ChangeWaves

onathan, my eldest nephew made us proud. He scored 20 points in the Uganda Advanced Certificate of Education examinations. Meaning he will be joining University sometime later this year.

He called his examination master late in the night on a new phone that I bought for him – I don’t know for what – earlier in the week. Being African has made me think that a gift comes after some hard work. So the phone should have come as a congratulatory gift. But as you can see am changing.

Anyway, Jonathan was informed that he had passed at 11:00pm. The aunt he lives with was sound asleep. He rushed to the aunties bedroom with shaking hands and wobbling legs announcing; “auntie, I have passed. Auntie I have made it to University. Auntie I have passed!”

The hugs and pecks too over after that. He did not sleep that night.
He called his mother who is about 400 kilometers from him and she could only manage to ask if those points could get him to University.

“My mother doesn’t understand how the points are counted. She doesn’t know what it means even if she has been to university,” he sadly told his auntie.

His mother is a university graduate who built her way through the education system from a grade three teacher, through grade five and finally to the university. She doesn’t know how to use a computer yet!
Her son is going to university albeit through a ‘straight path.’ The end justifies the means, I think. But the education system in Uganda needs to be rethought if it is be helpful to the Jonathans of this world – young, ambitious, bright, innovative young men who are yet to know the advantages of You Tube, Face book, Hi5, Blogs etc because the internet is too expensive for schools to afford!

Out of over the 50.000 students who are legible to enter the universities, the government can only sponsor 4000 of them. So the majority of whom are poor will stay out of school! How sad! When shall this vicious circle of poverty break? I can only help to send one Jonathan to the university but that means I also can’t afford the basic necessities because we have no minimum wage so you understand the implications.

Career guidance has not been good thus far. Meaning if Jonathan’s choice of courses was not right due to the poor career guidance, he may end up missing a place in the university! In Uganda, career guidance is done a few months to final exams. So if a student has made a mistake either by taking the wrong subject combination, then they can’t reverse it somehow unless they resit the examinations. Too many issues. What can we do?