Educational Needs
The diocese of West Buganda has more than 300 schools under its care. These are schools founded by the church or Christians on church land and managed by the church. But by law government has overriding responsibility over all schools if they receive any financial assistance from the state. Because most of these schools cannot do without state assistance in various forms they have to abide by rules set by the government. Thus when government proclaimed "Free Universal Primary Education" for all, all schools were expected to take in all children regardless of existing capacity. They are prohibited from collecting any fees from any child, and teachers must teach all children in the class, no matter what the number is. With existing capacities already inadequate - most schools already lacked adequate class room space prior to this government proclamation, and with no furniture for both pupils and teachers, teaching has become a formality in most schools. Teachers are resigned to any attempts to give pupils any decent education at all, because they are overwhelmed by the numbers of pupils per class, demoralised by the sorry state of school facilities, and poor pay - the average pay to the primary school teacher is US$38 only per month.
In the circumstances the reader must be forgiven for concluding that "quality education for all" is a wild dream that cannot be realised for many years to come. The church, however, is optimistic that something can be done to make learning conditions for the children a little more attractive, and work for teachers a bit more comfortable. Now that all children must attend school by law, every effort must be made to give the children value for their school time so that at the end of the process they and the state stand to benefit. The diocese is making efforts to interest possible donors in two crucial areas of intervention where we believe assistance would have almost immediate, lasting and maximum impact:
a). Capacity expansion.
We believe that more classroom space must be availed to schools to reduce the current congestion in classes. It is imperative to cut down on class sizes from the current average of 150 pupils per class to around 40 - which is what an average hard working teacher can be expected to handle. Without capacity expansion, we think education to these children will remain a formality with most of them coming out of school practically illiterate.
b). School Furniture.
More than 80% of children in our schools take lessons seated on bare floors. These conditions cannot be conducive to learning; classroom discipline is more difficult to maintain and it is more difficult for the pupils to hold sufficient attention to what is being taught, and develop fair handwriting habits. Teaching and learning subjects like geometry becomes tricky in the circumstances.
We believe these two areas to be of crucial importance to the development of sound academic standards in our schools. Should these key requirements be properly addressed, the children, the state, parents and the church will all have something to smile about at the end of the day.
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