IMPORTANCE OF EARLY CHILDHOOD EDUCATION TO THE DISADVANTAGED CHILDREN, KIRA TOWN COUNCIL, WAKISO DISTRICT

BY KIRUNGI RESTY MACLYNIE ATWOOKI BED/17108/71/DU

A RESEARCH REPORT SUBMITTED TO THE INSTITUTE OF OPEN DISTANCE LEARNING IN PARTIAL FULFILMENTOF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE AW ARD OF BACHELOR OF EDUCATION (EARLY CHILDHOOD/ PRIMARY EDUCATION) OF KAMPALA INTERNATIONAL UNIVERSITY

NOVEMBER 2009 DECLARATION

I, KIRUNGI RESTY MACLYNIE ATWOOKI hereby declare that this is my original work and it has never been presented to any Institute of higher learning for any award.

Name: Kirungi Resty Maclynie Atwooki

Date: .....r .~~ :. 9.1/.~~-~~-..?.'?!-?1 .....

11 APPROVAL

I certify that, this research report meets the minimum requirements.

Date: ...... ~i'3-J . L~,

iii DEDICATION

This work is dedicated to my daughter (Ms. Priscilla Namara), my grand daughter (Ayebale Sarah Blessing), my sisters Nyamata Rachel and Jennifer Kaliba, my nephew baby Joshua and my close friends Apio Gladys and Bakumba Joseph Hannington.

iv ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

I feel deeply indebted to many people for the help, advice and acknowledgement in as far as my education is concerned. Special recognition goes to Mrs. Florence Mugasha and Mr. Walusaga Laston, my beloved Directors for always paying my salary in time to enable me pay my tuition and allow me to attend this course.

Kindly, I thank the management and staff of Hill Side Primary School, Naalya especially, Mr. Okia Henry Stanley for professional and moral support accorded to me during the study.

I appreciate Kampala International University staff for having provided most infonnation and advice, and special thanks is forwarded to my supervisor Mr. Ssemugenyi Fred for his regular guidance and support in the production of this work.

Not forgetting my church community, especially Pstr. Joshua, Sr. Benita, Br. Edward Apuuli among others who uplifted me spiritually during this struggle.

Last but not least, I would like to thank my coursemates who were always there when I needed them.

Finally, I am grateful to Mr. Ssentongo Stanley and Mr. Bairehaka Peter who encouraged me to attend this course.

V TABLE OF CONTENTS

Title Page Title Page ...... i Declaration...... ii Approval...... iii Dedication ...... iv Acknowledgement...... v Table of contents ...... vi List of Tables ...... ix List of Figures ...... x List of Acronyms ...... xi Abstract...... xii

CHAPTER ONE...... 1 1.0 Introduction /Background to the Study ...... I 1.1 Overview...... I 1.2 Statement of the Problem ...... 2 1.3 Purpose of the Study...... 3 1.4 General Objectives of the Study ...... 3 1.5 Specific Objectives of the Study ...... 3 1.6 The Scope of the Study ...... 4 1. 7 Research Questions ...... 4 1.8 Significance of the Study...... 4

CH.APTER TWO...... 6 LITERATURE REVIEW...... 6 2. 0 Introduction ...... 6 2.1 Enrolment of disadvantaged children in various schools ...... 6 2.2 Benefits ofECE programme to the disadvantaged children in Wakiso District..]] 2.3 Challenges Disadvantaged Children in the ECE Programmes ...... 17

vi 2.4 Interventions to overcome the challenges which disadvantaged in BCE programme still face ...... 22

CHAPTER THREE...... 24 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY...... 24 3.0 Introduction ...... 24 3.1 Research design ...... 24 3.2 Area ofStudy...... 24 3.3 Target Population...... 25 3.4 Sampling Procedure ...... 25 3.5 Sample Size...... 26 3.6 Data Collection methods ...... 26 3.6.1 Questionnaire...... 26 3.6.2 Interviews ...... 27 3.7 Research Procedure...... 28 3.8 Data Processing and Analysis ...... 29 3.9 Limitations of the Study...... 29

CHAPTER FOUR ...... 30 PRESENTATION, ANALYSIS AND INTERPRETATION OF FINDINGS ... 30 4.0 Introduction ...... 30 4.1 The enrolment of disadvantaged children in the BCE Schools ...... 32 4.2 The benefits ofECE to the disadvantaged children in Wakiso District...... 34 4.3 The challenges disadvantaged children face in the BCE programme...... 38 4.4 Possible interventions to overcome the challenges which disadvantaged children face ...... 42

CHAPTER FIVE...... 49 DISCUSSION, CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS ...... 49 5.0 Introduction ...... 49 5 .1 Trends in enrolment of disadvantaged children in the various schools ...... 49

