Uwezo Uganda is an independent not-for-profit organization working to improve the quality of education in Uganda by demonstrating how to improve learning outcomes through independent data collection, research and advocacy.
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Results of a survey carried out to establish the literacy and numeracy assessment in primary schools in 29 districts in Uganda has shown divergent trends for children’s literacy and numeracy, showing that in many districts, majority of children in Primary Three were unable to do Primary Two work.
The survey was conducted in July-August 2024 by Uwezo Uganda, and is one of a series of similar surveys carried out since 2000 at three-year intervals, and the three previous assessments date from 2015, 2018 and 2021.
According to Emma Mafabi, an official of Uwezo Uganda while giving out the report findings to different education stakeholders in Mukono district on Tuesday, he said that Wakiso (61.6%) and Mpigi (44.4%) districts stood in first and second positions in competence rate according to the survey, followed by Fort Portal (44.2%) and Kampala (43.4%) in third and fourth positions, while Mukono stood in the fifth position with 42.0%.
Performance of other districts in the survey area stood as follows: Lwengo (36.9%), Kabale (34.3%), Mbarara (33.1%), Maracha (29.6%), Rubirizi (29.3%), Isingiro (26.3%), Kotido (25.5%), Kassanda (24.4%), Buliisa (23.9%), Mbale (22.7%), Hoima (22.6%), Bugiri (22.2%), Namisindwa (21.4%), Bundibugyo (21.3%, Kapchorwa (21.2%), Alebtong (18.7%), Kyankwanzi (18.0%), Terego (17.6%), Kumi (16.9%), Kamuli (16.7%), Kitgum (15.9%), Pallisa( 11.6%) Oyam (7.2%) and Namutumba (7.0%).
Mafabi said that all respondents from Primary Three to Primary Seven were asked questions drawn from syllabus work of Primary Two because he reasoned, Primary Two is the foundation class with its proficiency being the ability to read with comprehension and do all four arithmetic functions of addition, subtraction, multiplication and division.
The assessment, among other things, further indicated that across the survey districts, an additional year of pre-primary (Top class) increases a learner’s likelihood of achieving mathematics and reading proficiency.
Uwezo Uganda is an independent not-for-profit organization working to improve the quality of education in Uganda by demonstrating how to improve learning outcomes through independent data collection, research and advocacy.
According to Robert Mukasa, a Uwezo trainer, the July-August 2024 assessment was conducted by 839 Uwezo volunteers and 29 village co-ordinators who visited 8,608 households and assessed 21,057 children across 435 villages in the 29 project districts.
Mukasa said the basis for conducting the survey was centered on six major points including the ability of children aged four years and above in classes from P3 to P7, to read and write by grade, the number of children in each project district who have attended pre-primary, how many appear to continue to the next grade, the pupil:teacher ratio, teachers’ presence in schools during study hours, and involvement of women in school governance.
The assessment was conducted along similar methods used for the previous assessments to a large extent but with an improved method of classifying numeracy levels, according to a Uwezo report.
According to the assessment, although learning outcomes have somewhat improved since 2021 especially for numeracy, nationally learning outcomes have stagnated or regressed. In general terms, P7 pupils who could write and comprehend P2 level story in local languages fell from 68% in 2021 to 51.1% in 2024, while the number of P3 to P7 pupils who could read and comprehend a P2 English story and do tasks involving all four arithmetic operations (addition, subtraction, division and multiplication) was 2 out of 10 children, down from the 2021 figure of 3 out of 10 pupils.
The survey unearthed extreme constraints in staffing levels and school resources by school type and region, with a 52:1 pupil:teacher ratio in government-aided schools compared to 21:1 for private schools. Specifically, the pupil:teacher ratio for the Northern region stands at 79:1 against the 34:1 for the central region.
“Our assessment also discovered that although there are management and governance bodies in place in most schools, improvements are needed especially with regard to inclusion of women. In government-aided schools, there are 4 women out of 12 school management committee members, only 13.7% of SMC chairpersons are women and only 5.5% of PTA chairpersons are women”, the trainer reported.
Mukasa added that corporal punishments are still widely used in primary schools and households, with 70% of schools reporting continued use of corporal punishments, and 85% households still applying it.
On the side of Mukono district, Mukasa said that a total of 671 children aged four years and above from 285 households were assessed, and 15 schools were visited.
The survey also established that although teachers’ absence denies learners adequate instructional time and so negatively affecting their learning, in Mukono, 10% of the teachers were absent on the day of the survey.
Mukono District Inspector of Schools, Sandra Sserwadda who represented the Mukono District Education Officer, Rashid Kikomeko, said that Mukono district is challenged by inadequate teachers whereby a big number of schools still have less than five teachers.
“Despite the fact that the district has had issues with the lack of active District Service Commission for the recent years, it also lacks funds to pay the number of teachers required in the available government schools,” she said.
The survey also highlighted that there is 10% of the overall untrained teachers teaching in primary school, 7.4% in government-aided schools, 20.5% in private schools and 25.9% in community schools.
Among other factors, parents highlighted the insufficient school inspections by the relevant authorities from the district education department as one of the factors which have contributed to the deteriorating performance in public schools.
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Mukono district schools’ inspector Sserwadda however clarified that the education system has outlived the system of inspection involving storming schools which she said sometimes led teachers to flee classrooms through the windows, and adopted a more friendly method of assigning inspectors to sit in classes and share learning with pupils, and later guide teachers to effect improvement where necessary.
In his contribution, the headteacher for Mugomba UMEA Primary School located in Mpatta sub-county, Mukono district, Mohammed Kamoga discouraged the tendency of strictly teaching lower primary learners in English only with no local language interjections, reasoning that this leads to having learners who simply study without internalizing the content.
Kamoga also decried the extremely large learner:teacher ratio particularly in his school, saying he has 126 learners in Primary Five, yet the school lacks enough classrooms and teachers to divide them into streams.
