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Studying abroad: Are children getting quality education?
2006-09-14 09:19:03
By Michael Haonga
Education is an emotive subject where quality is concerned. Today more than ever, parents across East Africa and even beyond are grappling with the question of where to get quality education for their off springs.
Depending on how deep your pockets are, from Blantyre in Malawi, through Bujumbura in Burundi all the way to Songea in Tanzania and even more increasingly, Nairobi, Kenya, more and more kwacha, dollar or shilling, is finding its way to Uganda.
And it is not money being sent directly to the Yoweri Museveni championed UPE (Universal Primary Education).
No one is doing that. What parents anxious to give their children the best education are going for include-the opportunity to learn English in the early stages of secondary education (Tanzanians, Rwandans, Burundians) or the chance to learn in environments where frequent school and yes-teachers’ strikes are not disruptive as long as they are in Kenya.
Even the much acclaimed Secondary Schools that were perceived to be jewels in the crown of Education in the region, such as Alliance, Mangu and Lenana have fallen by the way side in terms of School discipline thereby turning away parents from them.
Then there is that lot of parents who do not want to miss out on the my children are studying abroad bandwagon.
And you know them, they include the four women speaking near you at the saloon announcing to anyone who cares to listen that ’my daughter or son is not in Makongo, but in Kampala in a very expensive school.”
That breed of parents is found in each of the countries which are now exporting students from Primary one to University in Uganda.
It helps them escape the drudgery of parenting as all they need to do is earn enough dollars to pay school fees and pocket money and that way keep the brats at bay.
Whether the children gain or not, one may be hard put to say. Every end of school term, bars frequented by these youngsters who are awash with kwacha, dollar and shilling record huge sales.
The party goes on till dawn and many of Kampala’s guest houses are completely full. My friend’s daughter tells us that the trend is the children book buses slotted five days after school closes under the pretext that all buses are fully booked.
That’s an excuse for the party to begin. Sometimes all they remain with is the ticket as they have chewed all the money at the Utake nights that occupy full streets on such occasions.
It is a scene to behold that any parent seeing would send them straight to admission in hospital.
The truth is millions of shillings are going into this venture simply because governments to whom parents pay taxes have failed to manage education be it UPE, Secondary, Tertiary or University.
It is not like Uganda does it better. What has happened is that in the last ten years they have liberalised their education sector so much that it is almost like it has become immune to inspection.
Every one owns an academy or private school, one University derisively called Kenyans in Uganda (Kampala International University) is owned by a businessman whose educational credentials are as good as any Machinga’s.
How then does East Africa find lasting solutions? If we give credit where it is due, Ugandan teachers made a sterling contribution to learning, even during Amin’s troubled times.
They were dedicated to their jobs and made teaching a calling unlike many of today’ teachers but the many private schools and colleges seem to target the income rather than the quality provided the money is in the bank .
The children are getting away with blue murder with parents who do not care less. Who shall come to the rescue of the parent in East Africa?
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