Evelyn Aber, 38, dropped out of school in primary two after her single mother succumbed to skin cancer and could not afford the cost of education. This humble mother of two hailing from Adjumani district could neither write her name nor read; she used to sign her official documents with a thumbprint.
It was not until Aber pursued an adult elementary reading and writing class sponsored by the Literacy and Adult Basic Education LABE for one year that her fortunes improved. Every day, Aber attended classes at Pajoloro Home Learning centre where she learnt how to read and write. She has since passed on her skills to her husband and her two children, Jimmy, 10 and Brian, 7.
Aber is one of the 22 adult students who come to Pajoloro to acquire elementary knowledge in English. Many never got a chance to go to school because the girls were married off at an early age and the boys were sent to the fields to tend animals. Others missed school due to the LRA insurgency that bedevilled northern Uganda for two decades. When Uganda introduced education for all in , thousands of children and adults enrolled in school for the first time.
But 14 years later, many adults still cannot read and write, neither can they establish meaningful employment for themselves. Rather than embarking on free education, Castle advised prioritizing out-of-school and adult education as part of the total education therein, the need to expand the education policy and include lifelong learning and practical and vocational courses in the syllabi of adult education.
Yet according to Prof Senteza Kajubi, former vice chancellor at Nkumba University, agriculture should be the bedrock of the school curriculum if Uganda is to harness a viable learning framework for increased employment, productivity and social transformation. This is because Uganda is an essentially agricultural country. But this will only be realized if people change their attitudes. He advised policy makers to include civic studies, vocational skills and financial management practice among other courses on the school curriculum.
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