Stakeholders within the education sector in eastern and central regions of Uganda have called for additional support to address persistent challenges that are hindering effective implementation of the competency-based curriculum for O-level.
Last year, the initial cohort of students sat for their final examinations under the new curriculum, now in its fifth year of running. The outcomes, released earlier this year, indicated a need for improved orientation for parents, teachers, and students to facilitate a comprehensive understanding of the curriculum’s operational framework
This was further confirmed in recent engagements on the curriculum hosted by EPRC, in partnership with the African Center for Economic Transformation (ACET), Ghana. Educationists, parents, and teachers in Masaka and Mbale districts discussed results from an EPRC mini survey on the implementation of the curriculum, with a focus on the preparedness of the in-house teachers, were shared. At least 100 participants attended the meetings in both districts.
Mr Godfrey Bandeke, an examiner and teacher from Mbale, said the EPRC study well-articulated issues on the ground, affirming schools’ need for further support from responsible authorities. He noted that schools lacked committees to support teachers’ continuous training while lack of critical infrastructure such as Information and Communication Technology (ICT) equipment and the internet was holding back upcountry schools.
He called for harmonisation between Uganda National Examinations Board (UNEB) and National Curriculum Development Centre (NCDC) in terms of what they are implementing and what they intend learners to do.
Mr Kooko Francis, the acting Mbale city education officer Mbale, said while there was “realisation that we were not ready for the curriculum, but we had to move [but require more support]”
Mr. Gerald Nsambu, the DEO Masaka, welcomed the study findings, stressing that they will guide the district’s further steps to support implementation of the curriculum.
Mr. Alfred Kyaka, the assistant commissioner for secondary education, applauded participants for supporting the new curriculum. He said: “Let’s support this new effort in creating relevance to what our education system can offer. The most important innovation are the other soft skills – some people come out of the university but cannot share an office with a colleague; cannot collaborate; cannot network. This is what the competency-based curriculum is all about to achieve.”
“I am happy that we are moving forward. We could have had lapses in bringing everybody on board; printing flyers, and computers being readily available.”
EPRC study was done under the Youth Employment Skills (YES) Pan-African Coalition for Transformation (PACT), a platform that focuses on addressing critical issues related to youth employment, skills development, education, and the labour market in Uganda. The Uganda YES PACT chapter collaborates with policymakers and stakeholders to develop and implement policies that support youth empowerment and economic transformation. Mr Sadat Zaga, a member of the PACT, presented the study results to the participants.
Mr. Kyaka is part of the PACT. He noted that “we are glad that the EPRC is conducting these studies so that the government can be informed about what is going on.”
Dr. Madina Guloba, the EPRC senior research fellow, said the study, in the realm of education, is part of the Centre’s efforts to offer social support and engage government through evidence generation.
“As a PACT, we asked several questions: What kind of support do we give teachers? What kind of support do teachers need in the delivery of the future person we need,” Guloba noted. “It is in that respect that we did some work to assess teachers’ understanding of what they were giving to learners. How the cascading model of retooling has been? Is it working? We did this survey as a fact-finding solution and shared findings with the Ministry of Education, interacted with UNEB, and we are coming back to share these findings to see what we can do better, what has changed, and what solutions can be found within the community.”
Mona Iddrisu, the head of YES PACT project at ACET and oversees implementing anchor institutions across the continent, said she was pleased to see the project addressing real issues impacting young people in their quest to acquire life skills.