Wednesday 6 March 2013

STAND UP AND BE COUNTED: THE PLIGHT OF THE GIRL CHILD


The PTA Chairperson at Mulongithi P.School standing while giving opening remarks on Friday1, March, 2013
Parents at Mulongoti Primary school, Kasese Municipality vow to improve academic standards during a parents meeting held on Friday 1st, March, 2013 for which RWECO presented a paper on improving quality of education role of parents. While opening the meeting, the Parents Teachers Association Chairperson asked the parents to support the development partners who have come to give a hand. During the same meeting, teachers pledged to do their best in improving the quality of education.  
 
Rwenzori consortium for civic competence is implementing a project supporting the teaching and learning of English language in thirty primary schools fifteen of which are based in Kasese district and the others in Kabarole district. The Education Programmatic Plan project that is funded by the Edukans foundation in the Netherlands also supports two primary teachers colleges of Bwera teachers college and Canon Apollo core PTC.
 
The project focuses on the proficiency in literacy and numeracy with emphasis to the four skills of learning (listening, reading, speaking and writing). In order for the project to achieve its objective the implementing agency participates in other school activities like sensitizing the school management committees on their roles, the PTA, the Head teachers and the teachers. In a joint PTA and parents meeting held at Mulongoti Primary school to discuss the future of the school vis-a-vis  the performance of the 2012 PLE results, where by the parents attributed the poor performance to the high female teacher ratio in the school, it was reported  that out of the fourteen teachers only four are male, but how does that affect the performance?. 
 
 The reason was the women's  triple roles of production, reproduction and community roles.  But when that  happens what has the  community and policy makers done  to in ensuring that  programs  designed to lift the women out of the kitchen are implemented?  for example in that  very meeting all the participants were  mothers and fathers but the meeting started at 10:00 am and ended at 3:30pm who then prepared lunch for the school children? That  implies that they either start escaping one by one, reduce their concentration and participation. 
The meeting was attended by the RWECO staff who sensitized the parents and created awareness for the participants, the entry point was their turn up itself for out of around two hundred parents who attended the meeting about three quarters were women and only a quarter were males, besides female teachers were good role models for their female pupils they should therefore aspire the young girls and those out of school otherwise if the school was dominated by male teachers alone then the girl child would not have any body to look up to admire and strive to be there at one time. She challenged the participants to justify any incidences where more than three mistresses have ever gone on maternity leave at once leaving the pupils unattended to.  
By Agnes Kyakimwa
RWECO