in 2015 and Beyond is clustered around the six Education for All (EFA) goals, and focuses on: early childhood education (EFA Goal 1 on early childhood care and education), access to, and progression through, primary school (EFA Goal 2 on access to and completion of primary education for all), youth and mothers’ literacy as well as vocational and business training opportunities (EFA Goals 3 and 4 on adult literacy and lifelong learning), inequalities including gender (EFA Goal 5 on gender and other inequalities) and learning outcomes (EFA Goal 6 on the quality of education).
“Despite marked progress in increasing access to education in recent years, Uganda has not fully met its commitments under the Education for All Goals. And the improved national average figures conceal stark contrasts between the different districts and wealth classes of Uganda,” she said.
Dr Nakabugo called for increased support to early childhood development, adult literacy and vocational and other training for young people, which had suffered as the state focused more on primary education.
“Even then, in primary education, the high investment has not translated into learning outcomes; too many children in primary 3 to 7 are unable to complete primary 2 level work,” she charged.
However, she explained that there was concern that despite the high enrolment in primary school, the national average concealed stark inequalities. “Many children have never been enrolled in school, for instance in Kotido (61%), Nakapiripirit (35%), and Moroto (27%) have never seen a blackboard – should we not discuss this as well?”
Another major issue identified by the Uwezo data is the slow rate of progression through primary school.
“Many children are more than two years too old for their grade and the problem gets worse among older children. At age of eight years, 31% of pupils are two or more years too old for their class and at age 13, 82% of pupils are two or more years too old for the grade they are in,” she added.
The Uwezo data also showed that children in eastern Uganda have the highest pupil-to-teacher ratios, (62 pupils per teacher, compared to 41 per teacher in western and central), and pupil-to-classroom ratios (104 pupils per classroom compared to 64 per classroom in western Uganda).
Consequently, in eastern Uganda, 21% of primary 3 to 7 pupils are able to read a primary 2 story and do P2 level division, compared to 41% in Central.
WHAT HAS NOT CHANGED
Uwezo data confirmed previous assertions that children were more likely to learn better if one of both of their parents were able to read or write.
“Half of children whose mothers can read a primary 2 level story can read the same story whereas 36% of children whose mothers cannot read the story can themselves read it,” the report reads.
The report also showed that learners in private schools were on average better able to read and write than those in government schools. “In private schools, 31% of children can read a P2 story (in English) and 36% can do P2 division. In government schools, only 12% have basic English literacy skills and 23% have basic numeracy skills.”
However, the disparity was evened out when it came to gender. “Girls and boys tend to perform similarly in literacy and numeracy across all grade levels.”
ADULT LITERACY
The Uwezo report also looked at the level of literacy among older youths and the elderly. The data showed that 64% of mothers had had a primary education or below, while 24% of mothers completely lacked any education.
“Given these figures and the low availability of adult literacy programmes, the data indicate that the Education for All Goals on adult literacy and lifelong learning are not being met,” Nakabugo said. “There is a need to invest more in these programmes as they have a bearing on what happens to the children born in these families.”
The fifth learning assessment also found that 3.5% of children in school have problems with vision in one or both eyes. Dr Nakabugo challenged teachers to consider simple tests to determine whether the learners were able to learn.
“Sometimes a child is not able to read or write, because they can’t see ... and an early check up by a teacher can lead to a child getting help,” she said.
Reflecting on this aspect of the report, the head teacher at Nakasero primary school, Brother Charles Ssengendo, charged other teachers across the country to do their best so, “tomorrow’s graduates will be able to salute us and say thank you for helping me to learn”.
CONCLUSION
In her concluding remarks, Dr Nakabugo felt that the lapse in the period in which countries were supposed to have met the EFA goals should, “provide opportunity for us to take stock and reflect on what our education system is and isn’t delivering ... We need to make primary education more efficient and effective, increase government’s role in the provision of early childhood development and education, and expand adult literacy and youth training programmes”.
Otherwise, she insisted the country was unlikely to ever be able to achieve the vision for a prosperous and stable Uganda.”
mtalemwa@observer.ug