Arua, Lamwo, and Kitgum register low turnout, while Kagadi registers huge turnout as schools reopen for third term

Education: As the 3rd term opens, a number of primary schools in Arua City registered a low turn-up of learners on Monday.

Among the schools visited, it was found out that the turnout was lower than the number of learners that the schools closed second term with.

At Spring’s primary school, Etoma Geoffrey, the head teacher, confirmed that out of the over 800 learners the school closed second term with in the primary section, only 438 turned up on day one.

Of these, 223 were boys, while 215 were girls.

Meanwhile, in nursery section, 133 learners turned up out of the 262 learners.

Etoma attributes this to transport challenges, as their vehicles don’t pick learners on day one.

At Niva primary school, 349 pupils turned up on day one.

Meanwhile, at Ayiova primary school in Vurra subcounty Arua district, the P7 class teacher confirms that only 26 out of the 40 candidates appeared to school, much as the announcements were run in different churches that the learners should report to school.

A number of parents have a negative attitude toward sending the learners to school on the first day, as they think that there are no lessons on the first day.

The principle education officer of Arua City, Raymond Ombere, has asked parents to send their children to school.

This follows the poor turn-up of learners on day one in most of the schools across West Nile.

Ombere says the 3rd term is short and promotional, which needs much attention and concentration from the learners.

He also cautioned schools sending children back home under the disguise of scholastic material to stop as the learners don’t buy the scholastic materials and pay fees themselves.

Ombere also asked parents to support the schools where their children study so that they can acquire the best education.

He says the little charges in universal primary education schools help to enhance the child’s academics.

He, however, says parents should not use it as a tool for making their children drop out of school.

Most of the schools our journalists visited registered low turnout on day one.

This was attributed to mostly parental negligence and negativity, where many parents think that the first week is always for cleaning instead of teaching.

Meanwhile, schools across Kitgum and Lamwo districts have reported a very low turnout of learners on the first day of Term III.

According to a report obtained by this publication, several hard-to-reach schools recorded significantly lower attendance compared to their expected enrollments. However, schools in Kitgum Municipality showed a better response.

Odunglee Primary School, for instance, registered only 107 learners out of an expected 797. At Ayoma Primary School, 132 learners attended out of 784. Pachua Pakuba Primary School saw just 90 pupils from a total of 483, while Pachua Dagwach Primary School recorded 94 learners from an expected 700.

Atimkikoma Primary School had 62 learners present out of 521, and Mucwini Primary School saw 223 pupils attend from a total enrollment of 731. Labongo Layamo Seed Secondary School registered 65 students from an expected 96, while Archbishop Janani Luwum Memorial College recorded 125 students out of 377.

In contrast, some schools, such as IGF’s Childcare Amida Primary School and Giulio Pastore Primary School, registered a three-quarter attendance of learners on the first day of the term.

Ms. Amony Mary, the headteacher of Odunglee Primary School in Labongo Layamo Subcounty, attributed the low turnout to the negative attitude of parents towards their children’s education.

Komakech Richard P’ilibo, the LCIII Chairperson of Mucwini West Subcounty, who led a joint school monitoring team in his area, stated that they intend to engage the community to combat the growing culture of keeping school-aged children at home during school terms.

In relation to the above, government-aided primary and secondary schools in Kagadi District have registered a huge turn-up of students for term three amidst shortages of facilities like classrooms, laboratory equipment, staff quarters, and teachers, according to the school heads.

Ramadan NyondoBarongo, the head teacher of Kagadi government-aided secondary school, who doubles as Area UNEB Supervisor, says out of the total enrollment of 3,200 students at his school, 2,000 students have already reported at the beginning of term 3, with over 60 teachers reporting for duty.

Nyondo notes that despite the huge number of students, the school only has 22 teachers on government payroll out of 70 teaching staff. He asked the Ministry of Education to reconsider the school in laboratory equipment, new curriculum books, facilities, and staff recruitment.

Abigaba Emmanuel, the Kagadi model primary school head teacher, is appealing to the government to consider them for more teachers and requirements like textbooks so that they can deliver.

Vincent Barakuraha, St. Adolf Tibeyarirwa secondary school in Muhooro Kagadi, wants the government to also consider the issue of lunch for students at school.

Barakuraha still cites challenges in the implementation of the new curriculum, which is so demanding in terms of requirements yet most teachers have not understood how to implement it.

Bartholomew Bukenya, the Kagadi district education officer, acknowledges most of the challenges schools highlight, confirming how the government is not seated towards addressing them.

Story filed by Moses Alinda, Robinson Onencan and Christopher Bruno

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