Father Rufino, I have finally been able to browse through the Arua District Education Ordinance and I would like to make my contribution as follows. The Uganda Demographic and Health Survey 2006 has some dire statistics on education in West Nile Region On p29 it shows that the age at first entry into primary school is 7 years for West Nile which is the highest compared to the other regions and the Report comments: "There are marked differences by regions, with children in West Nile being the most likely to start primary 1 over age …".. On absenteeism among primary school pupils, 17.2% (again highest compared to other regions) of our pupils absent themselves one or more days from school. The Report comments: "In West Nile and Southwest regions, absenteeism is notably high at 17% and 16% respectively. The average number of days missed is in these regions was 2.4 West Nile and 1.8 Southwest". Among the reasons for absenteeism from West Nile 22.8% (again highest) of the children did not just want to go, 14.2% said it was because of domestic work while 28.7% cited illness. The Report commented "In West Nile, one quarter (23%) of pupils who were absent the week before the interview missed school because they did not want to go” And so on one could look at issues such as primary school attendance and/or gender ratios etc and the picture is no better. Statistics can also be provided that shows that in other levels of education (secondary or higher education), our relative performance and position as a region is low and leaves much to be desired. I am willing to be part of a team that can design a system to monitor progress being made in the region towards ensuring that we get out this backwards in education. Efforts by MUK students who recently went to visit schools in the region is highly commendable and must be supported by all of us. Chiria Erejobo
--- On Sat, 4/7/09, Charles Male <cdm...@gmail.com> wrote: From: Charles Male <cdm...@gmail.com> Subject: Re: [WestNileNet] Education Ordinance To: "A Virtual Network for friends of West Nile" <westnilenet@kym.net> Date: Saturday, 4 July, 2009, 3:53 PM Thank you Father Rufino for bring this ordinance to our attention. I browsed through it very quickly and found that it is missing something very important: recognition of the educators, their welfare and timely remuneration. Duties of teachers and headteachers and what they can and can't do are well spelt out. In order for teachers to perform the miracles we expect them to do, then someone ought to have thought of their welfare. The only reference to teacher's welfare is housing and how the relevant stakeholders must contribute to ensuring teachers have accomodation. Very surprising is that any one over 18 years old how does not contribute to building a teacher's house commits an offence. Brothers and sisters, there are many contradictions in this ordinance. We know many kids are still in secondary and postsecondary until age 25 or more. When will they contribute to building teachers housing? The administration is shifting responsibility from itself to the local authorities just like the bureacrats in Kampala shift responsibility to local gov'ts -- in the end no one is accountable!! My dear brothers and sisters, let's digest this ordinance and make recommendations to the District Authorities. I am sure my brothers and sisters who were teachers in a previous life can lead us in this exercise because they left teaching for a reason and if there are corrections to be made, they can help us from having experienced the pain of not having the TOOLS to do what they love best. Any thoughts? Charles Male On Wed, Jul 1, 2009 at 5:13 AM, Ruffino Ezama <ruffino.ez...@gmail.com> wrote: Hi to everybody Greetings. I have attached a copy of the education ordinance arua district for you to see. Soon I will send you the summary of findings and reccomendations on factors affecting PLE done for Yumbe district but it applies also for the other districts of west nile. After we shall embark on the baseline survey in a few weeks time. God bless you all -- Ruffino Ezama,mccj Comboni Missionaries Ombaci Mission P.O Box 30 Arua Uganda (+256 77 2 62 42 40) (+256 70 2 62 42 40) ruffino.ez...@gmail.com ezama.ruff...@gmail.com ruff...@cmpmail.com www.tualu.org _______________________________________________ WestNileNet mailing list WestNileNet@kym.net http://orion.kym.net/mailman/listinfo/westnilenet % WestNileNet is generously hosted by INFOCOM http://www.infocom.co.ug/ The above comments and data are owned by whoever posted them (including attachments if any). The List's Host is not responsible for them in any way. _______________________________________________ -----Inline Attachment Follows----- _______________________________________________ WestNileNet mailing list WestNileNet@kym.net http://orion.kym.net/mailman/listinfo/westnilenet % WestNileNet is generously hosted by INFOCOM http://www.infocom.co.ug/ The above comments and data are owned by whoever posted them (including attachments if any). The List's Host is not responsible for them in any way. _______________________________________________
_______________________________________________ WestNileNet mailing list WestNileNet@kym.net http://orion.kym.net/mailman/listinfo/westnilenet % WestNileNet is generously hosted by INFOCOM http://www.infocom.co.ug/ The above comments and data are owned by whoever posted them (including attachments if any). The List's Host is not responsible for them in any way. _______________________________________________