Vil 5.2 Benefits ofECE to the disadvantaged children ...... 50 5.3 Challenges disadvantaged children face in the ECE programme ...... 50 5.4 Intervention to overcome the challenges facing ECE programme ...... 51 5.5 Conclusion ...... 52 5.6 Recommendations ...... 53 5. 7 Areas for further research...... 55

REFERENCES ...... 56 APPENDICES ...... 60 APPENDIX 1: QUESTIONNAIRE FOR THE DISADVANTAGED CHILDREN ...... 60 QUESTIONNAIRE FOR TEACHERS ...... 66 APPENDIX II: INTERVIEW SCHEDULE WITH THE CLASS TEACHERS ...... 77

Vlll LIST OF TABLES

Table 4.1 Enrolment of the disadvantaged children in ECE schools ...... 32 Table 4.2 Number of Disadvantaged children in the schools ...... 33 Table 4.3 Teachers who are aware about the existence of the disadvantaged children schools ...... 33 Table 4.4 Categories of disadvantaged children in the schools ...... 34 Table 4.5 Ranking of the benefits ofECE program by teachers ...... 35 Table 4.7 Ranking of the benefits of the ECE program by the disadvantaged children ...... 3 7 Table 4.8 Response of teachers to whether there are programs put in place to assist the disadvantaged children ...... 37 Table 4.9 Distance traveled from home to schools ...... 38 Table 4.10 Ranking of challenges by the head teachers ...... 40 Table 4.11 Ranking of challenge identified by the class teachers ...... 41 Table 4.12 Challenges identified by the disadvantaged children ...... 42 Table 4.13 Ranking of the interventions by the head teachers ...... 46

IX LIST OF FIGURES

Figure 4.1 Trend of enrolments of disadvantaged children by Gender from 2000 -2007 ...... 31 Figure 4.2 Level of Education ofteachers ...... 32 Plate 4.1 Disadvantaged children on the way from school to home...... 42 Plate 4.2 Overcrowding of the children during practical activities ...... 43 Plate 4.3 Acute shortage of furniture in the school...... 43 Plate 4.4 Shortage of furniture in the school...... 44 Plate 4.5 poorly built classroom without rams for cycles in to the classroom ...... 44 Plate 4.6 Inadequate play facilities and lack of uniform among the low income children ...... 45

X ABSTRACT The study is centered on the importance of the provision of early childhood education to the disadvantaged children in Kira Town Council, Wakiso District. It thought to determine the trends in enrolment of disadvantaged children in various early childhood education centers. To find out the benefits of early childhood education program to the disadvantaged children. To find out the challenges faced by disadvantaged children in ECE centers and finally to suggest possible interventions to overcome the challenges. In order to address the objectives set, a combination of qualitative and quantitative techniques were used to gather data and information. Given that the findings of the study need to be disseminated to educational stakeholders and especially policy makers. The findings have been presented in relatively easy to comprehend statistically techniques, frequency distribution graphic representations summaries and examples depicting emerging themes and categorization and pictorial representation of the research findings. The findings indicated that disadvantaged children including special needs children, disabled, orphans and the poor are a reality in Kira Town Council, Wakiso district and are increasing enrolling in its ECP.

Inadequate funding especially the capitation grant for the disadvantaged children. Lunch for disadvantaged children's is not provided. Higher teacher-pupils ratio is embalmed untrained teachers in the management of disadvantaged children in ECE center inadequate supervision and monitoring of ECE centers. Negative social and cultural norms were cited low community participation in implementation of ECE programme. The area of study included three ECE centers in Kira town council Wakiso district, three head teachers, three ECE teachers in each school, ten disadvantaged children, primary data was collected by questionnaire while as secondary data was got from reports, journals, internet, text books among others.

Xll CHAPTER ONE INTRODUCTION AND BACKGROUND 1.1 Overview This chapter focuses on the background of the study, problems statement, purpose of the study, objectives of the study, scope of the study, significance and research questions as indicated below.

Early childhood education is a human right as established by the UN Declaration of the rights of children in which "every one has a right to free and compulsory education at least in the elementary and fundamental stages" (UNDP 1991). In the 1990 world conference on education for all in Jomtein. Thailand, the issues were enumerated and later reaffirmed statements and contained in constitutions of a large number of development and developing countries (UNDP 1991 ).

Echoing the world conference on education for all the constitutions of Uganda in chapter four sections 30 says "all persons have a right to education". The constitution further talks the marginalized group in section 32: 1 that:

The state shell take affinnative action in favour of groups marginalized on the basis of gender, age, disability or any other person created by history, tradition or custom for the purpose of redressing imbalances which exist against them (republic of Uganda 1995: 29)

In the government of Uganda (1992) the education policy review commission recognizes the following as marginalized or disadvantaged social groups: young soldiers, refugees, islands dwellers and people located in inaccessible areas and lack either adequate education facilities or the necessary motivation to receive education.

