Review of Education Policy in Uganda

Working Paper Submitted by Ojijo to the Young Leaders Think Tank for Policy Alternatives-Uganda, Feb, 2012

Executive Summary
This paper looks at the content of Uganda government education policy and critiques the extent to which it has enabled the learner to acquire skills and value systems necessary to create solutions for present and future problems, and ultimately, live happy lives. The paper analyses the full scope of education sector, starting from preprimary and primary, through secondary, university, vocational and professional education, to job training and adult education policies.

Table of Contents

INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................. 2
BACKGROUND................................................................................................................................ 2 SCOPE OF REPORT........................................................................................................................ 2 METHODOLOGY & OBJECTIVES ..................................................................................................... 2 ORGANIZATION .............................................................................................................................. 2

LEGAL FRAMEWORK OF EDUCATION POLICIES ................................................ 3

THE 1995 CONSTITUTION (AS AMENDED) ...................................................................................... 3 OTHER ACTS OF PARLIAMENT ....................................................................................................... 3

ANALYSIS & CRITIQUE OF THE EDUCATION POLICIES OF UGANDA ................ 5

PRE-INDEPENDENT (COLONIALIST) EDUCATION POLICIES ............................................................. 5 POST INDEPENDENT, PRE-NRM EDUCATION POLICIES ................................................................. 6 NRM-ERA EDUCATION POLICIES................................................................................................... 6

ALTERATIVE POLICY RECOMMENDATIONS (THEMATIC) ................................ 11

SCOPE ......................................................................................................................................... 11 EQUITY IN ACCESS ...................................................................................................................... 12 INFRASTRUCTURE ........................................................................................................................ 13 CONTENT QUALITY ...................................................................................................................... 13 CONCLUSION ............................................................................................................................... 13

REFERENCES & SELECT BIBLIOGRAPHIES ......................................................... 15

Ojijo is a bunch of solutions from Homa-Bay County, Kenya.

Ojijo is AHA Volunteer; public speaker & trainer on financial literacy, personal (talent & career) development & political leadership; lawyer & lecturer on legal rhetoric, e-commerce & e-governance law; performance poet; social entrepreneur & investor; and author of 19 books on religion, sexuality, poetry, politics, economics, medicine, law, history, entrepreneurship, network marketing, retirement planning, languages (Swahili & Luo), financial literacy, investing and personal (talent & career) development. Ojijo is the board chairman of Ojijo Foundation, which supports volunteerism (www.ahainitiative.net); financial literacy & personal (talent & career) development (www.informedinvestors.biz); public speaking & political leadership training (www.allpublicspeakers.com); open religion (www.openreligion.org); and indigenous cultures (www.kycf.org).

Review of Education Policy in Uganda! Ojijo

Introduction BACKGROUND

Education is the process of imparting/acquiring skills and value systems to be able to provide solution to present and future challenges for the purposes of living a happy life. Education policy, on the other hand, refers to the official government statements and commitment on the provision of education, both as a private and public good. The system of education in Uganda has a structure of 7 years of primary education, 6 years of secondary education (divided into 4 years of lower secondary and 2 years of upper secondary school), and 3 to 5 years of postsecondary education. The government has addressed the challenges facing the education sector through commissions, committees and Taskforces. SCOPE OF REPORT This paper analyses and critiques the Uganda government policy on education by sector of education, namely, kindergarten, or early childhood education/development; primary education; secondary education; senior secondary education; university education; and graduate/research education. The analysis will also cover professional certification courses for post graduate diplomas, adult education and vocational educational policies. This policy analysis will seek to state the objectives of the government policies with regard to particular sectors, (where there is such policy), and the extent to which the objectives have been met. METHODOLOGY & OBJECTIVES The report was conducted through primary data collection from key informants, including amongst others, Prof. Senteza Kajubi, the chairman of the 1987 Education Reform Commission (Senteza Kajubi Commission); the Vice Chancellor, Nkumba University, the Vice Chancellor, Makerere University; the Chairman, Higher Education Commission; the Director, Curriculum Development Centre; and Commissioner of Education at ministry of education. The report also benefited from extensive literature review from secondary and primary (government) sources. Both the interviews, which were open ended, and the literature review, were thematic, seeking information on the history and development of education policies in Uganda; the quality, character and effectiveness of the various policies; and the possible recommendations to the policies on education, both formative, and substantial. ORGANIZATION This first section of the report is the introduction. The second part will cover the background of education policies in Uganda, including the various processes that have led to the development of current policies and the objectives that were targeted. The third section will be the particular policy analysis and critique. The fourth and final section will be the recommendations from the particular analysis.

