Students decry cost of new curriculum

The students, some of whom are currently attending a six-day agricultural education exhibition at the Jinja showground, say the curriculum adds an extra fee to the dues paid by their parents.

The show, which commenced on Monday, ends on Saturday under the theme ‘Empowering young Agripreneurship’.

The students have now called upon the government, through the line ministry, to fully fund learning materials under the new curriculum, adding that the high cost of implementing the curriculum has forced them to offer subjects that are “less expensive”.

Jenipher Namwase, a Senior Three student at Iganga Secondary School, said she decided to do horticulture because other subjects were “too expensive”.

“I wanted to pursue bakery, but because of the high costs involved, I switched to horticulture because it is not very expensive. We incur a lot of expenses on top of the assessment fee of Shs80,000,”  she added.

For most of the materials she uses, Namwase says she picks waste, including used bottles, and sacks, in which she plants some of the seedlings, which isn’t the case with bakeries.

Namwase urged the government to provide them with materials so that all students can offer projects of their choice, rather than choosing the cheapest alternative.

Jasmine Wabibye, a Senior Three student at the same school, says she is doing interior designs which involves buying colours, buckets of paint, gloves, overalls, and threads, among others.

“We are spending a lot on these subjects yet we also have to pay fees,’’ she said.

Shafrah Kyazike, a student at Wanyange Girls’ School in Jinja City, says the school budget cannot afford the materials.

“Government is telling us to use the available resources such as fibers (for a student like me who is doing interior designs). But you need threads yet the school budget is also small to cater for the materials of every student,’’ she said.

Anthony Mafabi, a Senior Three student of MM College Wairaka in Jinja City, says he is doing Agriculture but is facing a shortage of materials. “I need some machines to do our work but they are expensive (cost Shs300,000). I instead bought a motor,’’ he said.

Elizabeth Namwano, a Senior Three student pursuing Bakery, says equipment like ovens are very costly because they use electricity, yet there are very many students offering bakery and cannot be shared in real-time.

That challenge, she adds, is further compounded by a shortage of space and other materials such as wheat flour, and cooking oil, among others, which she says are all expensive.

Because of the cost of materials, some schools have decided to select projects that are manageable, including tailoring, bakery, vegetable growing, and making pavers and concrete, according to Ms Mariam Nakabugo, the head teacher of Kakira High School in Jinja City.

“We decided to zero down on a few projects because the raw materials are expensive,’’ Ms Nakabugo said.

She added that they only have one oven for the bakery, 10 sewing machines, and three machines for making pavers.

Ms Catherine Namukose, a parent at Jinja Progressive Academy, says her daughter in Senior Three was allegedly forced to pursue Animal Husbandry yet she wanted hairdressing or catering.

Background

     The NCC was rolled out in 2020 to produce a secondary school graduate with employable skills that are competitive in the job market.

The new curriculum focuses on generic skills, including critical thinking, creativity, innovation, digital, literacy, numeracy, communication, problem-solving, collaboration and self-directed learning.