Geoffrey.
—Education Sector:
Uganda
is among the countries with high enrollment at lower primary;
Enrollment is at 8,337,069 million pupils ( 4168939 Males, 4168139Females)
But
those who sat PLE in 2014 were 604.971 Compared to 907.082 who enrolled in P.1
in 2007, implying that 302.111 (33.3%)pupils had dropped out of school Within
the seven years. Why this loss in retention?
By the end 2014/15, Enrollment was 6.4 million pupils. National budget
notes 2015/16With introduction of UPE in Uganda,
there was notable success in enrollment levels which necessitated construction
of more classroom and latrines at school to accommodate and serve the high
population. Government
has constructed structures to handle this challenge, but there is still much to
be done.
During
monitoring, 11 P/S were visit and these included;
Mpondwe,Kamasasa,Mundongo,Ndongo SDA,Nyamighere,Katojo,Nyabugando Parents,Bwera
Church,Isango ,Kyempara & St.Komponi were reached in the sub counties of;
MLTC,Karambi,Isango,Bwera and Nyakiyumbu.
— Enrollments in most schools does not match
with the available infrastructure and facilities needed to handle such big
numbers. These include: class rooms, desks, latrine stances, teachers and
teaching materials. For example: At Kamasasa p.school in MLTC, total enrolment
is 1925 (M=911,F=1014). Latrine pupil ratio is 1:151 for boys
& 1:338 for girls, compare to the recommended 1:40. the school has
38trs
— Mpondwe
primary school could soon become a model school . For these last 3yrs, the
school has recovered from great shock of no grade (from 2007-2011,only 2
grades) Yet in the last three years, the school has been able to get 12 grade I and 96 in grade II. the school provides porriedge to all pupils and has build a mordern WASH ROOM for girls. However, over 60% in each class of P.1,p2 and P3 seat down
this is affecting academic performance in one way or an other.
Bellow is a newly build wash room for girls at Mpondwe P/C.
In Isango primary, Pupils of three class
rooms study under trees within the compound, this endangers the life of pupils
and teachers especially during the rain and wind season. However, parents are
building but this will take time to be used.
— Drop
out rate & absenteeism are increasing especially girls in upper primary eg. Kamasasa p/s since last yr , 20 girls (4
p7,10 p6 & 10 p5) & 10 boys from P6 and P5. this is cross cutting
schools in Bukonzo west on market days.
— Change
rooms for girl child, apart from Mpondwe Primary school, the other ten P/S did
not have.
— Pupils
latrine stance ratio is high. The lowest of the 11 schools visited was 1:80.5
at Bwera Church P/S.
— Parents
have not fully taken up their role as stipulated in the UPE policy in all the
11 schools visited. This de-motivates teachers & hence poor performance.
— Mass
promotion of pupils by the government to reduce on double spending on the same
pupils in the same classes. This has witnessed poor performance in most schools
visited.
— Schools where head teachers are cooperating with
teachers & PTA committees like; Nyabugando parents ,Mpondwe P/S,Katojo
& Bwera church have been able to try
through the tough challenges.
— According to Kasese district office of
inspector of schools the following schools did not have female teachers by
march 2015. and during the vertical tracking, we confirmed to some of them that
there were no female teachers yet. These include; Buhuhira,
Ibunda SDA, Kasambya SDA, Nyunga, Nyakanengo, Kaswa, Kyamiza, Bunyandiko,
Kaghando, Kasangali, Muyina, Kalingwe, Kihungu, Buhyoka, Nyamisule, Kyondo and
Kiraro. These schools are mostly located in hard to reach
areas and prone to poor academic performance and sanitary facilities especially
for a girl child
Midday Meals: It should be noted that under the UPE
Program, the parents/guardians are required to provide lunch for their children
while at school. However not all parents are doing this. Lack of lunch
provision is one of the leading factors contributing to poor pupil performance
in most government aided schools compared to private where lunch is provided.
—
Note: Mpondwe P/S has improved in performance and enrolment
due to porridge to every child daily and motivation to teachers e.g.
1000= for lunch to every teacher on a daily basis.
—
Most school that have evidence of
improved performance have introduce lunch to candidate classes.
HEALTH SECTOR:
 |
| The current Buhunga Muyagha H/C II Nurses complained of too much heat during dry season which is not good for drugs. |
During the
post‐independence era (1962‐1971)
Uganda was one of the countries with best health indices and a
vibrant health care system in Africa. Two decades of civil unrest followed and
the health care system collapsed. After the war, GoU started reconstruction and
rehabilitation programs first focusing on putting in place the political and
economic environment conducive to growth. Since early 1990s, GoU has given high
priority to improvement of the health status of people as evident in the
development and implementation of the first NHP and the Health Sector Strategic
Plans (HSSP) I and II. However, some challenges still exists.
In the 2015/16 budget proposals the health budget has
been cut by Sh. 317.4 from 1.28 1 trillions. to 1.27 trillion
— What is
the implication of this budget cut on the health sector? will Uganda meet the
MDG target?
— KALI
visited 7 health centers of Bikunya,Karambi,Mushenene,Buhunga
muyagha,Ihandiro,Nyakimasa & Bwera hospital randomly selected in bukonzo
west.
— Concern
were on attendance of health workers, availability of drugs, sanitation and
patient’s satisfaction, accessibility of maternity services by women with
disabilities. (special delivery beds)
Bwera
Hospital, a lot of patients have been received at the hospital
from across DRC who were not intended beneficiaries by the ministry of health
allocations. According to the MS Bwera Dr. Sekitto Jonathan at Bwera Hospital 6
% of patients received at hospital between October and December 2014 were from
DRC). In the month of January 2015, 4543 patients were received at OPD of which
84 patients were from DRC (1.8%).
— Few
medical workers in most rural health workers
— According
to the National health policy, there are minimum standards of numbers of health
workers that are supposed to be at health center II, III, IV and hospitals.
Monitoring findings showed that the number of medical workers at the units do
not conform to the minimum standards. Eg. Buhungamuyagha H/C.II has two workers
but only one active nurse supported by VHT.
— During
spot check at the unit, records show that (Mr. Maate Milton) the in charge
since 1/7/2015 to 15th sept, he had worked for 5 days. (1/7/2015,
1/8/2015, 10/8/2015, 27/8/2015 and 1/9/2015) while interactions with the nurse
& VHT’s the in-charge handles PHC funds alone. I have never signed for any
renumiration. He just gives me when he wants to give me. The VHT in buhunga
muyagha narrates.
At
Nyakimasa H/C.II,
— Health
center is one of the new ones with no medical vote yet. It receives from other
units in the HSD.
— Unit
has 4 staff including the health assistant of Bwera S/C
— Construction
of the unit costed around 90,000,000 million shillings including the latrine.
However, the crack in the latrine wall
after one year of construction shows there is something wrong.
— Latrine
has developed wide crack which needs
urgent attention yet center has no PHC funds to help mitigate such an urgent crack.
— Health
unit has no regular access to water. There is a rain harvesting tank but not
connected to the building.
Annet (in Orange dress) a Nurse who
was on duty was quoted saying; “I now fear to use this latrine because it
may sink or Fall in side”
