Primary and Secondary Schools in Kisoro district have defied a directive by Ministry of Education and Sports not to teach learners during the holiday.
Majority of the schools within Kisoro Municipality have been receiving learners from Primary One to Primary Seven for the last two weeks.
State Minister for Higher Education Dr. John Chrysostom Muyingo, earlier this month explained that holiday classes are primarily intended to target parents to extort their hard-earned money.
According to the Ministry of Education and Sports, the official school calendar for term one will begin on February 5th, 2024.
John (not real name) is a deputy Head teacher in one of the Private Primary Schools in Kisoro Municipality.
He says parents are often the first to initiate the need for Holiday classes.
“Parenting in this day and age is proving problematic for many parents because they are afraid to leave their children at home unattended and to make it worse, the economic demands of running a family are forcing more parents to work longer hours and so they feel comfortable when they know their children are safe at School, John explained.
Dan Munyambabazi, the Chairperson of Kisoro District Private Secondary Schools says educators across the country no longer have the luxury of waiting for the holidays to end before teaching because of the new curriculum.
Munyambabazi says, the new curriculum is quite exciting for both the teachers and learners however it is very wide and practical therefore a lot more time needs to be dedicated to preparing the learners.
Munyambabazi, who is also the director of Kisoro Vision Secondary School, one of the academically unequalled Secondary Schools in Kigezi Region admits that holidays play a vital role in the wellbeing of learners because it gives enough time to rest.
What are the School Inspectors doing?
Kisoro Resident District Commissioner Hajji Badru Ssebyala said the trend of teaching in the holiday has been taking place in Kisoro however the vice is unacceptable.
Kisoro District Education Officer Emmanuel Mwunvaneza says his department is aware of the trend of holiday classes.
He explained that all School inspectors have been given a directive to close any school found conducting holiday classes.
Mwunvaneza however explained that seeking a quality education is the duty of the parents and teachers who are committed to a holistic approach of raising responsible men and women.
He made the remarks during a radio talk show on www.vomuhabura.com where he said Government schools continue to struggle because dwindling numbers of learners who drop out to do petty trade.
“Private schools have 100% attendance of learners while Government Schools in Kisoro are lucky to get 40% attendance of learners”, Mwunvaneza explained.
Mugisha Andrew, a Human Rights Activist said Government Inspector of Schools need to do more to report incidences of School dropouts, cases of defilement and molestation as well as alcoholism among teachers.
He commended Government for investing in infrastructure including modern classrooms and well stocked libraries, however the lack of learners undermined the effectiveness of such learning institutions.
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