UWEZO Uganda launched a 2016 Literacy Report for Wakiso district. The research was conducted in various primary schools in the district which was ranked third best in 2016 Primary Leaving Examinations. The research showed that three out of ten pupils could not comprehend a story in English although English was the language the pupils were examined in. Most of the pupils sampled for the study were also unable to do simple division in math.
Some of the pupils who attended the Report launch shared with NTV why they tended to perform poorly in English and Mathematics. “Businesses at home, hunger, poverty stuff like that.” Said, Grace Adikin – Kiwafu Muslim Primary School. Richard Kiranda the UWEZO Coordinator for Central Uganda gave some of the reasons why eight out of 100 teachers were found to be absent during the research. “The highest percentage of teachers Wakiso has are female and they must attend to their reproductive roles.” Said, Richard Kiranda – UWEZO Central Region Coordinator.
The Wakiso district Inspector of Schools William Wutashaba shared what needed to be done to rectify the issue of absenteeism. “We are advocating for a revision of the sealing system so that a school can have a minimum of ten or twelve teachers.” Said, William Wutashaba – Inspector of Schools, Wakiso district. UWEZO is a five-year initiative that aimed to improve in competencies in literacy and numeracy among children aged 6 to 16 years old in Kenya, Tanzania, and Uganda. For six years in the row, different Reports released by the Organization showed that many of the Ugandan school children performed far below the expected standards for their class. For example, some Reports showed in many areas that primary seven pupils were unable to comprehend work that was covered in primary two syllabus. So, what needed to be done to change the state of affairs? “Make sure that those teachers don’t dodge classes and if they dodge classes, their salary should be reduced.” Said, Ismael Khamis – Kiwafu Muslim Primary School. The researchers believed that for the best performance to be registered, the parents, teachers and the communities had to all play a role in helping the children improve in learning.