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Legal Framework of Education Policies Education policies and training in Uganda is governed by the constitutions directive principles and, statutes including Education Act and other related Acts of Parliament, including University Act, Tertiary institutions Act various other Acts and Charters for universities. THE 1995 CONSTITUTION (AS AMENDED) The 1995 Constitution (as amended), is the grundnorm, and hence, the source of all legal authority. The 1995 constitution posits education as a right, specifying that each child is entitled to basic education, which is a shared responsibility of the state and the childs parents. The constitution however needs to take the wording of the ANC constitution and provide for actionable rights and duties, so that the government can be put to task to provide education, without relying on the defense of poor social-economic status. OTHER ACTS OF PARLIAMENT Childrens Act

The childrens act provides that all children must be educated. It tasks the state to provide resources, and obliges the parents to make sure the children attend school. There should be a clear duty on the government to ensure that classes are limited to the UN ration of 1:40, so as to ensure quality, and to move from bonna basome, to quality education provision. University Act

There should be a clear provision that all universities offer research unit which is compulsory. Further, all unites, apart from business courses, need to offer a training course in entrepreneurship and transferable skills development, to open the eyes of graduates to take advantage of and exploit opportunities in the environment, hence building creativity, and ultimately fighting unemployment. Tertiary Institutions Act

The act establishes the regulatory framework for tertiary institutions. There should be a clear delimitation of tertiary institutions being transformed into university colleges, or universities.

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The university act is the overall law that governs provision of university education in the country. It provides for guidelines on operations of universities. Together with the charters of universities, the universities act establishes rights, duties and responsibilities for all stakeholders in the higher educations sector.

Review of Education Policy in Uganda! Ojijo

BITVET Act

This is an innovative piece of legislation that promotes vocational education in the country. Of note, is that the act establishes a portal, and regional nodes for provision of vocational training. Education Act The education act provides, for inter alia, the licensing of education institutions, and regulation of content. There should be an amendment to make it illegal to acquire and transform one type of academic institution, especially tertiary institutions, into a university college, since this reduces access opportunities.

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Analysis & Critique of the Education Policies of Uganda PRE-INDEPENDENT (COLONIALIST) EDUCATION POLICIES During the pre- independence period, Ugandas education policy was controlled by the British Colonial Government and so was the curriculum. The objectives of the curriculum did not reflect the aspirations of ordinary Ugandans since they were mainly designed to serve the interests of the British colonial Government. The Catholic and Protestant missionaries were sent to Uganda, like anywhere else they went, by their respective societies to preach Christianity to, and spread it among the different peoples of the country. One of the ways which these missionaries conceived to be most effective was to make sure that the converts could refresh their religious knowledge in their homes by reading the bible and other simple books. Between 1900 and 1924, the Missionaries established schools and taught children and adults with no, or little, Protectorate Government financial assistance. They designed their own school curriculum to suit their missionary purposes. Between 1877 and 1879, children and adults were taught religion, reading, writing and arithmetic. The missionaries' houses and compounds formed the initial formal schools. In 1901, a Catholic chief, Stanislaus Mugwanya, requested the missionaries to start a school that would mainly teach English. It was this that made the missionaries think of offering a form of education designed to help build character of pupils and prepare them for the changing world in which they lived. Therefore, between 1902 and 1906, seven boarding schools were opened to serve this purpose. The majority of these schools were attended mainly by children of chiefs and influential families who, it was assumed, would sooner or later hold positions of responsibility in the society. The curriculum consisted of religion, reading, writing, arithmetic, English grammar, geography, mathematics, music and games. Commissioned Groups to Review Education (1924-1962) During this period, the Protectorate Government appointed five different commissioned groups of educationists and others to review the education situation in Uganda and make recommendations. The following were the five Commissions:1. The Phelps - Stockes Commission (1924): The Commission found out that the education offered in Uganda by the missionaries was too literary. The educational activities in the schools were not related to the community needs of the people. Amongthe essential components missing from the curriculum were agriculture, health, care by women, and hygiene. It led to the Policy on Vocational Studies, whereby in 1926, there was a strong view that the educational system for Ugandans should, in addition to academic subjects, provide vocational education and prepare the majority of the pupils to live well in the villages.