1 In addition to the above marginalized groups recognized by the commission, the government also would like the following groups of people to be covered. Slum dwellers or other disadvantaged urban children, the delinquent, the homeless and orphans of the victims of AIDS.

The constitution of Uganda addressed the issue of these groups like the rights of woman ( section 33 and the rights of persons with disabilities (section 35 and rights of the minorities ( section 36) and the right of the children who in section 34: 2 are entitled to basic education offered by the state and the parents.

Statement of the problem Early childhood education has been on the global Agenda since the 1948 declaration of human rights proclaimed free and compulsory education to be a human right. In 1990 a world conference on education for all was held in Jomtein, Thailand where 155 counties in attendance pledged to provide free access to education for all children by 2015( Bloom. D .E and Cohen J.E 2002: 84)

At the world conference on all education for in Dakar, Senegal in April 2000 Uganda was among the countries that committed to providing quality Education for all by 2015 (Bloom DE and Cohen JE 2002: 86)

The announcement of the establishment of ECP by Ministry of Education and Sports Geraldine Namirembe Bitamazire in November 2005 was a basic upon which it started in February 2007 in some schools like Nalya which pushed them to pl in 2008 (Education for all EFA) news, Uganda.

2 In addition, artifice 30 and 34 (2.3) of the 1995 constitution of Uganda states everyone has a right to education and all in all children are entitled to basic education. The government of Uganda in its efforts to support marginalized group through its affirmative action for disadvantaged group like children with disability act 2006 Uganda women's effort to save orphans (UWESO) are also government funded. In spite of the government good intentions, the governments' effort to introduce ECP, there are public allegation that the disadvantaged children are not benefiting much from ECP. It is to theses allegations that the researcher obliged to undertake the study.

Purpose of the study The purpose of the study is to assess the importance of ECP to disadvantaged children. The research found out the advantages and short coming of the ECP programmes in meeting the need of the disadvantaged children.

General objectives of the study General objective of the study 1s assessmg the importance of the ECE to disadvantaged children in Wakiso District Kira town council.

Specific objectives The specific objectives of the study were; • To find out the enrolment of disadvantaged children in ECE centres /schools of Wakiso district, Kira Town Council. • To find out the benefits ofECE to the disadvantaged children face in the ECE program • To find out the challenges disadvantaged children face in ECE programme m To suggest possible intervention to overcome the challenges which disadvantaged children in ECE still face.

3 The scope of the study The study was carried out in Wakiso district town council in Buganda sub region of the central region of Uganda.

It was carried out in all schools: the information was obtained from the head teachers, class teachers from each school and disadvantaged children from one school.

Research Questions The research was intended to answer the following questions. 1. What is the trend in enrolment of disadvantaged children in the ECE centres?

11. What are the benefits ofECE programme to the disadvantaged children? m. What challenges do the disadvantaged children face in the ECE centres?

1v. What are the possible interventions to overcome the challenges which disadvantaged children in ECE programme face

Significance of the study The research hopes that the study will be important to several people in the following ways. 1. The research will bring to light the problems of disadvantaged children to the knowledge of policy makers and donor community so that appropriate actions can be taken.

2. The researcher will draw the attention of head teachers and class teachers of providing equal access to education to disadvantaged children.

4 3. The researcher will point the benefits to the early childhood education to the disadvantaged children

4. Disadvantaged children will be reminded by the researcher to their right to education of good qualities.

5. The research will act as a data bank for NGOs, CBOS, Government and other researchers.

6. The researcher will create more awareness about the learning of students in Wakiso District.

7. The weakness of the ECE programme in addressing needs of disadvantaged children will be pointed out. The research will recommend appropriate intervention to help solve the challenges faced by disadvantaged children in the ECE programme.

5 CHAPTER TWO LITERATURE REVIEW 2.0 Introduction The review of related literature was intended to shed light on what previous researchers have done on education provision in poor countries like Uganda. To do this study will undertake an examination and analysis of literature about the study objectives related to the study topic. The study objectives form the theme of the literature review. This chapter has attempted to review some related literature under the following headings; enrolment of disadvantaged children in ECE in various centres, benefit of ECE programme to the disadvantaged children, challenges disadvantaged children face in the ECP programme and intervention to overcome the challenges which disadvantaged children in ECP programme still face.

2.1 Enrolment of disadvantaged children in various schools Through out the Third World War, fonnal education expanded with amazing rapidity in the fifties and sixties. The number of pupils at Nursery, primary and secondary level rose from 35 million in 1960 to 247 in 1970, representing a gigantic effo1i in mobilizing funds, institutions and teachers. But in the mid seventies it became a parent that the big boom was over and the education was failing in its potential role as a prime agent of national development. As budgets grew more constrained by the debt problems, the growth in enrollment leveled out, ~o that in 1975 still only 35 percent of infant - age children were attending school. The number of children out of school was expected to rise from 300 million in 1975 to 400 million in 1985. The number of illiterates in the world was also rising, and in 1980 stood at 800 million (two thirds of them were women) or 29 percent or all adults (Harrison, 1980).

