MONITORING AND REVIEW MEETING OF HEADTEACHERS AND SENIOUR TEACHERS AT VERINAH GARDENS

A pictorial brief of what happened in the meeting held on 5th Sept, 2013 at Veinah Gardens

 RWECO Coordinator, Mr Jimmy B. Odyek giving his opening remarks

Inspector of school, KaseseDistrict Mr. Wilson Isemusoro

Headteachers and RWECO Coordinator paying attention to the Inspector of Schools

It was a long and interesting session. No one dared to miss anything

Each School received 4 reference books that include, an Oxford Dictionary, PLE hand books, 2 English Language Test Books.

Headteachers and teachers were so happy and thanked RWECO for the continued support

By Rweco team
Masereka Gilbert
Balira Medrace
Jimmy B. Odyek

"EXCUSES ARE TOOLS OF INCOMPETENCE" KASESE DISTRICT INSPECTOR OF SCHOOLS CAUTIONS HEAD TEACHERS

The Senior Inspector of Schools Mr. Wilson Isemusoro while representing the District Education Officer of Kasese at the Head teachers review meeting of the Education Programmatic Plan (EPP)  at Virina Gardens, Kasese Municipality on Thursday 5th September cautioned Head teachers at giving excuses, " EXCUSES ARE TOOLS OF INCOMPETENCE"

Mr. Wilson Isemusoro, demonstrating to Head teacher the qualities of a good manager during the EPP review meeting at Virina Gardens, Kasese Municipality

The EPP project is being implemented in 15 Primary Schools in Kasese district and 15 Primary schools in Kabarole district. The project was aimed at Improving the Quality of Education through improving the communication skills of 9000 primary school pupils. While presenting the progress of the project, Ms. Medrace Balira the RWECO Project Officer indicated that, RWECO and CfSU have supported Schools with reference books to improve the quality of education in the region, and that more reference books had been procured to support the program. Each School received 4 reference books that include, an Oxford Dictionary, PLE hand books, 2 English Language Test Books.

Head Teachers at the EPP review meeting on 5th Sept 2013

To map the way forward in improving the quality of Education the head teachers  had the following as points for the period Sept-December 2013.

Mr. Mwanje Joseph, Head Teacher, Bwera Demonstration, contributing to the action points

1. To enforce and implement the government policy of the " Books in the Hands of the Pupils". The participants also added that while the policy was good, but efforts should be made to guide the teachers while implementing that policy;
2.  Training of School Management Committees and PTA should be emphasised in order to achieve collective responsibilities;
3.  Motivation of teachers using available means within the school like involvement in organising for activities and managing the budgets;
4. Rewards for the best performing pupils- Best English Speaker and other components like environment, cleanliness, hard working with certificates;
5. Planning for the school calender including preparations for PLE- the head teachers also recommended to have an inter class/school debating competitions;
6. On the academic part, the head teachers also recommended to have an inter school seminars targeting P.6-P.7 Pupils.

The review meeting was also attended by the RWECO Coordinator Mr. Jimmy B. Odyek who made a quick scan of the action points that were made during the head teachers meeting held on 16th April, 2012 at the launch of the EPP project by the Kasese District Eduction Officer, Mr. George Mainja.

RWECO committed her self to continue supporting the schools in sharing information using ICT tools and online platforms as was demonstrated from:http://eduvoice.ug/ and http://www.budget.go.ug/index.php

Watch this space for more:

RWECO Team,

Medrace Balira
Gilbert Masereka
Jimmy B.O

Students free to use phones at school - government

Kampala- Government has directed secondary school head teachers to relax rules and allow students possess cellular phones.

According to Dr Yusuf Nsubuga, the director Basic and Secondary Education, there is no government policy that bars students from owning cellular phones at school, especially now that the gadgets are a necessity of everyday life.

The director, however, warned that the phones should not be used during class time.

“Teachers must appreciate that the world has changed and some rigid school rules of the 1980s and 90s are no longer applicable in this dot com era,” he said, while addressing head teachers from schools implementing the MasterCard Foundation Scholars scheme in Kampala.

He added: “If parents can buy phones for their maids at home, why can’t they do it for their children? A mobile phone is an education instructional resource, not a luxury. Students learn a lot when they use them.”

Dr Nsubuga said the argument by most schools that students are barred from using phones in order to avert strikes does not hold water.
“They (teachers) have failed to manage change. The strikes were there even before mobile phones came,” he said.

Students owning mobile phones has been a sticky issue and some secondary schools have in the past suffered violent strikes with students protesting the confiscation of their gadgets.

“What you need to do is to regulate the use but not a total ban. Give the students some breathing space so they can express and realise their full human potential,” said Dr Nsubuga.

But Mr Micheal Mpiima, the head teacher Ssaku SS in Luweero District, said allowing students to own mobile phones would make them more unruly.

Kyadondo East MP Ibrahim Ssemujju Nganda, whose son was expelled last year for being in possession of a cellular phone, welcomed the directive yesterday, saying teachers need to know that schools are not prisons.

“Schools are just a stage in the preparation of the country’s human resource. It is good the government has come out and we pray that school heads adhere to it. We are not saying students should use the phones all through. There should be regulated time for this to enable them communicate to their parents and friends.”

Mr Fredrick Ssempala, an education expert, said: “It is true a mobile phone can serve as an instructional tool but like any other technology, it goes with discipline. So, before the ministry tells the schools to change their rules on use of cellular phones, let there be sensitisation to students on how to use them because without this, they will instead become destructive.”

assenkabirwa@ug.nationmedia.com

Accessed on Monday 9th September, 2013 from:http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=8376606674972682672#editor/target=post;postID=8431284533577371486