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2. The Earl de la Warr Committee (1935) mainly examined the state of Makerere College and its source of inputs. Among its other recommendations were to improve and expand primary education and to develop education for girls. 3. The Thomas Education Committee (1940) dwelt on the administration and financing of education. 4. The de Bunsen Commission (1952) looked into teacher education and the educational structure. 5. The Binns Study Group (1957) was sent to East Africa towards the period of granting independence to the colonies in order to study and recommend on how to: A critique of the ideological foundations of African education is advanced by Mazrui (1978:13); he regards neo-colonial cultural dependency as a threat to African psychological autonomy and sovereignty and reports that: Very few educated Africans are even aware that they are also in cultural bondage. All educated Africans are still cultural captives of the West. The policy of all colonial education was subordination of Africans, as they did not provide education according to European standards, rather, they served to perpetuate colonial domination. (Victor Uchendu,1979:3). There was a clear neglect of African culture and history by mission schools, causing Africans to lose self-respect and love for our own race, leading to what Ngugi wa Thiongo called cultural genocide perpetuated intellectual dependency on the West. (Ngugi, 1972) POST INDEPENDENT, PRE-NRM EDUCATION POLICIES Prof Edgar Castles Education Commission After Uganda gained independence in 1962, the first step the new government took was to formulate post independence Education Policy that would address the needs of a free Uganda. In 1963, the then Prime Minister, Dr. Milton Obote, instituted the Prof Edgar Castle 1963 Uganda Education Commission to examine the content and structure of education in Uganda and consider how it could be improved and adopted to the needs of Uganda . This was due to the realization that the pre-existent education system was not geared towards the objects of producing skilled Africans for the African economy, but rather, skilled workers for the colonial industries. Since 1963, education policy in Uganda was mainly guided by the Castle Commission report up to the inception of the 1922 Government White Paper, which laid a strong emphasis. A strong emphasis on the quality of education for all people; argued for raising standards of agriculture; technical education; expansion of girls education; provision of adult education; training teachers for especially primary education; and Africanisation of content of education curriculum. NRM-ERA EDUCATION POLICIES In 1986, the post-conflict government, the physical infrastructure had deteriorated with nearly twenty years of civil strife. A large percentage of the primary classes met in temporary structures; permanent structures had received little or maintenance for nearly two decades. Text books, instructional materials were almost nonexistent in most schools, making teaching and learning extremely difficult. There were few trained teachers, most having fled the country, and the curriculum content needed to be changed drastically.

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Education Policy Review Commission (Prof Senteza Kajubi Commission)

The NRMs first bold move to enhance education was to establish an education commission, chaired by the reknowned educationist, Prof. Senteza William Kajubi, to provide solutions to education sector. The findings led to the 1992 White Paper on Education, which was the basis of UPE, USE and Education for All policy. The commission also recommended inclusion of civic studies, vocational skills and financial management practice (financial literacy) among other courses on the school curriculum. The commission defended universalisation of primary education thus: Only when every child is enrolled at the right age and does not leave school without completing the full cycle of primary education it would be possible to ensure that all citizens have the basic education needed for living a full live. Also it will help in achieving a transformation of society leading to greater unity among the people, higher moral standards and an accelerated growth of economy. Primary Education Reform Programme (PERP)

In 1991, government designed the Primary Education Reform Programme (PERP) to address issues of declining quality of basic education. This Programme was launched in 1993 and it focussed on three central issues of increasing access to quality learning opportunities; improving school management and instructional quality; and strengthening planning, management and implementation. In order to implement the PERP, government formulated Primary Education Teacher Development Programme (PETDP) to spear head the Primary Education Reform Programme. 1992 Government White Paper on Education

