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 20  NEW VISION, Wednesday, July 9, 2014 MWALIMU

By Caroline Ariba

It takes bravery to cut through the thornybushes and evade the mini-oods coveringthe only path meandering into Aputi-putiPrimary School in Bukedea district. As our motorcycle goes through the

thicket, a line of barefooted children, cladin old green uniforms, comb through thesame bush and spring to view.Suddenly, the sound of a loud gong

peals through the village as we arrive at theschool compound. The pupils dash to theschool’s daily morning assembly and slowly

settle into silence. Away from the assembly,a movement through the high bushes catches

my eye.Twenty minutes after the 8:00am gong, a little

girl, probably 12 years old, books in one hand,a half-eaten mango in the other, runs into theschool. Carol Amoding is late.

Midway in her sprint, the skirt of Amoding’sgreen dress trips her. She stops to loosen theknot on the hem of her stained uniform that isimpeding her movement, inspects her bare feetand plucks out what seems to be a tiny thorn.She spits in her palms, rubs her hands togetherand smears her pale arms and legs and thendashes to catch up with the rest, who are alreadybreaking up from the assembly to get into theirclasses.

She dashes to her classroom. The morningsession goes on well, with no big hustle, apartfrom the teacher who arrives a few minutes latefor her class; like it happens in a number ofother public schools.

The head teacher, Annette Igunyo says someof her teachers come late, much as she forbidsit, there is not much she can do. “At this pointyou are glad at least he has arrived, even thoughhe is dripping wet with rain or sweat,” she says. After break, one of the teachers, misses a

lesson. She did not communicate to the head

17 years later, is freeprimary education gettingoff the rails? New Vision,for the next two dayswill be running a series,following the statusof Universal PrimaryEducation in the country.What are its great stridesand hitches and what isthe way forward? ConanBusinge, StephenSsenkaaba,JonathanAngura, AngelMusinguzi &Caroline Ariba investigated.

Mangoes for lunchA day in the life of a rural UPE pupil

7,500Governmentallocatessh7,500 perchild underUPE for eachacademicyear

teacher, concerning her absence.This is common in rural UPE schools. Several

studies show that at least one teacher misses onany given public school day.

Unlike in the past where school inspectorswould monitor and penalise abscondingteachers, this is no longer the case. The 2012Judicial Commission of Inquiry in UPE andUSE found out that the capacity of the systemsto inspect schools is poor, with structural andlogistical bottlenecks.

Since there is no teacher in class, Amoding’sclassmates resort to playing and making noisethe minute their head teacher disappears. Amoding is seated on the oor since there arenot enough desks in the classroom. A few of the pupils are lucky to sit at desks in

this school. The children in the higher classes

study under the mango tree, since there only six classroom blocks.

“When I joined this school, we were vmany in class and at that time there wnot even one desk in this school,” Amodnarrates. The higher she gets, the mspacious the class gets since there are fepupils in class. “When you go to P5, becamany children repeat P4, then there is mspace,” she says.

This is despite the Government’s autompromotion policy under UPE. As a resulpupils repeating classes, the country losh53b annually. Amoding, who has never repeated a cl

hums while occasionally digging into raw mango. Before long, the gong sounreleasing them to go for lunch.

CarolAmoding

Somclasat Aputiheldundtree

Aputi-puti Primary School pupils sitting on the foor during a lesso

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NEW VISION, Wednesday, July 9, 2014MWALIMU

LUNCH TIME

Lunch time at Aputi-puti is an every-man-for-himself-and-God-for-us-all affair. Despite theconstant reminder to parents to pack lunchfor their children, very few in this communityschool do so.

 Amoding is one of those who are unable tocarry lunch to school. When the gong sounds,she speeds out of the school through a t iny pathto her home, hoping to get lunch. A kilometrelater, she branches into a tiny compound, withtwo grass thatched huts, one incomplete. Shehalts abruptly, looking painfully at a womanin the compound sorting through a handful ofgreen vegetables which she plans to prepare forsoup to accompany the food she is still cooking.

Nothing said, Amoding rushes to the tinycompound’s mango tree and plucks a mangothen runs back to school.

“My child did not have food yesterday. Thismorning she got the mango that was in thehouse for her breakfast, and now I have failedto nd food on time, because I had to rst workin people’s gardens to raise money for books,” Amoding’s mother confesses.

“When we harvest crops in the village, we areasked to take at least three handfuls of beansand about nine handfuls of maize grains forthe whole term to feed our children at school,”she explains in Ateso. But there hasn’t been aharvest this season, and even if there was, thismother says that her sons need about sh42,000each to stay in the only Government-aidedsecondary school in the community. Amoding says that some of her friends do

not want to continue with schooling becauseon top of suffering with hunger every day forseven years, they may not pass the nationalexaminations, or nd money to join the goodprivate schools.

