According to Mukwanya, who happens to be the President of Mukono Municipal Development Forum (MDF), attributed the lag in traditional schools to the unwillingness to change with modernity.
As one thing leads to the other, the Primary Leaving Examinations (PLE) outlook in Mukono district is changing its stance, with new faces joining the ‘historicals’ family and traditional star performers gradually shying away from the race of giants.
In last year’s top ten schools in Mukono Municipality, you will find schools like Seeta Junior School Mukono, St. Elizabeth Montessori, Meritah Christian School, His Grace Junior School and others, while in Mukono Main, the new kids on the block include Amazing Grace Junior School, Naggalama Junior School, Pearl Junior School, Elasto and Dorah, St. Francis Educational Centre Namawojjolo and others.
Naggalama Junior School Shines With Fifth Consecutive Year of Top Grades
Best 10 Schools in Mukono Municipality (according to 2025 PLE results)
- Seeta Junior School Mukono
- Elizabeth Montessori School
- Happy Times Junior School
- Meritah Christian School
- Namilyango Junior Boys Primary School
- Qaulity Education Primary School Nabuti
- Global Junior School
- Kwagalakwe Primary School
- New Train Up a Child Primary School
- His Grace Junior School
Best 10 Schools from Mukono Main
- Frances Education Centre Namawojjolo
- Naggalama Junior School
- Amazing Grace Junior School
- Ezekiel Primary School
- Pearl Junior School
- Namagunga Primary Boarding School
- Seeta Junior School Mbalala
- Elasto And Dorah Primary School
- All Saints Junior School
- Continental Junior School
The new trend has not been discriminative between public and private schools, as both categories have been affected but in general terms, privately owned schools are seen to have taken an unprecedented rise in better performance to the chagrin of public schools.
While the reasons may vary from area to area depending on the community’s perception, a number of education authorities in Mukono have expressed their views on what could have led to the marked reversal of the trend that has generally been seen to favour privately owned schools.
Yekosofati Julius Mukwanya, a retired secondary school teacher and an icon of the USE policy in the country (before retirement he headed Mukono High School, the regional USE model school at inception of the system) gave a personal view over the matter.
According to Mukwanya, who happens to be the President of Mukono Municipal Development Forum (MDF), attributed the lag in traditional schools to the unwillingness to change with modernity.
He explained that while newcomers especially in the private sector are all eyes and ears on whatever new development in the curricular set up, and so willing and ready to embrace new changes, traditional schools, besides the unwillingness to change teachers, are stuck on the traditional ways bequeathed to them by the founding bodies, no matter what new changes are taking shape at any given time.
“Young schools are fast at embracing modernity in the bid to try to catch up with the old timers, and when you look at secondary level, you may not be surprised to find that new schools are better performers in the competence-based hands-on system,” he argued.
He castigated the ‘kyeeyo’ system where a teacher may freelance in several schools at the same time, saying that this leaves a lot of unsatisfied teaching needs especially in secondary schools where it is more rampant, to the extent that a teacher may be unable to prepare practical lessons.
Mukwanya however ruled out the remuneration disparity between science and arts subject teachers, saying it is an excuse by arts teachers but has in reality nothing to do with their performance.
“The good thing is that the government is in the process of effecting adequate increments for arts teachers too; this will soon be a done deal,” he said.
And Buvuma District Education Officer (DEO) Hussein Bugembe has his own view. According to Bugembe, private sector education players are more aggressive in the struggle to improve their performance because he argues, it is upon this basis that parents will be attracted to their schools.
He says that private school owners take all efforts to give weekly and monthly trial tests which exposes the learners to more training, in addition to engaging their teachers in extra teaching hours at a pay which is not the case in public schools.
“And it should not be overlooked that upcoming schools are private businesses where entrepreneurs put in everything possible to scale up standards, and that could be then explanation why some schools in the latter category, sometimes tend to hit the rocks on getting to admirable levels – because of the tendency of relaxation that creeps in at latter levels,” Bugembe explained.