Policy of Education as a Human Right

As a product of the White Paper, in Uganda, education is a constitutional right enshrined in the constitution of the republic of Uganda, articles 30 makes educations for children a human right, and article 34 states that all children are entitled to basic education by the state and parents. Equitable Access Policy

The key policy thrust in the educational sector for both rural and urban Uganda includes providing equitable access to quality and affordable education to all Ugandans, propelling the nation towards achieving the goals of Poverty Eradication Action Plan (PEAP), meeting commitments to achieve Education for All (EFA) and the Millennium Development Goals

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The 1992 Government White Paper on Education is the basis of official policy on the purpose and programmes of education. Its aims are to promote citizenship; moral, ethical and spiritual values; promote scientific, technical and cultural knowledge, skills and attitudes; eradicate illiteracy and equip individuals with basic skills and knowledge and with the ability to contribute to the building of an integrated, self-sustaining and independent national economy. The White Paper accepted the major recommendations of EPRC.

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(MDGs) by 2015, providing relevant education and enhancing efficiency, and strengthening partnerships in the education sector. More resources have been allocated to lower educational public sector through the UPE programme in order to enhance equity of access at that level between boys and girls (MoSE 1998 b).

Affirmative Action Policy

This equitable access policy has led to the affirmative action policy, supporting more women enrolment, by reducing cutoff points for entry to university by women, disabled, and challenged persons, including students from hardship areas, mainly northern Uganda. Universal Primary Education (UPE)

The Universal Primary Education (UPE) was launched in 1997 following recommendations of the Education Policy Review Commission (EPRC, 1989), and the subsequent relevant stipulations of the GoU White Paper (1992) and the development of childrens Statute (1996). The policy advocates for the redistribution of resources vis-a-vis reforming the educational sector. More resources have been allocated to lower educational public sector through the UPE programme in order to enhance equity of access at that level between boys and girls (MoSE 1998 b). Education for All (EFA) Policy

Community & Adult Education Policy

Under the white paper, and further bifurcated by the access to all commitment, the government of Uganda has established a community and adult education policy, which is implemented through classes that teach literacy in communities, and also through professional courses in universities to train and equip adult educators.

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This was an enviable move by the government to ensure that everyone, child and adult alike, benefits from the timeless and universal advantages of education. However, lack of clear monitoring of performance, lack of infrastructure, and the then persistent LRA insurgency in Northen Uganda greatly impaired the realization of the mission. Ugandas social diversity has brought a collateral concern for preservation of cultural heritage, social justice, human dignity, political equality and multicultural education. To this end, the curriculum has incorporated cultural studies, but this is still limited, and students are not studying such things as fables, proverbs, idioms and rhetoric in traditions. Cultivation of oral and written fluency in local African languages is important in building self-esteem, preserving culture, and advancing the literary output and identity of African peoples. In addition to the MDGs, Uganda is also committed to meeting the Education for all (EFA) goals (set in Jomtien in 1990 and reaffirmed in Dakar in 2000). The current Government efforts in education sector, especially the launching of the Universal Primary Education (UPE) policy are, by and large, premised on the recommendation of the Government White Paper on Education of 1992, but also focus towards attaining the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and Education for All (EFA) goals.

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Policy of Decentralization Of Education Service Provision

Uganda implemented the policy of decentralization, under which policy; the central government has channeled public service. Under the local Government Act of 1997, nursery, primary schools, special schools and technical schools fall under the administration and management of District Councils. Each district has the authority to formulate, approve, and execute its own development plan. Registration for UPE children, distribution of textbooks and monthly remittances for schools from central government are all channeled through the district Administration officer. Decentralisation has brought the schools closer to the administrative units above them and therefore potentially could be more responsive.