“Most of our schoolmates who join Governmentschools under Universal Secondary Educationfail national examinations. This makes me feellike I should give up. It is the same reason whysome easily give in to men and teachers, getpregnant and leave school,” Amoding explains.

Of every 10 pupils who join P1 in Uganda’s

mango trees for classrooms

primary schools, only about three make it to P7.But of the three, it is always one girl or at timesnone of the girls reaching P7, yet there are moregirls than boys who join P1.

Back in class after lunch, the pupils drag theirbare feet, raise their hands lazily and will doanything for a nap. Those at the back of theclassroom are dozing. A good number of the little pupils in this class

wear tear-stained faces and dry lips, since theydid not have lunch. Amoding’s after-lunch class delays because of

inadequate chalk. Indeed, it is not only chalkthat is insufcient in this school. Children aresubjected to old blackboards, limited number ofcharts and some teachers do not have enoughaid books to use in classroom teaching.

“How do you expect us to prepare ourschemes of work and plan for teaching, if wecan hardly even get exercise books at times,”laments one of the teachers. The inadequatescholastic materials partly stems from delayedcapitation grants from Government. Even whenit is sent, it is still inadequate, according to theschool authorities, since each child is allocatedsh7,500 for a full academic year of three terms.

Igunyo is almost speechless when discussingthe impact of the delay of the capitation monies.“Government ofcials are telling us that themoney will be released in August. We have torun the school on borrowed monies. At times,I have to use my own money to run some of

the school activities!” she laments. “Mark you,I do not earn a head teacher’s salary. I earn aclass room teacher’s salary, about sh300,000.Now tell me, because I have my own children toeducate and to feed?” says a frustrated Igunyo.

Not a single building in the school was putup by the Government until recently when aNUSAF staff built two unit structures for theschool. “We have six classrooms and sevenclasses. P7 pupils have to sit under the treeshade to study since the classes are few. Whenit is raining, they share a class with P6 pupils,”she says. Lower classes enrolments are high, butcan never be broken down into streams due toinadequate space.

The pupils can hardly get books, pens andpencils from their parents. A good number of Amoding’s friends are not in school uniform,since their parents say they cannot afford allthese scholastic materials. Unveiling the life of teachers under U

IN TOMORROW’S PAPER

Almost 17 years ago, a much-neededuniversal education programme (UPstarted in Uganda.

Parents who had lost hope of eversending their children to school wer

relieved of the burden of paying schfees, and excitedly started sendingtheir children to school by the millio

Although the numbers have beenattained, low quality education,meagre budgets, suspicions ofcorruption, and questionable policiehave largely eroded any gains.

Aputi-puti Primary School in Bukeddistrict is just one of the publicprimary schools in the country whosadministrators are pressed to providan education for the children with aconstant lack of scholastic materialinadequate school infrastructure,on their own and an inspection andmonitoring system that has collapse

Aputi-puti pupil, Carol Amodingand millions of others now face amyriad of difculties: congestion inthe classrooms without furniture anstationery, teachers who are often

absent because they are trying tomake ends meet, impacting theirlearning.

 Assessment 

A dream turned sour

Amoding’s frst proper meal in two days

 Amoding partly blames the failure of pupher school on the lack of scholastic mate“I have to write in a very small handwritithat I can use one book for a long t ime. It isdifcult,” she confesses. “But even if I waread, it is hard because we only have pamaybe once a week for light,” she adds.

Recently, Amoding says she startedmenstrual periods and she had to sit unmango tree, until darkness fell, becausedress had been soiled. At her school, teacboys and girls; all share the same toilet sta“Whenever I’m in my periods, I never school,” she says.

“It is hard for these pupils to concenand they sometimes end up staying in prischool for over 10 years, repeating proevery class,” Igunyo says.

END OF SCHOOL DAY

I spot Amoding running off at about 4:0and follow her home. This time round, idifferent story. Her mother has some pboiled greens, without tomatoes or oanyway and she can hardly get cookinIt is not a balanced diet too, not that she not understand what it means, but beher hands are tied and she prefers to call luxury.”

“This is the rst meal I’m eating since morWe did not have food except mangoes,explains in a soft voice.

In the tiny hut that she shares with her mis a mat, with an old bed-sheet atop it. Sunstream through the sparsely thatched hut. Tis no way mosquitos can spare them andrains they must get wet. So from a night sleep, comes a day of no food and streschooling but Amoding is determined to on and perhaps one day become the teachehopes to be.

Above, as afternoon classes progress, the pupils start todoze off. Below, the hut Amoding shares with her mother

Pupilseatmangoesas theywalk

back toschoolduringlunchbreak

 Recently, Amoding startedher menstrual periodsand she had to sit undera mango tree, untildarkness fell, because herdress had been soiled