OUR PRIMARY SEVEN CANDIDATES FOR THE YEAR 2011 AT SPRINGS ALIVE COMMUNITY SCHOOL

Our candidates of 2011 were twelve (12) in number, seven boys and five girls.

This was the second year running when at Springs Alive community school (SPACS) we are having Primary seven candidates complete their Primary leaving Examinations (PLE) at SPACS.

All the candidates were successfully registered as members of st.pius mixed primary school Naddangira.

Given that at Spacs we do not yet have a centre number registered with the ministry of education so our primary seven pupils do not sit their final Primary Leaving Examinations (PLE) from Spacs.

The pupils have been very cooperative and working very hard in order to succeed in their academics, there has been concentration on serious work and we are of high hope that they will all pass with flying colours, said Mr.Kakaire one of their dedicated teachers.

The pupil’s examinations were done in three days as per the instructions from the Uganda National Examinations Board (UNEB).On the 1st of November they had their briefing at the coordinating centre of St.Pius Mixed Primary School Naddangira,then the following day was the 2nd of November 2011,early in the morning at around 9am,they sat for their first paper, that was, social studies then in the afternoon they did English and they concluded with Mathematics early in the morning followed by science that was on 3rd November 2011

We take this opportunity to thank God who has enabled us get to these achievements; now whereas there have been cases of reported incidents where pupils have failed to do their final examinations, not any of our pupils failed to do their final examinations this time.

We have heard of cases where roads have been a road block to pupil’s doing of their final examinations as a result of heavy rains, bad roads thus tricky transport systems to maneuver through.

There was also a case that was heard where a 15 year old candidate gave birth to a baby boy just before writing her first paper, there have also been reported cases where pupils sitting their final examinations were found to be pregnant.

In this picture, pupils balance on a makeshift bridge to school, such instances usually put the pupils’ lives at risk. This is mainly as a result of disastrous floods that usually wreak havoc after heavy rains, some schools sometimes do close for some time as the waters submerge and this usually causes sharp drops in pupil enrolment and buildings with cracked walls, damp classroom floors and mangled iron sheets are a sight to behold.

Surprisingly, some pupils have mastered the exact location of the rails. So they carefully wade through the waters making sure they step on the rails. This is risky because a miscalculation in step could spell disaster. Other pupils climb on to the mango trees on one side of the river and connect across through the intertwining branches.

Some of these and more are examples of cases Primary seven pupils do encounter here in Uganda

If you are interested in anything relating to this topics, please let us know, hit the comment button below and leave us your comments and input ,we would like to hear from you

Springs Alive Community School (SPACS) teachers complain about small pay

Do teachers get a fair fraction of the tuition in salary and/or allowances?
“We are paid Shs. 80,000, that is about $ 30 as a mandatory basic salary &/or allowance, this is besides the electricity, accommodation, water, and health bills that we usually have to meet on our own! It is, definitely, not enough considering that most teachers have families to feed,” one teacher complained.

Some teachers have dreamt of teaching in more than one school to boost their meager salary, but the school policy does not provide for this.It’s been very difficult to increase this money for the teachers given that we hardly have means yet to sustain the school. In many schools the longer one stays there, the more money they get. Pupils here pay a non-mandatory fee of about $10 per term. It’s not mandatory because you find that some pupils have contributed may be maize, beans or cassava to supplement for the teacher’s lunch.

We have had challenges of having to do with ineffective teachers/volunteers because with this kind of insufficient payment you cannot argue one for instance to be hardworking, keep time to mention but a few.

What seems so discouraging to the teachers is that after working hard, any mistake will not go unpunished. For the past three years, we have seen teachers get fired for misconduct, after consensus meeting with parents and school management committees.

At SPACS we have three terms and final examinations done at the end of each term, we also have Primary seven candidates that will be sitting their Primary Leaving Examinations (PLE) and will be joining senior secondary schools next year come 2012, this will be our second class of Primary Seven Leavers since SPACS existed.

Schools with Primary seven leavers usually have a centre number that enables the Uganda National Examinations Board (UNEB) work together to facilitate the examinations process but at SPACS we don’t have such centre number and we have requested one school in our neighborhood that has a UNEB centre number to allow out pupils sit their final examinations from there and they have agreed.