6 Many other scholars have done research on the same topic of access to schooling. According to Bellamy (2000) aggregated national statistics often hide the fact that access to schooling is blocked to many children especially girls, ethic minorities, children with disabilities and those affected by HIV/ AIDS therefore making Early childhood education a dream for many children in Kiira town council in Wakiso District is in a worse situation because apart from being hit by tribal war, of 1980- 1986 has also a high orphanage rate as a result of Aids which makes the proposed study a must to do.

The UNESCO, in preamble of the World Declaration on Education for All confirms that despite notable efforts by countries around the world to ensure the right to education for All (EF A), the following realities persist.

More than 100 million children, including at least 60 million girls have no access to primary schooling ... more that 100 millions girls more satisfy attendance requirements but do not a quire essential knowledge and skills. (UNESCO, 1990: 1-2)

The participants of the world education forum that ended in Dakar Senegal realized this same point. The participants noted that the fact that 113 million children- mostly girls have no access to primary education needs is worrying. That is why the Dakar framework addressed the challenges of providing education in the new millennium with emphasis to girl education, quality learning and reaching the disadvantaged groups excluded from education (Mugeere, 2000). The world bank (1995) basic on education suggest that girls, the rural poor, children from linguistic and ethnic minorities, nomads, refugees, street and ,':cI!dng children and children with learning and physical impairment go to school less then others. The facts appear to reveal that the education in many of the dc,:c!cping countries is a system of inclusion for the advantaged and exclusion for

7 the disadvantaged. In Uganda's neighborhood, Wanja (2001) reported that according to the statistics currently in place, 31.8 percent of children in Kenya are not in school while 47 percent do not complete early childhood education due mainly to the fact since cost- sharing was introduced in school, many of the 60 percent Kenyans who live below the poverty line cannot afford to pay the said fees. Out of the 130 million children not in school world wide, 60 percent are girls. It is estimated that more than 300,000 children or 26% of Kenya's children are on streets today while there are more than 3.5 million children under the age of fourteen engaged in child- labour and the numbers of these are increasing ECP in Kenya 2008.

The situation in the rest of the world is not different from Uganda regarding access and retention in education. Unlike most sub-Saharan countries, Uganda did not experience the post-independence educational expansion. The early school enrolment ratio in 1980 was 50 percent, effectively the same as in 1960. by contrast, the other sub-Sahara Africa countries for which there is data almost doubled their primary school enrolment from 40 percent to 77 percent. During the first half of the 1890s, Uganda appears to have caught up with the rest of the sub­ continent (which was a period of stagnant enrolment rates), attaining a gross primary enrolment rate of 73 percent in 1986. Thereafter, official enrolment rates did not increase-remaining at 73 percent in 1995. From the east Africa women's conference report (1993) under the theme "Gender transformation and empowerment" the following was noted about women and education in Uganda: Education is neither universal nor compulsory. The cost of education is extremely high and the majority of the parents cannot afford to send their children to school. Oftentimes parents have to make the difficult choice of which child should be sent to school. The enrolment of girls in schools is relatively low in the rural areas. School-girl dropout rates are very high ...

8 this high school dropout rate among girls has been attributed to the harsh economic situation and the entrenched cultural and practices which burden the girl-child with domestic chores and under rates her contribution to community development when compared to the boy child. East African women's conference repot, 1993 July: 35). In many areas, official statistics disguise fundamental flaws and exaggerate the progress made. Largely focused on enrolment and literacy, the data reveal little about the "quality of education, (Even the reveal little about the quality education" is problematic, likely to be culturally dependent, and in need of further analysis and operational definition). Enrolment data also camouflage absenteeism and grade repetition. In inefficient educational system, many students repeat years of schooling. In Brazil, for example, 26 percent of primary and 20 percent of lower secondary school students repeated their grades in 1997. On average, Brazilian students repeat over two years of classes, which accounts for a significant amount of the total years spent in school. UNESCO world indicators programme investing in education: Analysis of the 1999 world education (indicators Paris 2000).

Even with 4.4 years of education, the developing world lags far behind the industrialized countries, where the corresponding figure is 9.4 years. Over 45 percent of adults in the world's least developed countries, moreover, are illiterate, gender differences are wide. UNESCO, world education report (Paris: UNESCO, 2000).

In low- income developing countries, according to world bank figures for 1999, 19 percent of males and 31 percent of female aged fifteen to twenty- four years were illiterate world bank, world development indicators 2001 (Washington, D.C:(world bank,2001). Demographic trends mean that developing under increasing pressure. While 1998 UN population Division projections foresee few dramatic changes to the global

9 school- age population over the next half- century as a whole, they project large increases in the countries that can least afford it. The growing population of primary school- age children, in conjunction with rising primary school enrolment rates to 100 percent throughout the developing world would result in approximately 15 percent more Nursery by 2015 than in 1995. However, a much larger problem in achieving universal education will be in secondary schools. In 1997, secondary school enrolment in developing countries stood at 281 million, with another 264 million not enrolled. The population of ten - to fourteen- year­ olds- the age range for which data are easily available, and which approximates the secondary schools years- will grow by 65 million from 1995 to 2015.

