Education the wild journey

Towards the end of last year, I watched on Television where

the Rotarians from District 9214 where celebrating their 99th District

conference in Munyonyo Conference centre. This had people from Uganda,

Tanzania, USA and I believe other parts of the world too. On the opening day, it

was about education and literacy - themed ‘know my school uniform’,

participants had to put on school uniforms portraying which schools they attended

and where they came from.  It was a very

colorful event and I was blown away by the smartness of the participants. It

was really well organized and they also mimicked a real classroom ambience

where some pupils or students bully those who fail to answer teacher’s

questions in class. The theme really blew me away

However, with all the smartness and pomp, what caught my

attention was one gentleman who was interviewed from the way he dressed. He was

putting on a short which was in patches, carried a sling bag with plastic cup

and when he showed what was in the sling bag, there were two books cut into

halves. He was also walking barefoot and this portrayed the real life our rural

children go through.

This therefore brought me to the reality of the children I

meet in the villages and their classrooms. In Uganda today, some children are

still learning under trees or dilapidated grass thatched houses moreover, made

of mud and wattle.

This is also accompanied by children walking long distances

in the bushes putting their lives at risk. Our rural school children up to

today lack even the basic necessities to enable them attend school well. Some

pupils still sit on the bare ground and some teachers still use sticks to write

in the soil for the children to see. If at all there is a chalk board in class,

you find it’s either put leaning on a tree or leaning on a wall three quarter

of it broken. Other times there would be no chalk even to use on the chalk

board. Some of these are government aided schools.

The harshness of a rural child is not only seen in the way

they dress in their uniforms but also their physical appearances. Most rural

children have poverty staring them in their faces. Some come to school without

tasting anything at home. They wake up early to trek miles on empty stomachs to

reach their schools with the hope education will one day lend them in a better

place. Their parents work hard to ensure they secure their basic needs

including money for school fees. I have seen parents equally toiling to make

ends meet and yet nothing major happens.

Recently, I was in my village doing my normal work and in

one school, I was met with the same scenario. School children with torn and

parched uniforms and walking barefoot, looking emaciated and malnourished.

Out of the many hundreds, only a few will make it to the

universities or tertiary institutions. Even the few who make it, might not be

lucky enough to get gainful employment. Work spaces are shrinking too and those

who already have the jobs even in their advanced ages are not willing to leave

their positions for the young ones.

Parents are battling heavy school dues and every term or semester,

school fees keeps increasing and many children keep dropping out of schools.

The worst affected are the girl children who are also very unlucky enough to

become child mothers. Imagine after trekking to school for a period of five to

seven or even ten years, and leaving school without any papers to show.

What is the future of education in the world today?