Policy of Vocationalisation of Education

Given the high drop out rates, and the fact that informal economy contributes in great margin to the development of the economy, on top of other factors such as the high unemployment, and the lack of job skills, the governments since pre-independence have had vocationalisation as a major tool of advancing education. However, it is the NRM government that officially formalized the system through the statutes, and a celar policy on vocational institutions. To this end, the vocational education training is provided in all regions, though the accessibility is lowered. Policy Of Liberalization Of Educations Sector

The Education Sector Strategy Plan (ESSP)

The ESSP commit the government to assuring universal access to primary education as the highest priority, points to the removal of financial impediments and pay particular attention to gender and regional equity. Putting the plan into practice was envisaged through shared contributions by the public and private sector, by the household and community. The ESSP of Ugandas Ministry of Education and Sports (MoSE) covers the fiscal years 2004/5 to 2014/5, and it succeeds the Education Strategic Investment Plan (ESIP of1998-2003. Policy on Regular Curriculum Revision

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One major recommendation of Prof. Kajubi Commission was the need for opening of the space for education service provision to seal the gap created by the insurgency and civil war vacuum, and hence, as a result, the government opened provision of education, and has since seen the chartering of over 30 universities, and countless other initiatives, by the public, private, civil society sectors, and cross-partnerships amongst and between sectors. Higher education especially tertiary education is increasingly becoming liberalized, which in fact means privatized. All these have led to Uganda being referred to as regional social/education capital, by providing home to the largest number of foreign students in the region, than any other eastern African country.

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Curriculum revision provides another measure of post-colonial educational reconstruction in Uganda and this import cannot be more explicit with the creation of a national curriculum development centre. The new NRM government has promoted policy of africanisation of education content, through africanised textbooks. Innovative community-based education focuses on collective farming, hygiene, literacy and political education. The countrys mainly agricultural economy is served by school-based farm programs that aim to reduce the ruralurban social division; in addition, these programs tried to build acceptance of the dignity of manual work. This emphasis has expanded at the secondary level with agricultural, commercial, industrial and social service courses of study. Such vocationalisation reflects the concern for life adjustment found in traditional African education. Curriculum development in the 1990s has addressed several problem areas affecting Ugandas well-being and unity; these include environmental education, population and family life, multi-cultural education and education for peace. However, the system formal education system is still rigid, testbased and competitive, rather than flexible, cooperative and research based. Curriculum review has been institutionalized through the National Curriculum Development Centre(NCDC)

Education Language Policy

Since independence, education language policy after independence has been marked by very gradual Africanisation. Until recently in Uganda, English has been used as the only medium of instruction in primary, secondary, tertiary and adult education. Therefore, schools in the pre- and early post-independence era followed a straight for English policy. However, British colonial policy had encouraged mother tongue instruction, especially in early primary grades. Mother tongue or the dominant local area language is used for teaching in preprimary and primary grades 1 to 3 while English is taught as a subject.

Job Training /Continuing Professional Development Policy

The government has a policy for continuing professional development, but this is partial and only applicable to certain professions, mainly law and medicine. Other professional courses like accountancy, architecture, etc, do not have these legal requirements. Further, continuing career development is not just limited to professional courses, and there is need to have incentives for employees, to ensure that staffs attend refresher courses to ensure they are better equipped to address to the dynamic and continually challenges of a changing economic situation of Uganda and the world. Implementation of Policies

Development of education sector has been guided by the first Education Sector Investment Plan (ESIP-I) 1998-2003 and the second Education Sector Investment Plan (ESIP-II) 2004-2015. The Education Sector Strategic plan (ESSP) for the fiscal years 2004-2015 is set to succeed the ESIP in two ways.

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Alterative Policy Recommendations (Thematic) SCOPE Pre-Primary Education/Early Childhood Development

This is the age (between 3-6 years) where talent is best identified and development begins (Ojijo, 2011). However, the current policy framework does not provide for a comprehensive talent identification and development program, including a talent test, amongst other strategies. Primary Education

The policy on primary education is about access to all, and the government has over and again stressed that the goal is to get everyone to class, and then handle quality issues later. However, it is now evident that the primary education system is a pitfall for children, causing massive future disillusionment, as the content is skewed, attention is lacking, and infrastructure, both in terms of physical facilities, and teachers, is thinly stretched to maximum. Secondary Education/Senior Secondary Education

The level of secondary education is where most students identify their career goals, and start to specialize for future professions. However, the current system still burdens the student with very many subjects, confusing arts with sciences, and hence limiting chances of specializing, and ultimately producing a jack of all trades, and specialist in none. The new economy needs specialization, as a factor of enhancing efficiency (Adam Smith, 1730). The policy shift should move towards intensive career guidance, followed by limited subject choices for the purposes of specialization.

