For a number of times, the President of Uganda HE Y.K Museveni has come out to criticize different Arts courses that are being offered at various universities within Uganda. According to him, some of the arts courses are irrelevant and they need to be phased out. But this did not sound good to some Ugandans saying that the country cannot rely only science based courses.
Lecturers in the department of Social Works and Social Administration (SWASA) have come out to express their worry over the continued discouragement of their department by the president which makes them to lose morale of teaching students.
According to the head of department SWASA, Dr. Denis Muhangi, the department may lack support due to the continued negative statements from various people against their department and this will cause some support organisations to withdrawal their aid from the department yet it’s one of the best courses in humanities.
‘’Students who do Arts combinations at A ‘level demand this course highly but because of the limited capacity we have, we admit few students basing on their UACE performance. Students who offered Arts at A ‘level always want to do Law, Journalism and SWASA’’ Dr. Muhangi explained.
The president of National Association of Social Workers in Uganda (NASWU), said that the work done by social workers is of a great importance and should be appreciated instead of criticizing it since it is being used to solve various problems both in public and private sectors.
However, Dr. Josephine Ahikirire, an Associate Professor and the acting Principal for the College of Humanities and Social Sciences (CHUSS) advised her fellow lecturers not to focus on the president’s comments but instead they should put more emphasis on research, publications of their work and should always stay committed to their work.
