Mbale Educational System

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Mbale Education System and links

Last November we were part of the team that visited Mbale. Our specific task was to obtain an overview of the Education System and to evaluate the possibility of establishing School Partnership links in the Pontypridd Area. We met with the Director of Education, Headteachers, and the Steering Committee, as well as visiting several schools.

We immediately realised that the terms, “ primary, secondary, and tertiary” had entirely different meanings.

Primary Education:

P1 –P7 catered mainly for 6 to 14 year olds, but since progression from one stage to another was dependent upon passing the end of year exam it was possible to have pupils older than 14 in primary education. The policy of the Ugandan Government was free education for all primary pupils.

Secondary Education:

S1 –S4 catered mainly for 14 – 18 year olds although once again as progression was on end of year exam results the upper age could be higher. Another two years were necessary for “A” level. Fees had to be paid to attend. Parents had to provide books etc.

Tertiary/Further Education:

This was patchy and somewhat confusing. About 5% of secondary pupils go on to further or higher education.

Nursery Education:

was available at a cost

Schooling

We were told that school uniform was compulsory. (This was not rigorously enforced.)

No lunch was provided at primary level. A few would go home, some would bring lunch and share what they had, and others had nothing. Some secondary schools provided lunch, which came out of fees, and some were boarding schools. The drop out rate after primary level was about 70% About 5% of secondary pupils went on to further or higher education.

In Mbale District there are 317 Primary Schools with 228000 pupils on roll this being about 90% of children of Primary School age. There are 85 Secondary Schools with 15000 pupils on roll this being about 70% of children of Secondary School age.

The Headteachers expressed their hopes for and expectations from partnership links:

Break down of cultural and social barriers
Appreciation of each other
Enhanced education
Identification of similarities and differences in educational structures.
Confidence building
Projecting a positive image
Improved relationships through knowledge and shared experiences
Pooling of resources, information and ideas
Sharing of faith.

How might some of these be achieved?

Correspondence between School/Teachers/Pupils
Newsletters
Audio Cassettes/ Photos etc.
Exchange of schemes of work and exam papers
Help with resources
Sporting/cultural links

We visited 4 secondary and 4 primary schools. There was no electricity, gas, or running water in any. All had toilet blocks which were just a hut with a hole in the ground.

The class sizes we were told vary from 60 to 120.

In classrooms in some schools there was nothing to sit on except the floor. Although every child had one exercise book it was common practice to share textbooks one between 6. In several, all notices for staff were hand written and displayed on walls. No form of duplicating except carbon paper was available. Resources were virtually non existant.

The time taken to reach each school was sometimes longer than the time spent in them. The journeys could be quite hair-raising, but the views more than made up for this.

We were amazed at the distance pupils travelled to school, and the time it took them, especially as in many cases it was bare footed. It took some as long as 2 hour in each direction. Staff had similar difficulties (but they had foot wear) due to lack of roads. The most common form of transport was either foot or bike. The school settings were wonderful, and the welcome from people with so little, was overwhelming.

Partnership links on friendship and awareness level can be introduced almost immediately. Exchange visits on a one to one basis will need a lot more thought and planning before execution. Visits by small groups of teachers to the schools could pave the way for greater links and eventually full exchange visits.

Other avenues to be explored through the field of education are the links that could be made through F.D.N.C. and U.W.C.M. with teaching and training projects, and the Tertiary Colleges/ University.