The current policy of university education is lacking in practical skills and transferable skills formation, on top of value based content. The university student graduate today sits at home, waiting to be employed, and when he is lucky to be employed, he lacks practical skills to supplement his theories, and where he has the practical skills, he lacks the transferable skills exemplified by letter writing, effective communication and interpersonal skills. The inability of the graduate to create a job is explained by both attitude, and also lack of skills. Very few courses, notably medicine, and social work, demand a compulsory internship placement, even though there is a government agency for the industrial placements. Further, there lacks incentives by the government to companies to absorb interns, through tax waivers, etc. also, the students lack creative skills partly due to lack of methodological training in transferable skills and personal development, and partly due to lack of research skills, since research, though being the only true way to generate new knowledge, is not compulsory, but an elective subject. It is important that research is made a compulsory subject. Further, every course unit should have a compulsory entrepreneurship module, to prepare students to market their skills, and hence transform their skills to cash.

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University Education

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Graduate Research Studies

A quick look at graduate research curriculum will reveal a repetition of content. Indeed, in most law schools, to take an example, graduate students take course units with under graduate students, and instead of specializing in graduate studies, the courses are generic. Further, the period of mastering is two years, as opposed to international one year periods, which makes education pursuits long and unattractive. Professional Certification Courses

Currently, careers options of law, medicine, architecture, accountancy, and related financial services, offers a regulatory regime for compulsory professional certification, mainly due to the fiduciary duties held by the professionals to their clients. This is progressive, but for the fact that the monopolization of legal professional training, as opposed to accountancy and medicine, leads to crammed classes, and lack of personal attention. There is need to decentralize examination of law graduates, and to remove the cap on admissions, so that all lawyers who qualify should attend and be released to the market, where due to competition, they will then become creative and specialize. Vocational Training

The government has done tremendous work with vocational institutions, under the statute, and previously through community based institutes. However, the policy of transforming vocational and technical institutes to university colleges and universities ultimately reduces the infrastructures for vocational studies, and ought to be halted. Institutions willing to be universities should start as such, and work through the process, so that the youth who fail to make it to universities, or who do not wish to go to universities, are not deprived of access to institutions for vocational training. Adult Education

Of special note however, is the gap in training adults about important aspects of financial management, as was proscribed by the Prof. Kajubi Commission. This area, also referred to as financial literacy, is an important segment for adults, especially for planning for their old age. Job Training

EQUITY IN ACCESS

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Apart from the professional careers of law and medicine, there is not mandatory requirement for continual job training and improvement. This is a clawback since the value of an employees contribution, and hence his income, is equivalent to his knowledgebase, and where the employee does not improve, then his contribution to the market, and workplace, becomes redundant. There is need for an incentive regime, backed by legal and regulatory provisions, for require the continual improvement through job training. Companies offering such programs should benefit from tax incentives, and other privileges.

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Uganda seems to be guided by Mwalimu Julius Nyereres Adult Education Declaration of Dar es Salaam in which he wrote: Adult education is anything which enlarges mens understanding, activates them, helps them to make their own decisions and to implement those decisions for themselves.