United Nations, world population prospect, 2000. Thus, full secondary school enrolment will require the enrolment of over 300 million more students in 2015 than in 2015. By far the greatest increases will be needed in sub- Saharan Africa and south Asia, the two regions with the lowest current enrolment rates. In sub­ Saharan Africa, for example, only 26 percent of children are enrolled at the secondary level- an increase of just 4 percentage points since jomtien in 1990. In south Asia, although secondary gross enrolment rates have risen sharply since 1970, at 45 percent they remain well behind the global average. In the least developed countries overall, at most 19 percent of children attend secondary school.

The Dakar frame work for action that emerged from the world education form simultaneously renewed the international community's commitments and implicitly acknowledged its inability to achieve its stated goals. Extending the deadline to 2015. UNESCO, "education for all" 2001:

Enrolment in lower nursery is expected to soar with universal primary education. Implementation of the early childhood education (ECE) programme. And with it

10 the groundwork for double shift teaching method, a system intended to improve access and minimize unit cost. Due to this double shift system is being considered as an option in school where senior one enrolment will exceed 60 students per stream. New vision vol. 22 No. 0315th 2, 2007.

To avoid having ghost students and to ascertain enrolment (in senior one), the ministry has undertaken a head account exercise in the participating schools a month after commencement of the ECE programme in February 2007. Thereafter, every student will be issued with a unique identification number that is to say student identification umber- SIN). Release of the variable grant will depend on the numbers ascertained after the head count.

2.2 Benefits ofECE to the disadvantaged children in Wakiso District In 1990, a world conference on education for All' was held at jomtian, Thailand. The 155 countries represented at this conference jointly pledged to provide primary education for all by the year 2000, and to ensure that children and adults would "benefit from educational opportunities designed to meet their basic learning needs".

The case for providing an "education for All" can be made on four different grounds: humanitarian, sociological, political and economic. The humanitarian case is straight forward: education enables human beings to develop their capacities so that they can lead fulfilling and dignified lives. Promoting equality of opportunity through education can be a powerful response to those who believe that the recent process of globalization has increased in equality and further marginalized the poor. Education of high quality helps people give meaning to their lives by placing them in the context of human and natural history and creating awareness of other cultures.

11 A second justification for basic and early childhood education is sociological. Social and cultural capitals, which are crucial ingredients in the development process and ones that enhance the operation of other development channels, can be greatly strengthened by education. Schools can be helping foster a sense of community. A good education empowers people to take responsibility for their own lives and for improving the lives of those around them. The Jometien Declaration highlights the importance of education to furthering the cause of social justice, human rights and social and religious tolerance- all vital to ensuring international peace and promoting sustainable human development.

Justification foe universal education is political. Education is popular among voters. It can also, as Francis Fukuyama has argued, "create the conditions necessary for democratic society. Fukuyama (1992: 116). It is hard to imagine," he continues, "democracy working properly in a largely illiterate society where the people cannot take advantage of information about the choice open to them". Both domestic and international political stability, too, are affected by education can have serious destabilizing impacts on their regions, often endure because the limited education level of their subjects makes it more difficult for a populace to mobilize against them. At the level of international politics, education has an important contribution to make to global peace and stability, as modern technology makes it possible for the problem caused by poor education any where to affect other societies every where.

The most persuasive argument of universal education is economic. For over two hundred years economists have been struggling to answer one simple but fundamental question: Why did Australia surge a head of Argentina? Why are the Asian tigers as far a head of south Asia? A classic answer has been that some countries have more natural resources and physical capital and better technology than others, and that

12 these advantages allow them to create greater income and wealth. But the truth seems to more complex. Beginning in the late 1950s, economist expanded the notion of capital to include human capital as well education, or investment in people's capacities, raises people's productivity and provides a foundation for rapid technological change. Early years of schooling in developing countries is thought to raise people's earning power by over 10 percent, Sperling (2001: 201).

Education can also operate indirectly by promoting good health and a demographic transition from high fertility and high mortality to low fertility and low mortality. The spread of schooling increases possibilities for the growth of national income, and that additional income helps to finance additional education, which leads to more income, in a virtuous spiral Bloom and canning. (2001: 165-197)

Government, Ministries of Education, teachers, and parents all need to be enlisted in a renewed driver of Universal Education. These Traditional agents of education will benefit from non traditional partnerships with other government ministries, such as ministries of labour of commerce, along with local national and multinational business in short, with all parties that have a stake in a capable populace. An effective structure requires an appreciation of national needs and concern outside of basic and secondary education. It requires an objective account of each country's financial, human and political resources. It requires sensitivity to each country's history and cultures to ensure the working and legitimacy of the institutions that have to be built as part of the reform.