With a Primary leaver’s certificate, a student can join any secondary school or vocational institute.
For a teacher to survive here, he or she needs to be committed and does not have to teach anywhere.

On many occasions the Town council (a local authority) has thought we are a profit venture and want us to pay tax for the services being offered at SPACS, we have continually had to write and re-write to them that we are a non-profit making organization doing charity work.

SPACS operates as a community school and is recognized with the District Education Department. We have promised the Town Council that we will be able to supplement to their meager resources when we have means to sustain SPACS but not now.

We hope that if we will get the support needed to make the necessary upgrade for SPACS, then we will be in position to get support for the needy children in our care, be in position to sustain the school, increase the teachers’ salaries and also have the best teachers!

We need your comments, hit the comment button below and leave your comments; thank you very much

STUDENTS WHO FAIL TO PAY FEES ARE A SOURCE OF DISTRUST

One Wanyana Sarah has four children, all in primary school and were recently sent home for outstanding school fees.
“Business is bad; most people are unable to pay in full and we have nothing left to do!
Wanyana is not alone. Just last week, several schools in the country sent thousands of students home in a bid to force students to pay outstanding tuition. Many parents send their students to school each term after paying only part of the tuition in the hope that they would settle the outstanding balance by mid-term. But as the weeks go by, most find they can’t meet the deadlines.

To make the situation more complex, the schools do not reimburse the students for time lost. It’s only in exceptional cases that remedial lessons are offered. Some students miss anywhere from a week to a month and sometimes a whole term. In the end, both parents and students lose. And this being the third term, students in candidate classes, like Primary Seven (7) who fail to meet their tuition and exam fees on time risk missing out on the exams.
There’s no government policy that could redress such issue, the general understanding however, is that schools would keep the students in class until the end of the term and withhold their reports until the fees is cleared.
In the past schools used to encourage students to keep up to the end of the term but this cannot work given that each school has its own unique realities.
Some teachers opposed to this idea say they have genuine fears. They cite extreme cases in which students move to a different school each term when they fail to settle their tuition.
It is very common among private schools that are just starting. Some students start off by paying for only the first term, default on the subsequent terms until they are sent away.
There is therefore a need to make a radical change in the policy to address several issues. What happens if a student pays fees and chooses to leave before the end of the term? Are they entitled to a refund? Should the head teacher sue the parents who default on tuition?
Indeed the final decision should not disadvantage the student, who is supposed to obtain an education, whenever the tuition is finally paid. There needs to be a framework for school fees, involving the school management committee or board of governors.
“The terms of reference should be clear to students and parents when they start the term for avoidance of grief, to avoid arbitrary decisions.
At Springs Alive community school (SPACS), however, we maintain a more tolerant policy; we don’t send home students for defaulting on fees.
We always remind them [defaulting students] throughout the term and withhold their reports at the end of the term. We do this for the students’ good since we don’t want them to miss class. Sometimes, however, you find that its even useless to withhold the student’s report, observed SPACS Headteacher!

Besides, in a bid to support the needy children at SPACS, we will be looking for means and ways of sustaining SPACS and one of the ways is through collecting fees from the students that can afford.
We are seeking the reader’s opinions and advise as to how we can do this, kindly hit to comment button and leave us your remarks, will be very grateful.

UGANDA TEACHERS STRIKE OVER SALARIES

Teachers are expected to mould the young society into a better tomorrow yet they rank low when it comes to their salaries.
It has been noted that in some affluent homes, a housemaid, who looks after less than three children earns more than a teacher here in Uganda and despite Uganda being a role model in education and a preferred destination for students in the region, its teachers are among the worst paid in the region.

In 2009, Kenyan teachers organised a strike, which saw most of the schools close down. The government promised to increase the teachers’ salaries gradually.

Rwanda has put in place measures to motivate teachers, including building teachers’ quarters for respective schools. There have been cases of teachers moving to Rwanda because their counterparts there are paid better and besides teaching in other countries, some teachers have abandoned the profession in search of greener pastures. For instance there are teachers that have left teaching to go and work as security guards in Iraq because they were unable to sustain their families.