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Until the early 1990s the education policy was fraught with gender disparities in enrolment, dropout, performance and general attainment. (Kikampikaho and Kwesiga,2002). The development of gender equity is another case of transformative policy. This innovation remains far short of the goal of gender parity. In traditional African education, boys and girls were segregated with different curricula that prepared youth for their divergent life goals. This transition has met with cultural resistance and remains controversial; nevertheless, the evidence of added value that female education brings to child-rearing, health, family wellbeing, economic life and community makes a compelling case for gender equalisation in African educational reconstruction. (Tripp and Kwesiga, 2002) Pre-school education, when available, is urban and elitist. Special education is not institutionalized, nearly non-existent in certain areas. In many areas, rural schools are fewer, more remote, poorly equipped and understaffed. Access to basic education is reduced due to emphasis on the secondary/tertiary levels; nevertheless, in 1994 only 30% of primary school graduates found places in secondary schools, and this is less than 5% of the school-age population. INFRASTRUCTURE Inadequate facilities and instructional resources affect most African countries, including Uganda. Many circumstances contribute to this situation. The war was a decisive factor in areas of northern Uganda. Further, rapid urbanisation causes a growth in school-age population that continues to outpace school construction; this leads to overcrowding and reliance on substandard and unsanitary buildings. Also, the UPE policy leads to an influx of students, but lack of physical, and human resource infrastructure. Insufficient supplies of textbooks and lack of essential facilities and equipment for science laboratories detracts from the quality and potential of instruction. CONTENT QUALITY A final concern involves the relevance of education to the social and economic well-being of each country and to each individuals fulfilment of potential. There is low completion rates, high grade repetition and significant numbers of drop-outs. These facts seem to indicate either that the schools are not teaching students well or that the curriculum is irrelevant to their needs. In many cases, formal school curricula have been criticised for being unrelated to the conditions and demands of life in rural areas. There is likewise a need to increase the use of African languages as mediums of instruction in areas where these are the only effective means of communication. Another dimension of relevance involves philosophical consistency. As more African countries move to expand democracy, schools should not only teach how this form of government works, but also restructure themselves as participatory, open forums in which students and teachers can practice democracy through debate, discussion and exchange of views about their political destiny. In contrast to traditional African education, where methods involved active participation, observation and learning by doing, instructional methods in modern, formal African schools continue to be dominated by rote learning, pupil passivity, limited verbal interaction, and reliance on text and test. One reason for this is the shortage of trained teachers. Another factor is the climate of competition and high-stakes testing which encourages memorization for examinations more than acquisition of applied skills, critical thinking or creativity. CONCLUSION

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The current education policy in Uganda espouses universal education, with equal opportunity for all. However, policy reconstruction is an ongoing, never-ending process. It works in the context of the present crisis, but moves to transcend this by creative integration of past successes with future goals. The core goals reflect traditional values of training in social justice, morality, and responsibility, along with acquisition of life skills needed in the local environment. Modern policy goals include national development and unity along with individual service to the nation.

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References & Select Bibliographies Government of Uganda, Government White Paper on the Education Policy Review Commission Report Entitled "Education for National Integration and Development" Government Printer, Kampala, April, 1992. Ajayi, J.F.A., Goma, L.K.H. & Johnson, G.A. (1996) The African Experience With Higher Education. London: James Currey. Bassey, M.O. (1999) Western Education and Political Domination in Africa. Westport, CT: Bergin Harvey. Berkson, I.B. (1940) Preface to an Educational Philosophy. NY: Columbia University. Nwomonoh (Ed.) Education and Development in Africa, 25-40. San Francisco: International Scholars Publications. Bunyi, G. (1999) Rethinking the place of African indigenous languages in African education. International Journal of Educational Development, 19 (4/5), 337-350. Educational profile: Uganda (2000). In World Data on Education. Geneva: UNESCO, International Bureau of Education. [Online] http://www.ibe.unesco.org/International/databanks/dossiers/puganda.htm [2001, February 7] Habte, A., Wagaw, T. & Ajayi, J.F.A. (1993) Education and social change. In A.A. Mazrui & C. Wondji (Eds.) General history of Africa: 8. Africa since 1935, 678-701. Paris: UNESCO. Mazrui, A.A. (1978) Political Values and the Educated Class in Africa. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press. Moumouni, A. (1968) Education in Africa. NY: Praeger. Mungazi, D.A. (1996) The Mind of Black Africa. London: Praeger. United Nations, Economic and Social Council: Commission of Human Rights, Economic, Social and Cultural Rights-Report by Ms Katarina Tomasevski, Special Rapporteur on the right to education-Addendum, Mission to Uganda 26 June-2 July 1999 Ministry of Education and Sports, the Ugandan Experience of Universal Primary Education (UPE); July 1999. UNESCO, Ministerial Seminar on Education for Rural People in Africa: Policy Lessons, Options and Priorities; Status of Education for Rural People in Uganda International Bureau of Education, Gender Sensitive Educational Policy and Practice; Uganda Case Study, Report by Doris Kakuru Muhwezi Ministry of Education and Sports, March 2005: Education Sector Strategic Plan 2004-2015.

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