Govt asked to ban boarding education for young children

By Damali Mukhaye

Stakeholders in the Education sector among them teachers, school managers and experts have proposed the abolition of boarding education for young children.

These raft of proposals have been submitted to the Education Policy Review Commission (EPRC) that is currently seeking to formulate the new Education White Paper, 2022 to replace the one that was formulated in 1992.

The stakeholders also want pre-entry exams for primary one and pre-registration exams for candidate classes to be banned.

They are also demanding that education officials should not own schools to avoid potential conflict of interest and that no student should be discontinued over poor academic performance except on disciplinary grounds.

In a renewal of the recommendations of the 1992 prof Senteza Kajubi white paper on Education, the stakeholders also want the regulation of school fees charged by private schools.

The Executive Director UWEZO Dr Gorreti Nakabugo, proposes that children are only taken to the boarding section in mid primary when they can ably take care of themselves.

The spokesperson of the Commission and the Ministry of Education, Dr Denis Mugimba adds that parents are persistently taking their children in nursery schools to the boarding section yet they (Children) cannot protect or take care of themselves.

Written by Noelyn Nassuuna