Good remuneration checks teacher absenteeism in schools plus the quality of education being delivered. Teacher absenteeism remains a big challenge, especially in the rural areas. The main cause of absenteeism is the urge by teachers to engage in private work and farming during school time.

In many cases the salaries given to the teachers is not enough given the fact that they have a high number of dependants, forcing teachers to run businesses to supplement their income. Another major cause is sickness and the long distances teachers walk to get to their working stations.

You find that teachers will always be kept in the same position given the current economic trends; the teachers will be still faced with high transportation costs, escalating food prices and expensive accommodation. Teachers can hardly invest in things like houses and businesses, which are supposed to improve their standards of living.

Alternatives:
There has always been need to focus on long-term strategies that would ensure teachers have sustainable income, and make them less dependant only on their meager salaries. For instance invest in entrepreneurship projects that can better the lives of these teachers.
Some teachers have skills and can get involved in activities like writing books, making uniforms for the school and planting crops, which they can sell.

There is need to focus on the issues that are making the teachers demand for more pay. Initiatives like investing in accommodation for teachers, given that the teachers are complaining of high transport and rent, need be sought out. Also if opportunity allows, teacher’s lives could be made better by providing bursaries and scholarships for their children in higher education institutions.

When the teachers are within our schools, they are like our children; we have to devise ways of not failing to look after them.
The school’s budget needs to have provisions for caring for these issues,although in many cases it doesnot

.

We would like to hear your feedback our Dear readers.
Hit the comment button now

THE MOST INTERESTING EVENT IN THE HISTORY OF SPRINGS ALIVE CHILDREN’S CENTRE (SPACC)

This has been the most interesting event in the history of Springs Alive children’s centre(SPACC),when the chief Administrator of SPACC visited the “first world” for an exchange visit, this was so great!!

We very much extend our gratitude to the government of United Kingdom, whitkirk Primary school staff, parents and guardians for enabling us come to this great achievement.

It was a great pleasure to see how our dear fellow pupils answered the questions we set for them and we were so challenged to see their answers, given the geography of different countries.
When Mr. Martin returned from the trip, he told us a lot about Europe and what he saw there and is making a lot of effort to see that somethings apply here at SPACC and Uganda at large.
For example the treatment of children, he said, the way he saw pupils being handled there is so different from the way we handle children here in Uganda. There is a lot that has been done to encourage pupils to learn. Sometimes a parent is in class helping supervise some pupils while they are having a lesson. It’s very hard for a teacher to be absent without giving a reason! Children are persuaded to come to school regardless of the challenges. We have promised our partners that we will be sending them online lessons since their classes are connected to the internet.

There very small children are taught to do things themselves like washing uniforms, making their beds, not wetting the bed, children there are taught to become responsible citizens at a very early age. Morals are inbuilt in their curriculum, in otherwords one grows up knowing that corruption is bad, lying is immoral, and there is need for fairness to enable peaceful living. While in Denmark he was taken to various places and the most notable one was where the last witch of Denmark was hacked!

Government’s involvement there have been tremendous toward support to their citizens to learn about what goes on in the world, for instance in Uganda you can hardly find a free internet café, there are very many accidents that are as a result of walking along high ways but in Britain and Europe generally, people don’t walk on highways but have other roads they use.
Parents are well educated to help their children get the necessary support they may require; in addition most parents have an income and ensure that their children get extra help at home or during holidays in order to compensate for the poor quality of education at school. The type of infrastructure that is available for the pupils there enables them to discover things themselves, let alone the child-centred learning. The time he was there he neither saw a home without electricity nor a black-out. Tap water is well treated and a healthy drink! He saw more vehicles on the roads than the people walking but no traffic jam!

Much attention is put on the way mothers and wives are treated, the local governments there know their jobs. The chief administrator has made attempts to approach some local governments while in Europe so that we can borrow a leaf or two while here in Uganda.

We found out that if you have a project you are pursuing with a partner in Europe, it can easily be supported since it is facilitating learning exchange. We have also noted that given the recession, there are many programmes that are now tailored toward giving support locally and not internationally.

We will be conducting sensitization seminars if time and other necessary resources allow in order to educate our communities and most especially Parents and teachers, some of these finding, so that we can adapt them.

