By Alex Gahima, Clare Muhindo & David Lumu
KAMPALA - Uganda. Some Ugandan educationists have proposed to government a wide range of changes in the education system of the country, including banning boarding schools at primary level, which they say has endangered the family development of children.
Prof. Abdu Kasozi, the former executive director of the National Council for Higher Education said that if the Ugandan education system is to compete with the changing societal demands and the highly-technology driven world, a group of eminent people need to undertake a study and recommend a revised education curriculum.
Among the proposed reforms Kasozi wants government to adopt include;
- banning the use of calculators in all schools
- discouraging boarding schools at primary level
- changing the 7 (primary) -6 (secondary)-3 (university) education system to 8 (primary)-4 (secondary)-4 (university, and
- the abolition of the specialization in arts and science but rather pursue a combination of subjects up to degree level
“The major aims of education in Uganda haven’t changed since the missionaries came. There is a need to re-think our education system and align it with the changing digital and other societal changes since 1986,” he said.
No respect for knowledge
Kasozi was speaking at the inaugural annual Prof. William Senteza Kajubi memorial lecture at Makerere University main hall.
Prof. Kajubi died in 2012 at the age of 86.
A 1989 report penned by the late Prof. William Senteza Kajubi was crucial for higher education reforms in Uganda. (File photo credit: Samuel Lutwama)
“Abolish the current specialisations into arts on the one side and sciences on the other, until students have completed their first degree. We are proposing that government discourages boarding schools at primary level,” said Kasozi.
‘Re-thinking Uganda’s education system’ was the theme of the lecture, and several professors and educationists in attendance seconded Kasozi’s proposals, which they said, would help re-organise Uganda’s education to the labour market.
The Chancellor of Makerere University, Prof. Mondo Kagonyera also expressed the lack of respect for knowledge as the main reason Ugandans are corrupt.
He called upon government to allow educationists to craft an education policy containing the various reforms as proposed by Kasozi for implementation.
‘Extremely concerned’
Kagonyera also called upon government to revert Kyambogo University into a polytechnic because it has failed as a university.
“I am extremely concerned about the trend which education is taking in this country. It shocks me that we have people in this country who don’t respect knowledge. Why should Government continue to blame Makerere University and other institutions for producing people who cannot create jobs yet they have not told us what kind of people they want us to produce?
“Kyambogo was meant to churn out teachers and technicians but it has failed to be a university. government should revert it to what they were supposed to do.”
The tough-talking Kagonyera however cautioned educationists not to leave education policies to politicians because they are fond of making contradictory pronouncements without carefully thinking of the impact.
He also criticized teachers’ unions for cherry-picking on salary increments rather than raising key education changes that the society needs.
‘People of ideas’
The main discussant of Kasozi’s keynote address, Dr. Ronald Bisaso, the dean of East African School of Higher Education Studies and Development, said that throughout his career as an educationist, the late Senteza Kajubi advocated for changes in the education system – a spirit that government and other stakeholders should embrace.
“People of power need people of ideas. It is a balance advanced countries have come to appreciate,” he said.
The Prof. William Senteza Kajubi memorial lecture, according to Dr. Fred Masagazi Masaazi, the Principal College of Education and External Studies, would be held every year to pay tribute to the renowned educationist.
The fallen professor is the author of the famous Kajubi Report (1989) which set the ball rolling for higher education reforms in the country.
His son, Wasswa Yoweri Kajubi, welcomed the idea of the lecture and also welcomed the proposal by Makerere University to build a lecture theatre and a foundation in memory of his father.
The lecture was attended by a number of dignitaries, including the Vice Chancellor of Makerere Prof. John Ddumba Ssentamu, former Prime Minister Prof. Apolo Nsibambi, the Minister of Finance, Planning and Economic Development Maria Kiwanuka, the Auditor General John Muwanga, former Education and Sports minister Geraldine Namirembe Bitamazire, ex-DP president Paul Kawanga Ssemogerere among others.
Just after the concluded national election a Buhweju Member of Parliament is prominsing better times for a dilapidated school in the Western Province of Uganda.

Buhweju MP Francis Mwijukye addresses students studying in a dilapidated classroom at Karungu Seed Secondary School in Buhweju District at the weekend. PHOTO BY ZADOCK AMANYISA
By Zadock Amanyisa
Posted Tuesday, June 28 2016
Buhweju- Buhweju County Member of Parliament Francis Mwijukye has teamed up with teachers and parents to demand an immediate inquiry into a dilapidated school bought by government six years ago.
The legislator, after inspecting Karungu Seed Secondary School in Ntoboora B Cell, Buhweju District, in a meeting with students, parents and teachers called for calm but promised to officially petition the ministry of Education and Parliament to ensure the matter is investigated.
The school is in a sorry state and a threat to the students amid fear that it might collapse on them. The school was bought by government from eight private developers in 2010 at Shs370 million.
Mr Mwijukye told Daily Monitor at the weekend that the cost of the school is also suspicious.
“I went to the school and found students doing exams under the tree. They told me they had run away from the collapsing buildings but were advised to do exams under the tree,” he said.
The legislator wants government to order for a value-for-money audit to establish the actual cost of the school and also explain why taxi payers’ money was spent on the old building.
He warned that he will not give officials the liberty to ‘play with” the findings of the investigations since all the stakeholders, including the entire community, want an explanation.
“Ministers swear in to serve people and this is the time for the Education minister to start working and deliver. She should visit the school and establish the value for money. Procedures and necessary steps should be followed to help the suffering students and parents at the school,” the legislator said.
It is reported that Karungu Seed SS was sold to government between 2008 and 2010 but the valuers took photos of a different school to inflate the value of the school and rip-off government.
The school was started in 1999 by eight private developers. Government bought it in 2010 as part of the national plan to establish a secondary school in every sub-county.
The transaction was entered and made by the school directors, including Mr Lawrence Kamukama, Augustus Abenaitwe, Isaac Rubafunya, Vincent Gumisiriza, Evadio Katsigazi and Expedito Rukundo, then commissioner for secondary education in the ministry of Education John Agaba, Bushenyi District chief administrative officer Charles Kiberu and District Education Officer Norman Rukumu.
Pictures of a different school, believed to be Kitagata Secondary School in the neighboring Sheema District with better infrastructure, were taken and presented as purported representation of Karungu Seed SS. Government then bought the school at an apparent inflated valuation, which led to the ministry neglecting the school after finding out the rip-off.
The school had more than 450 students at the time of government takeover but the enrollment has dropped to below 300 due to the poor conditions. Stakeholders in the sub-county have petitioned several authorities but to no avail.
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