Joseph Kariuki
29 April 2008
Kampala — THEY braved heavy rain that pounded Kampala, with one message: "Quality Education to end Exclusion." They said it with their T-shirts, caps, banners and posters.
The Forum for Education NGOs in Uganda (FENU) held week-long activities to commemorate the Global Action Week, an annual activity by NGOs and teachers' unions in over 150 countries worldwide.
The Uganda National Teachers Union secretary general and FENU chief, Teopista Birungi, said they were concerned about the falling education standards in the country and called upon policy makers to act quickly.
"We are concerned about the contradictory education policies that are disguised as macro-economic adjustments," Birungi said after completion of a 10km walk from the Mulago roundabout to their offices in Kamwokya to advocate the right of children to quality education.
Birungi cited the rampant fires in schools as examples of the gaps in policy implementation. She noted that last year's floods in eastern Uganda left many schools in disrepair and said these were forms of exclusion.
"We know that children in Bundibugyo district cannot access schools during the rainy season but the Government has done nothing to alleviate the problem," Birungi said.
Unicef education chief Sheila Wamahiu said quality education was not about how well a child was performing in school but a number of factors that enrich the wellbeing of a child in school.
She cited the issues of administration of discipline, corporal punishment, sexual harassment, child abuse and child labour as some of the things that lead to exclusion of groups of students from accessing quality education.
"We must pay attention to issue of safety in our schools. Unicef is ready to work with the Government and other partners to assess how safe our schools are," said Wamahiu.
FENU also met MPs to discuss policies that will lead to quality education by 2015.
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