Secondary school prefects under their umbrella association, the Uganda Secondary School Prefect’s Association (USSPA) have requested government to announce the 2020 academic year as a dead year for all learners.
According to USSPA members, re-opening schools for candidate classes will affect students in other classes.
“Distance learning (on radio and TV) and self-study programs introduced by Ministry of Education and Sports are helping a limited number of students since many of them did not access them especially those from remote areas of the country,’’ Brighton Ainebyoona, the USSPA President said.
Ainebyoona’s point of view was not different from that of Fortunate Atwongire who serves as the Speaker Students’ Council at MaryHill High School,Mbarara. Ms Atwongire said that the current model of learning is discriminative between urban and rural learners. She revealed that some parents are currently engaging their children in home responsibilities like grazing cattle other than supporting them to attend lessons.
According to Angellah Katusiime, a student at Kyeizooba Girls’ Secondary School, despite government’s decision to provide learning materials and e-learning platforms, Arts students who offer subjects like History, Economics, Literature, Music and Fine Art were left out in the self-study materials.
However, Mr. Patrick Muinda the spokesperson Ministry of Education and Sports guided student leaders to raise their issues through the COVID-19 Task force for education which is tasked with collecting views from different stakeholders. He promised that he was going to consult and see whether they can have an online meeting with them after they get in touch with the ministry.