If government and teachers are to be brought on board, the beneficial consequences of achieving early childhood and primary education will have to be spelled out and ideally, supported by credible data. Evidence -based strategy

13 needs to identify the mechanism through which education enhances the quality of life by promoting health human dignity and economic growth.

Basic education is the minimum package which should be made available to every individual to enable them hire as goat and useful citizens of society (Avalos, 1992). According to UNESCO in the World Declaration on Education for All (1990), the basic education demands are:-

"That every person- child youth and adults shall be able to benefit from educational opportunities designed to meet basic learning needs. These needs comprise both essential learning tools (such as literacy, oral, expression, numeric and problem solving) and the basic learning content. ( Such as knowledge skills, values and attitudes required by human beings to be able to survive, to develop their full capacities, to live and work in dignity, to make informed decisions; and continue learning' (UNESCO, 1990, p5)

With free education for all, " those who can afford private schools will be free to enroll there ECP will benefit those children whose parents could not afford school fees and as a result would have ended up dropping out of the education system". A part from parents and students benefiting from ECP, the programme brings with it job opportunities for those whose profession is education. This year lone government will employ ten ECP staff at the headquarters and it is hoped that for the next four years a similar number will be recruited annually Districts as ECP local persons. (Monitor 12th Feb, 2007: page 2)

Appreciate levels of investment in early childhood education are critical to development. Primary level education can and should offer learning that is qualitatively different to that at early childhood level. Effective primary schooling introduces students to formal reasoning problem- solving skills, and

14 occupationally relevant content and applications of knowledge. It develops competence that this offers for economic growth. It is the arena from many of the next generation of leaders will be drawn. Expanding access can contribute to equity, can be organized in ways that are prop-poor and contribute to poverty reduction and can enhance the capabilities on which development depends (UPPET, 2006: 4)

The government should raise the variable grant for children with disabilities as a step towards making ECE accessible and of benefit to children with disabilities as stipulated in section 5 and 6 of the Disabilities Act 2006.

Access to quality education remains a big challenge due to long distances as well as shortage of space and facilities. It is inconceivable for children with disabilities to trek long distances.

(Over 10 km in some areas) to access a day ECE school/ institutes The results of ECE head count reveal that over 200 schools of infants or more in top class and these obviously overstretch the limited facilities (Classroom, Latrines). Infants have to study under trees in exceptional circumstances as most of the ECP Centres are incomplete. It's therefore imperative for the government to spread out infants from the oversubscribed schools and open up ECP to pupils that drop out of school some years ago to fill the enrolment gaps in most schools. Special needs education (SNE) teachers remain very minimal in numbers and that of children with special needs was not documented during the head count.

In another related literature about the rights of the child, the UN general assembly (1976: December, 21st) on observing the plight of children world wide, adopted a resolution declaration 1979 the international year of the child. This was embodied in this principle that:

15 The child shall enjoy protection, with out discrimination whether she/ he physically, mentally or socially handicapped. And yet the children who live in slum areas lack protection against all sorts of odds. It says that he/ she shall be given special treatment, education and care required by his particular conditions (principle 5). Here it means that the disadvantaged children need great care including educational facilities.

According to principle 7 of the rights of the child, the child is entitled to receive education which shall be free and compulsory, at least in the element stages. He shall be given and education which will promote his general culture and enable him on a basis of equal opportunity to develop his abilities, his individual judgment and his sense of moral and social responsibilities and to become useful members of the society. Here, it means that even the disadvantaged children are entitled to education organized by the state or public so as to be useful to themselves and the society they belong to. These children should learn to serve others too with out reservations or selfishness.

Deutsch and his Associates on the education of the poor in America, noted that the disadvantaged children are those with or without parents, the hungry, the children of the unemployed, underemployed, those who go to school and do not complete any fom1 of section of education. The economically disadvantaged children fall in the above categories in Uganda.

The disadvantaged children suffer from all sorts of abuses for they are at the bottom of the rang of education ladder even at the top is inadequate. They are left out of a process which purports to carry all human kind regardless of background the same basic goals. By this he meant that the disadvantaged social agencies because they are deprived of the rich. Hence the need to educate them to be able to be useful to themselves and society.

16 2.3 Challenges Disadvantaged Children in the ECE programme Silberman and Com (1995), in their study of personnel preparation for serving infants with disabilities found that although the number of teachers needed for any group of children with special education needs to determine many children and youth with visual impairment are either in adequately served or not at all.

