http://allafrica.com/stories/200211250279.html
New Vision (Kampala)
November 25, 2002
Dr. Stephen Anderson
Kampala

Upe Depends On Teaching Skills

Learning never ends. Those Universal Primary Education (UPE) teachers who thought they had reached that stage where nobody will ever instruct them in class again must now be cursing their days.

According to Dr. Stephen Anderson, UPE's destiny depends on the teachers' ability to acquire new skills.

The academic who is an education consultant with the Aga Khan Foundation (AKF) says the teachers need to continue learning and improving.

"Teachers need to work together with a shared vision. They need to share ideas," he said.

The Canadian who is in the country on a consultation visit with the Aga Khan has worked extensively in East Africa. He evaluates the Enhancement of UPE in Kampala (EUPEK), a project managed by the Aga Khan Education Service.

"The teachers need help because the teacher to pupil ratio is currently too high. EUPEK is exploring ways for teachers to cope," he noted.

Waste materials such as bottle-tops and local materials like banana fibres can be used to make teaching and learning aids thus improving the children's learning.

Anderson noted that competition among schools will not help improve the education system.

"It's useless to know that this school is the best in the country. What is important is to know what is happening inside that school and see ways of improving the others," he explained.

Anderson said that the school management committee must be aware of the daily happenings at school.Ends