GERALD MATEMBU
Local authorities in Nakapiripirit district have attributed the district’s poor academic performance to under staffing and inadequate facilities in the schools.
The entire district has two secondary schools and seven teachers, with no science laboratory.
They appealed government to deploy more teachers to the district.
In the recently released UCE exam results, Nakapiripirit did not register anyone with a first grade. In fact the average aggregate score was 60.
District authorities told The Nile Post that their efforts to overturn this status quo have been frustrated by under staffing and inadequate facilities at the schools.
This cannot enable the learners to compete favourably with their counterparts in other parts of the country.
The chief administrative officer of the district, Aloysius Aloka argued that the district has not received any new teachers for a long period.
John Nangiro, the district chairperson attributed the poor performance to poor foundation at lower levels that is characterised by express promotion. He also said that there is a high turnover of teachers.
"Most of the teachers who are not natives seek to be transferred as soon as their probation elapses, leaving unfilled gaps," Nangiro said.
The district performance was however fair at primary level compared to secondary where pupils averaged 24 aggregate.
This is attributed to government's interventions such as construction of more schools and provision of meals in in partnership with development partners.