The world declaration on education for all (1990) gives further impetus to special needs education. Article 3.5states that. "The learning needs of the disabled demands special attention and steps need to be taken to provide equal access to education every category of persons with disabilities as an integral part of education system". This is an enormous challenge particularly in developing countries where Airiscow, Njangira, Anunpan Ahuja and Zinkin, (1995) found that the continuing struggle to achieve compulsory education for the majority of students takes precedence over meeting the need of those with disabilities. There is therefore need to establish whether the increasing for higher education for the majority of the population is affecting provision of special needs for students with visual impairment and physical disabilities in Makerere university. In this review of the current situation in Zan1bia Nyambose (1996) singled out lack of appropriate special needs education legal flame work ass one of the problems the government of Zambia is facing in provision of special needs education. He asserted that the establishment of a legal frame work would facilitate identification, assessment and placement of persons with special education needs as ',':c!l :"!!:!king adaptation where applicable in schools and college infrastructure in order to increase access to education for persons with disabilities by meeting the needs of children and youth with disabilities.

This progress is considerable, but large deficit remain, Roughly 323 million children are not enrolled in school (23 Percent of the age group 6- 17); roughly 30 percent of these children are missing from early childhood centres, the rest from

17 primary school (Bloom chapter one). In developing countries 15 percent of youth aged 15 to 24 are illiterate as are about one in every four adults.

In addition, indicators of educational quality are scare. Though participation in international and regional assessments of educational quality has increased, com1tries most in need of improvements are least likely to participate. As a result, important comparative data on quality continue to be lacking for the developing world. The problem of inadequate of missing data is pervasive. Bloom, and Braun and Kanjee examine in their respective chapter why is so difficult to gather and assess a basic facts about who is learning what, where, when, and how.

Even so, we cannot lose sight of certain fundamental realities. From experience of free, or universal primary education, providing free early childhood education or waving fees, have inherent challenges. The most obvious one is lack of teachers and facilities to meet the demands of the increased emollments in nursery centres, as it happened with the primary schools when various countries abolished fees. Added to that is getting adequate textbooks to go round besides other instructional materials. Not only are the existing schools under the obligation to expand, but also there is urgent demand to put up new nursery schools to accommodate the envisaged increased enrolment. Given the prevailing economic conditions, the countries cannot easily afford to mobilize adequate resources to put up those required additional centers/ nursery schools.

Inevitably, more sustainable modals for financing nursery education will to be pursed if the campaign to expand at this level is to succeed. Increasingly, there are discussion of having more day centers, which are cheaper to manage and also streamlining general education management to ensure efficient resource utilization. Clearly, more innovative and radical ideas would be needed to make nursery education accessible to all eligible children between 3 - 6 years.

18 Nonetheless, there is light at the end of the tunnel given the overriding political will among the member states to provide free or affordable nursery education and change of heat among donors, who now see the wisdom in having more learners pursue nursery and primary education.

Besides nursery education, the cluster countries are giving increased attention to education quality across all the levels. In particular, the experience of free or universal primary education brought with the challenge of quality given the large enrolments realized against a shortfall of teachers, facilities and learning and teaching aids. Since, there is evidence that the countries have progressively been working on teacher training, recruitment and deployment with the express objective of easing teaching work load and giving learners' value for their time. Rwanda, Burundi and Eritrea, for example, have been putting a lot of emphasis on professional development of teachers, which has a bearing on the quality of learning. Notably, these countries have had to deal with the post-conflicts such as teachers' scarcity and dilapidated infrastructure. Kenya and Uganda have had a head start but they equally have to deal with the issue of recruiting more teachers to meet the demands of schools at a time when public finance is being stretched to the limits by various competing interests.

In a nutshell, the quest towm·ds making nursery education accessible through fees waivers is putting the cluster countries on a better stead to realize universal basic education. Building on the right path and the challenge is to sustain the momentum and the resolve to make early childhood education accessible to the vast majority of our populations.

Uganda's early childhood education starts amid key challenges by Ronald Ssekandi Kampala, Feb. 19 (Xinhua)-the Ugandan government on Monday stmied

19 providing early childhood education (ECP) amidst skepticism over the project's financing and overall success.

Agree Kibenge, spoke man for the education ministry, told Xinhua by telephone that the program had started as earlier planned and the ministry was now waiting to hear from the schools how the tum-up of pupils has been. "Yes, the program has staiied and parents are free to take their children to any school that is offering ECP. By mid next month we shall have established how many pupils have enrolled for program," Kibenge said.

Namirembe Bitamazire, Minister of education and sports recently said the project which aimed at making education accessible to all especially the rural poor would be another landmark in the country's history after successfully implementing the universal primary education (UPE).

Uganda is one of the first African countries to introduce free ECE programs. According to the government's plan, the program of 30 billion shilling (17 million 8U.S. dollars) is staiiing with only top class in 2007 and will scale down to middle and baby class in subsequent years. "We have spent a whole year on planning this program and we now sure it can staii," the minister said.

