Declining education standards temper Uganda’s celebrations

By ISAAC KHISA
Published October 14, 2009

Ugandan children reading newspaper in Education (NiE) pullout

As Uganda marked its independence day last week and celebrated its achievements, many complained about the country’s declining academic standards

Mr Mathew Rukikaire, Chairman of Makerere University Council, argued that the quality of education offered in the 1960s was better than the current one.

“The education we used to receive in1960’s cannot be compared to the current education. We had few students and teacher- student ratio was favorable,” he said. He noted that teachers used to be well remunerated and so didn’t have to look for supplementary jobs to earn a living.

He cited the student-lecturer ratio at Makerere University, the biggest university in the country, as very high, which makes lecturers ineffective.

“Currently we cannot blame our graduates because the quality of education they receive from primary schools to university is poor,” Mr Rukikaire said.

Dr  Ahmed Ssengendo, the rector of Islamic University in Uganda (IUIU), attributed the declining quality of education, especially institutions of higher learning to the poor students passing through all levels of education from primary, secondary and to tertiary institutions.

He said pupils under the in Universal Primary Education (UPE) programme are poorly taught because of poor teacher remuneration, high pupil numbers and lack of teaching materials.

“The introduction of UPE was a good idea, but unfortunately the government has failed to maintain it. Teachers remunerations are poor, while there are no adequate teaching facilities to ensures smooth learning,” Dr  Ssengendo said, adding that the poor UPE products are the ones who reach university through a poor Universal Secondary Education (USE) programme hence the lack of innovative skills by many graduates.

Dr  Ssengendo suggested science courses should be emphasized from the elementary level so that students can embrace science and technology, which are key to economic development in the country.

“For this country to develop, there’s need to have scientists and technologists,” Dr Ssengendo said. “We also need as well people with vocational skills; doctors need nurses and engineers need technicians.”

According to Professor Mondo Kagonyera, the new teaching methods have also contributed to the poor standards. “Before independence, we had an education that involved writing mainly around fire places and observing parents in what they are doing,” Prof. Kagonyera said.

He said the current education system is emphasizes more theory than practice, a situation that has created graduates with no skills. He added that the current education system has also been worsened by the absence of local language in schools.

“The challenge Uganda is facing is that we do not have a national language. Children are therefore not taught in a language that they best understand,” he added.

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