See related links to this story(copy and paste the links in new browser,if link fails to open when clicked):

http://bit.ly/ltYaiS
http://on.fb.me/khhmEz

We welcome your feedback by hitting the comment link below this post

The Benefit of School exchange programmes

There are several challenges, the current eduction system in Uganda is facing. It is important to know that we are living in revolutionary times that demand new and different abilities.

These times need critical thinking and problem solving abilities, which have been components of human progress throughout history.

Therefore, for schools in Uganda to cope with these new challenges, they should embrace exchange programmes where schools in developing countries are linked with their counterparts in developed countries for purposes of exchanging and transferring knowledge and skills.

Usually these are funded programmes and they seek to link up schools in Uganda with their counterparts abroad for a symbiotic relationship of exchanging knowledge and skills.

Springs Alive children’s centre (SPACC) has reaped huge benefits from this programme.
This programme has seen the chief administrator SPACC visit their partner school, Whitkirk Primary School in Britain-(Leeds) UK.
This has helped SPACC gain a wealth of exposure in terms of skills, attitudes and values.

On the part of Whitkirk Primary School in Britain-(Leeds) UK , a teacher at the school, says the programme has changed the attitudes, perceptions and stereotypes their students had towards other people from different cultures, race and colour.

“I used to think that all Africans stayed in a jungle. I thought of poverty and disease. After meeting with them, I realized that I was wrong to judge them based on what I had seen on television. I realised that while they may not have as much material resources as we do, they make the most of the little they have,” remarked a pupil

No or less food is being served by schools

In the Picture Pupils being served lunch

. Schools across the country are choking under the weight of increased commodity prices.


A survey has been carried out and indicates that many schools, including Springs Alive Children’s Centre (SPACC) are choking under the weight of the increased commodity prices; with some rationing food, others on the brink of closing early this term while others no longer at all serve their children any food at school.

The high cost of living has made it very expensive for some schools administrators to effectively remain in operation.

In some schools, the number of meals and amount of food has been reduced, while in others, co-curricular activities have been scrapped to save money for food. Others have removed some items from the menu.

This has caused mal-nutrition and children being absent-minded many-times while in class

The Government and the Education Ministry are aware of the hike in commodity prices but haven’t yet done a thing toward this.

This is what was found out from some schools during the survey;


1) One school had budgeted to spend sh266m on food for the entire year but the actual expenditure will be above this. All allowances have been suspended due to hiked prices for essential commodities. The school used to give students meat once a week but this has been stopped.

2) In another school,their menu has not changed,they expected commodity prices to increase and budgeted accordingly. They are also getting a lot of supplies on credit and will pay later.
3) In yet another school,they have 3,000 students and 180 staff members to feed. The expenditure has increased yet they have not increased school fees. But are lucky to have a school farm where they get some food to supplement.
4) We used to spend sh2m on providing lunch to 520 A’ level students for a fortnight; but now our expenditure on food has shot up to sh3.2m. We have reduced on the meat and matooke we prepare for teachers from twice to once a week.

5) We have reduced on the food rations. The education ministry requires that every UPE child in P3-P7 pays sh10,000 for lunch and sh5,500 for pupils in nursery. If the situation continues like this, we might begin serving the kids porridge for lunch
6) We used to buy a kilo of maize flour at sh800 but the price has doubled. We spent sh1.3m on posho and beans for the first half of this term but we are going to pay sh2.6m in the second half.
7) We stocked our food supplies last July. We have rice, beans and maize flour in stock. So we are still relying on the old stock. We have not
started experiencing the pinch.
8) We are finding it a little bit hard to feed students. Judging from last year’s expenditure, we had estimated to spend sh34.5m on food this term but already sh28m has been spent yet we still have another month to go. We used to give them soya peas twice a week but we have failed, due to the high prices.
9) l have failed to get the type of beans my students like.The School has 884 students and they eat 140 kg of posho everyday. Next term, we shall stock beans and posho in large quantities
10) A sack of maize flour that used to cost sh100,000 is twice the amount. We have had to ration food for our pupils to avoid wastage. As a result of higher prices, there might be a slight increment in fees.