Pallisa, (UG):– Prof Mary Okwakol Nakandha, the Executive Director of the Uganda National Council for Higher Education (NCHE), has highlighted the neglected issues contributing to poor academic performance in national examinations in Pallisa District and the country at large.
Mrs Okwakol, who was the main discussant during the Pallisa District Education Stakeholders’ Engagement Meeting aimed at improving declining performance in the Primary Leaving Examinations (PLE), noted that the district recorded only 78 students in Division One last year.
The engagement was held at Pallisa Senior Secondary School’s multipurpose hall on Tuesday.
She suspended all her programs to attend the meeting, emphasizing that issues affecting children’s academic performance should be treated with urgency.
During the engagement, Prof Okwakol urged stakeholders to stop making excuses and deflecting blame instead of addressing the root causes of poor performance.
“Teachers, learners, administrators, and parents are all pretending, with none fulfilling their specific roles. If we stop being pretenders and go back to the drawing board, next year when we meet here, we will be celebrating success. However, if nothing is done, we will continue lamenting. Let’s adjust, emulate other performing districts, and stop using poverty as an excuse,” Prof. Okwakol stated.
The NCHE boss, however, thanked the Chief Administrative Officer, Mr. Fredrick Byenkwaso, for organizing the engagement forum.
Byenkwaso, who sourced education consultants to provide solutions for improving academic performance, particularly at the primary level, instructed head teachers to submit names of teachers who have overstayed in schools for immediate transfer.
“Teachers who have been in the same school for over 20 years with no improvement in performance should be transferred. How can a teacher remain in one school for that long and still insist on staying? Is the school their home?” Byenkwaso questioned.
Henry Stanley Okia, the head teacher of Hillside Primary School, stated that one of the major challenges affecting academic performance is the lack of proper preparation for examinations. He emphasized that some teachers are not fully committed to their profession.
“When a teacher enters the class unprepared, the intended content is only partially delivered to eager learners,” Okia said.
Prof. Okwakol emphasized that the time for pointing fingers is over, and all stakeholders must now focus on playing their respective roles to improve performance.
Pallisa District Education Officer, Ronald Omutuju noted that joint efforts are needed to improve performance, citing that out of 6,094 pupils who sat for the 2024 Primary Leaving Examinations (PLE), 1,000 were ungraded.
Dr. Nakelet Henry Opolot, a commissioner in the Ministry of Agriculture, Animal Industry, and Fisheries, argued that while securing Division One grades is an important indicator of performance, attention should also be given to those who failed, as they may become a burden to society.
“This discussion aims to improve performance from 78 in Division One to 500, but the critical issue is how to support the frustrated students who spent seven years in school only to end up ungraded,” Dr. Opolot noted.
He further emphasized that academic exams do not fully determine a child’s potential. “A two-hour exam should not define a student’s entire future. We must find ways to enroll these children in vocational training to equip them with life skills. Many skilled professionals who constructed this hall may not have gone far in education, yet they contribute significantly, with engineers only supervising and instructing,” Dr. Opolot explained.
Pallisa LC5 Chairperson, Patrick Duchu, attributed the high failure rate to a shortage of teachers, noting that the teacher-to-pupil ratio in the district stands at 1:100.
“While we continue to discuss the challenges affecting academic performance, we must address the teacher shortage. Pallisa needs 700 teachers, but the government has only approved the recruitment of 20. This gap must be closed,” Duchu stated.
He added that while efforts are being made to improve teacher supervision, parents must also ensure their children attend school regularly. “It is unfortunate that in a school of 1,200 pupils, only 800 attend daily, yet local authorities coexist peacefully with the absentee parents,” Omutuju lamented.
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