Although learning outcomes are generally poor across the country, there are stark inequalities between groups of pupils and locations, a new report by Uwezo, a non-government organisation that focuses on education, indicates.
According to the report titled: ‘Are Our Children Learning (2016)’ and released today by Uwezo at Nakasero Primary School, household, schools and locational factors impact either positively or negatively on learning.
The report established that P3 to P7 pupils who come from households with higher incomes have an advantage over their peers from poor families. It was also found that attending private schools boosts pupils’ competence over their government school peers.
Locational factors also appear to influence learning outcomes as children in urban areas out-perform their rural peers. Similarly, there was a big contrast in the availability of teachers between different locations, the report indicated.
For instance, it was established that the pupil-teacher ratio is; 36:1 in central Uganda, 41:1 in Western Uganda, 56:1 in Eastern Uganda and 58:1 in Northern Uganda.
In terms of learning materials, the availability of writing materials was sufficient but there are extreme shortages of textbooks. In half of the local languages, a third of the mathematics, and a quarter of the English classrooms, there were either no textbooks or only one for the teacher. Textbook availability is linked to learning outcomes.
It was further found that it is only in P5 and above that a majority of pupils are fully successful at the P2 level reading and arithmetic tasks that Uwezo assesses.
‘Even at P7, the final year of the primary education cycle, at least 2 out of 10 children are unable to complete reading and arithmetic tasks at P2 level. This implies that a substantial number of children continue to complete primary education without ever having acquired the basic numeracy and literacy competencies critical to further learning and independent and social living. This is a social and economic loss to the individual learners, their families and the nation at large. It must be a policy priority to ensure children are in school and learning,’ the report states in part.
The findings are from the sixth national learning assessment conducted in September to October 2015. Uwezo partners assessed over 94,000 children, aged 6 to 16, from all 112 districts in the country. Data were collected from more than 3,000 schools and 65,000 households.
Dr Mary Goretti, manager of Uwezo Uganda at Twaweza, said the data provides startling insight into the state of the education system in Uganda.
“As a new administration settles in, these data highlight a number of areas to focus on. First, learning outcomes must become the policy priority and the most important yardstick by which we measure success in education. Second, inequalities by socioeconomic status and location must be addressed. Education is supposed to eliminate these circumstantial inequalities not entrench them. In particular extra attention and resources must be dedicated to marginalised groups and areas. The shortage of teachers and classrooms in Northern and eastern regions must be tackled,” Dr Goretti said at the launch.
She added that a positive example of targeted government intervention is in the area of local language literacy.
“A number of programs have been initiated to provide learning materials and train teachers in this area. We look forward to the results of these interventions and encourage policy actors in education to provide similar support to tackle other systemic inequalities.”
John Mugo, Director of Data and Voice at Twaweza, added that the results present some sobering insights as “we begin our journey towards the Sustainable Development Goals. We need to go the last mile and focus on equity and inclusion.
“If we are to transform Uganda’s education system, we will need to examine the evidence for what works, ensure that we constantly track progress in learning outcomes and pay sufficient attention to people’s incentives,” Mr. Mugo said.
They recommended that successful learning should not be constrained by the circumstances in which children are born.
According to Mr mugo, children in poorer families, in rural settings and those in the Northern and Eastern regions continue to underperform relative to their peers in wealthier, urban households or in the southern and western regions of Uganda.
“When all children are able to learn, the whole nation succeeds. Government should ensure that its priorities and resource allocation in the education sector serve to mitigate inequalities of basic education outcomes rather than reinforcing them. This is why the National Integrated Early Childhood Development Policy initiative that aims to make preschool education more accessible and affordable for poorer families is an important step forward,” he added.
Among those in attendance at the launch of the report was Workers MP Margaret Rwabushaija, former UNEB chairman Professor Lutalo Bbosa and, Dr. Y K Nsubuga, the Director Basic and Secondary Education in the Ministry of Education.
