In Entebbe Municipality the Education Officer, Sarah Monica Nabirye, says that "most of the teachers now know what to do". The municipality has 107 primary and 14 secondary schools.
Eighty percent of the 800 teachers in
Entebbe municipality have undergone training on the implementation of the abridged curriculum. The abridged curriculum
seeks to expedite the learning process by allowing learners in primary, S.2, S.3, S.4, and S.6 to skip topics or content that they covered in previous
classes.
The National Curriculum Development
Centre-NCDC has reorganized content by leaving out less-critical topics or
sub-topic so that learners can catch up for the lost time during the prolonged lockdown.
Last week, teachers in some parts of the country
including Gulu, Kampala, Luwero, and Mbarara, said that they were struggling to decide the content to prepare for
learners in different classes because they were yet to access or receive training
in the implementation of the
abridged curriculum.
In Entebbe Municipality the Education Officer, Sarah Monica Nabirye, says that "most of the teachers now know what to do". The municipality
has 107 primary and 14 secondary schools. According to Nabirye, her office has printed training manuals for the
abridged curriculum and distributed copies to each school.
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Teachers are expected to prepare schemes of work
before every beginning of the term, detailing the content from the syllabus
that will be taught. Some teachers say they have included the abridged
curriculum while scheming.
Benon Osinya, the Director of Studies at
Entebbe Changsha Model Primary School, says that the school has trained 12 primary teachers to
implement the abridged curriculum.
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Ronnah Nakamya, the Headteacher Entebbe Changsha
Model Primary School is confident that the teachers will be flexible in
implementing the abridged curriculum.
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Nakamya says management met teachers on
December 6 to discuss how to handle learners during the pandemic and implement the abridged curriculum amidst challenges of
late reporting by some learners.
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Ruth Muyinda Mande, the Headteacher of Entebbe
Secondary School, says secondary school teachers in Entebbe may not be as ready
as their counterparts in primary schools. Mande, who is also the
Chairperson of Wakiso Secondary Schools Headteachers’ Association-WAKISHA,
says that her school will organize
a training workshop for teachers during the term.
"Our first priority is to train teachers and
non-teaching staff on safe re-opening of schools to curb the spread of COVID-19 and then when parents pay school fees, we
shall organize training for implementation of the abridged curriculum,"
she noted.
Some of the
124 schools in the areas of Katabi Town council are also preparing to teach the
abridged curriculum. Musa
Muteganda, the Director of Studies at Green Stars High School Entebbe, says that teachers will cover the abridged curriculum in
the first two weeks of the term. The school has 27 teachers and expects
to receive 730 learners from senior one to senior six.
Brother Deo Aliganyira, the Headteacher at St
Mary’s College Kisubi (SMACK), says that 86 teachers have been trained and are
ready to teach the abridged curriculum. “So, our teachers might even
cover the abridged curriculum in less than two weeks," he said.
The school is expecting over 1,500 learners. Aliganyira says the Catholic founded and
government-aided school will first hold prayers and counseling for
learners to put them in a “good mood” to learn since they have been away
for long.
“We don't base on only the academic curriculum but provide
holistic education by also emphasizing religion, values, mission, and
objective of the school,” he said. Adding that "so
before embarking on thorough teaching of the curricula, we want the students to
forget the bad things that could have happened during the lockdown and those
who cannot, we hope that they will somehow cope.”
