On Monday this week, 503,214 Senior Four commenced their first Uganda Certificate of Education papers.
On October 30, Primary Leaving Examination candidates will be briefed and will finish their exams on November 4. Meanwhile, Senior Six candidates follow, from November 7 to December 5.
In all, 1,627,885 learners are registered this year, the largest number in our history. To every candidate, we are proud of you. Work steadily, be honest, and trust what you have learnt.
Examination season is also a time when too many children quietly leave the classroom. Some stay home because the house needs hands. Some stay away from school because they were told not to come back without completing payment of fees.
Some go to school but spend the day hungry and cannot learn. Third term runs until December 4. Every child in Primary One, Senior Two or any other class has a full term of learning ahead.
That learning matters just as much as the papers the candidates are writing. So, my first appeal is simple. Let us take the children back to school. Parents, if your child has been home, return them to class this week. Head teachers, open the gate and welcome them.
My second appeal is to explain clearly what the law says about feeding children at school. This is where I see confusion, and sometimes abuse.
WHAT THE ACT SAYS
The Education (Pre-Primary, Primary and Post-Primary) Act, 2008 sets the foundation. It states that the education of a child “shall be a joint responsibility of the State, the parent or guardian and other stakeholders.”
The Act then divides that responsibility Government provides teachers, learning materials and school structures. Parents and guardians, in the Act’s own words, are responsible “to provide food, clothing, shelter, medical care and transport.”
That is section 6(2)(c) of the revised edition, quoted in many older documents as section 5(2)(c). Let me be plain with parents. Feeding your child is not a favour to the school or to government.
It is a duty the law places on you. A child who has eaten pays attention, remembers and finishes the day. A hungry child does none of these. Packed food, porridge, a share of beans and maize sent to the school store: each of these fulfils the law.
HOW THE REGULATIONS FOLLOW THE ACT
Some school leaders tell me, “But the regulations allow us to charge for lunch.” Let me explain how the regulations work, because this is where the misunderstanding lies.
The regulations that govern school management committees and boards of governors sit in the schedules of the Act. They take their authority from the Act. They exist to carry out what the Act says, never to contradict it.
Where a regulation gives a school room to act, that room must always be read together with section 10 and the protection of the child. For government secondary schools under Universal Secondary Education (USE), the regulations for boards of governors allow a board to fix charges only “with the approval of the minister.”
No board may invent a compulsory lunch fee on its own. The order is therefore simple: the Act first, the regulations under it, and the child protected throughout. A school may organise a meal and invite parents to contribute.
A school may not make that contribution compulsory, and it may never send a child home because of it.
TO HEAD TEACHERS, CANDIDATES, PARENTS AND TEACHERS
Head teachers, I ask every one of you not to send away any candidate with a fees balance ( I mean those in non-free education schools) from sitting the national examinations.
A child who has studied for years must not lose that chance at the door of the examination room.
If a candidate has not cleared fees, report the matter to the Uganda National Examinations Board (Uneb) so that the results are withheld until the balance is settled. But let the child sit the examination.
To everyone involved in conducting these examinations, head teachers, teachers, invigilators and supervisors: do not take part in any unlawful practice. The credibility of our certificates depends on the integrity of every one of you.
To all our candidates, I wish you success. May the Lord guide you and bless you during this time. May He give you the wisdom and peace of mind to do your best as you shape your future.
Finally, I thank our parents and our teachers for the great work you have done over the years to bring these children this far. I appreciate you, and I wish you well. As our candidates write their papers over the coming weeks, let the rest of the country do its own homework.
Let us bring every child back to the classroom. Let us make sure no child is too hungry to learn. Let us respect the law that protects them.
The writer is the Acting Minister of Education and Sport
Thank you Bwana Minister. I join you in wishing all candidates success.
I was in primary school during Amin’s regime and one year post-Amin. There was no feeding program at our primary school, neither did our parents provide. I remember running to the bush to grab some fruits to fill my stomach between morning and afternoon PLE papers. During some seasons, there were even no fruits. We pushed on with empty stomachs. In secondary/high school under Obote 2 and one year under Museveni, we were poorly fed in a govt boarding school. We defied all odds and excelled regardless, of course by the grace of God. What motivated us was to break out of the poverty trap/cycle. Education was the only option available to us. Those days, there was meritocracy and fair competition in all spheres. In my B.Com class at Makerere University, we had sisters and brothers from allover Uganda and from multiple schools. These days, a student from my former high school has almost zero chance of making it to a B.Com degree program on govt scholarship because of unfair competition.
Liberalization of education sector brought in private actors who killed govt schools where children of the poor used to go. Gov’t schools were killed through unfair competition. Rich private schools could pay hefty amounts to hire UNEB examiners, including chief examiners to coach their candidates on exam questions that they prepared. Also, rich private schools shopped for best teachers in govt schools and paid them probably more than ten times what got could afford. I am glad to know that the new curriculum and some reforms seem to be addressing this issue.
To make matters worse, a few from poor backgrounds who manage to wriggle through after their parents sell land and other vital assets, can’t find jobs after graduating from universities. The children of the well-connected or those who can pay are the ones who get the few available govt jobs through unfairness.
When children see their uncles/aunties/siblings/neighbors with degrees jobless, what motivates them?
Bwana Minister, you and your colleagues in govt should return Uganda to meritocracy and fairness first, then we can discuss about feeding children at school. Thank you sir.