Boys have continued to outshine girls in PLE examinations performance, according to the 2014 results released today by the UNEB Executive Secretary, Mr Mathew Bukenya at the Office of the Prime minister. “Male candidates in division one are more than females. Generally, boys performed better than girls,” said Mr Bukenya, adding that this year’s performance was slightly better than that of 2013. Division one performance went up by 10.4% as compared to 9.4% in 2013. “In Kampala, out of the 27,926 candidates, 4,472 male passed in Division one as compared to 3,752 female in the same grade. Out of a total of 38,289 candidates who sat PLE last year in Wakiso district, 4,445 males got first grade as compared to their female counterparts who were 3,823 and in Mukono, out of 9850 who sat, 555 male passed in division one as compared to their female counterparts who were 587,” he observed. According to Mr Bukenya out of a total of 604,971 candidates who registered for last year’s PLE exams, 78% were UPE beneficiaries Bukenya further noted that Social Studies and Religious education were the best performed subjects, followed by Mathematics, Integrated Science and English in the respective order. “The candidates’ expression and handwriting showed improvement compared to previous years,” he said. However, Mr Bukenya further noted that 58,000 candidates failed their PLE exams while results for 1,344 candidates were withheld pending investigation. If cleared, they will be released. He also observed that the number of candidates who scored zero has reduced due to increased deployment of UNEB scouts to curb malpractice. Fort Portal, Entebbe, Mbarara, Jinja, Masindi, Ntungano and Lira emerged as best performing Municipalities in Uganda while Dokolo, Luka, Bugiri, Iganga, Tororo, Mayuge, Kapchorwa, Manafwa emerged among the poor performing districts. According to the Educations and Sport minister Ms Jesica Alupo, since the inception of Universal Primary Education (UPE), PLE candidature has increased over time. “The gender difference in the PLE results between boys and girls in the PLE results is only 1,200 more boys than girls, which is much less than it used to be previously. This is an indication that we have achieved gender equality but there is still much efforts needed,” she said. Schools are expected to start picking the PLE results from the UNEB offices today in Ntinda, Kampala. However, parents and candidates can also access their results using their mobile telephone by sending index number to 6600 for instant results. (Type PLE, INDEX NUMBER and send to 6600) Selection of candidates for Senior one will be held on the 29th and 30th of January at Kampala International University, the date of reporting will be announced at the beginning of first term. ---------------Universal Primary Education (UPE) is an education system in Uganda where pupils in Primary Education are sponsored partly by government and their parents .The latter play very peripheral roles such as footing meals for these children and the like.By and large it is a good program albeit with a few short comings.We would like to highlight its pros and cons in the subsquent ages.------ The merits of Universal Primary Education 1. One the merits of this global program is that it has enabled most able bodied and mentally stable school-going children acquire formal educaion.This in itself is crucial in that it breeds a crop of educated people right from that nascent age of ones development.An educated society is an informed one ready to appreciate government and other policies intended for community well-being. 2. International relations are likely to be augmented by the program especially between donor and recipient countries. 3. Enables the one of the marginalised groups of society,the girl-child acquire formal education.This is one the Millenium Development goals. 4. Illiteracy is dealt a death blow! 5. Socialisation is enhanced,as people of different groups and gender mix. The demerits of Universal Primary Education Having looked at the merits of universal primary education, one needs to critically examine the other side of the coin;the demrits. It would be entirely naive to assume that UPE has only brought good things. 1. Universal Primary Education is associated with scant resources especially in rural areas.These resources include reading and sitting matrials, not to mention the astronomical numbers each class has.In Primary one it is common to find classes that comprise between one hundred and two hundred pupils!This scenario has a negative impact on the quality and quantity of education received owing to the fact that pupil-teacher ratio is big. 2. There are ocassions when children have to travel long distances in quest for free eduction.This could be disastrous in terms of the psychological and physiological needs to pupils that are still young! 3. The childs are sometims not taught very well. 4. There is overcrowding. 5. There is very little or sometimes no motivation at all in Ugandas case. 6. Children are in most rural areas not given lunch. 7. There is little or no supervision and monitoring done. The challenges faced in the Universal Primary Education programme There are a number of challenges that are faced in trying to implement the UPE program in Uganda. Such challenges range from those affecting the implementers to those affecting the students. The challenges affecting the program implementers The implementers of the program including the directors of the schools (the school administrators) and the District Education Officers (DEO). Among the challenges that these people are faced with include: 1. Poor management of funds; usually the people that are put in-charge of managing the funds directed to the school administration, and education purposes are usually corrupt. They divert the funds to their own benefits. 2. Lack of good financial support; The national budget cannot support the program 100%, so the government tries to look for funding from elsewhere. Recommendations If all secondary schools would partner with one or two partner school, and assist them in various activities.. ..--------------- New York, March 21, 2012--The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns attacks by Ugandan police against two journalists in separate incidents outside of police stations today. Police officers beat freelance photographer Edward Echwalu as he was trying to cover the arrest of opposition leader Kizza Besigye at Kira Road Police Station in the capital, Kampala. Separately, police beat Anatoli Luswata, a reporter for the private weekly Eddobozi, outside Kampalas Central Police Station. Both journalists were trying to cover the arrest of Besigye, local journalists told CPJ, but it wasnt clear until later in the day which police station was holding him. Opposition supporters were taken into custody after demonstrations against police brutality in Kampala turned into clashes and one policeman died, according to wire reports. --- ------ Using batons and a rifle butt, four officers repeatedly beat Echwalu, a photographer forReuters and the independent weekly Observer, around 4:40 p.m. outside Kira Road Police Station where Besigye was detained, he told CPJ. When Echwalu tried to explain to the police officers that he was covering the event, they started to beat him. They did not want to see my ID. They didnt want to listen, Echwalu told CPJ. The beating continued until opposition parliamentary members arrived on the scene. Echwalu said he attempted to report the incident to the police station immediately afterwards, but police did not allow him to enter. Bruised on his right arm and shoulder, Echwalu went to Kampala Hospital for treatment, he said. Echwalu managed to take photographs of the four officers after the incident. Police officers beat Luswata on his back with batons outside the gate of Kampalas Central Police Station, local journalists told CPJ. They said they suspect police attacked Luswata because he was the first to arrive at the scene and there were no other reporters to cover the incident. Covering opposition party issues is not a crime. Ugandan police must stop arbitrarily attacking journalists simply for doing their job, said CPJ East Africa Consultant Tom Rhodes. Authorities must immediately identify the officers who carried out these attacks and take disciplinary measures. Calls to police spokeswoman Judith Nabakooba went unanswered. According toCPJ research, police and security agents were responsible for at least 21 cases of physical attacks against journalists during the countrys 2011 election year. More on ------
Posted on: Sat, 17 Jan 2015 05:55:03 +0000
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