The scheme, which is targeting mainly low- income groups and children from rural families who have just finished lower and middle nursery education, has caused a lot of excitement in the country, which is targeting about 350,000 pupils who completed the lower and middle nursery education level last year.

According to the education sector annual performance report 2005, an estimated around 700,000 pupils are currently enrolled in ECE sub-sector, with 370,807 in

20 780 annexes and another 317,114 in private nursery schools which are independent.

Successful implementation of the ECE will require the Uganda government to pool a lot of resources. The country has many competing sectors that also require resources to run critics have argued that ECE will not take off because of the meager resources that the country has. The donor community finances more than half of the 620 billion shillings (354 million dollars) education sub- sector budget).

Whereas the initial plan of the scheme was target some 700 government aided and annexed 280 private nursery schools across the country, only 250 private schools have signed a memorandum of understanding with the government to participate in the program.

"We need 314 nursery schools but some have not signed our memorandum because we have stringent measures. Some schools don't have registration certificates and school accounts," said YusufNsubuga, commissioner for ECE in an interview with Daily monitor recently.

He said that in order to safeguard ECE, the ministry would not backtrack on basic requirements. Some analysts have argued that this itself will affect the implementation of the program because some of the religious organizations in the country side have such schools or home. Education experts are already warning of influx of pupils enrolling for the program and yet there are few classrooms and teachers. Although the government is building more classes at the sub-county level in every district, the program is starting when such schools have not been built in all sub­ countries.

21 Currently 327 of the 970 sub- counties in the country still lack government­ annexed early childhood schools. This has led to speculation that some ECP students could end up studying under trees as was the case when the UPE started.

2.4 Interventions to overcome the challenges which disadvantaged in ECE programme still face. Mittler, (1993) noted that essential conditions for successful education is the development of clear polices for the planning and delivery of appropriate services for students with special educational needs. However caution that policies, in themselves are not enough, "there must also be a definite strategy to implement these policies", with mechanism for funding and a time table for reaching agreed targets.

Article 35 (i) in the 1995 constitution states that: "persons with Disabilities have a right to respect and human dignity and the state shall take appropriate measures to ensure that they realize their full mental and physical potentials." Subsection (ii) of the same article states that:

Parliament shall enact laws appropriate for protection of persons with Disabilities. The researcher therefore wanted to establish whether this constitutional provision has been translated into appropriate legal framework and policies meet the educational needs of students with disabilities in Makerere University.

Cecil and Mann (1987), found that provision at Africa universities for handicapped students are essentially non existent. "There are no ramps, suitable steps, elevators or toilet faculties with special accommodation." On the other hand, Kay (1990) posits that: the design of educational building has to meet the needs of the first users (the students); and their specific educational requirements." In the course of its life, the building will have many users with varying curricula, course

22 structures and methods of teaching." He further emphasized that well- designed educational building is one that both meets the needs of its occupants effectively and can adapted for future changes.

An important question is whether such children are organically or pathologically disabled or merely disabled in terms of school achievement criteria as result of social, cultural and economic disadvantage. As concerns 'mental disability' in particular, this issue is of great importance since tests and instruments used for diagnosis and identification purposes may well be biased against children from disadvantaged and poverty- stricken areas.

23 CHAPTER THREE RESEARCH METHODOLOGY 3.0 Introduction: This chapter covers the methodology used to gather data needed for the study. It describes the research design, study population, sample the research design, study population, sample selection, sample size, data collection methods, tools and data processing and analysis.

3.1 Research design: This research was basically descriptive survey research design, combing largely qualitative and some quantitative descriptions supported empirically by figures form the questionnaires. This design was both qualitative and quantitative to ensure that data collected from the questionnaires is verified through the research observations, documentation, questionnaires and analysis of records and interviews.

The research was kept descriptive to avoid generalizing District situation to reflect the whole Wakiso district or Uganda as a whole. Wakiso District a lone cannot provide a representative sample to speak for Uganda, let alone Wakiso District. The District may have its own factors that may result into the findings that will be. Wakiso District is in the Central region of Uganda and is found in Wakiso district (see map 1, map 2 and map 3) the District is located between latitude 145 degree north of the between longitudes, latitudes 33 degree, 38' East 41' East of the Greenwich meridian.

3.2 Area of study The area of study was carried out in three annexed nursery school found in Wakiso District. Covering a scope of around 25 km. it was chosen because the Researcher

24 has accessibility to the area and it is where the Researcher came up with the problem.

3.3 Target Population The study population was three nursery annexed schools, three Head teachers, ten (10) class teachers, ten (10) disadvantaged children.

3.4 Sampling Procedure The study was conducted in three annexed nursery schools. Purposive sampling method was then used to get information directly from the head teachers, class teachers and disadvantaged children. Here the Researcher used his judgment to select those informants believed to have the infonnation needed about enrolment, benefits, challenges and interventions of the challenges facing the disadvantaged children in the ECP centers.

Class teachers were selected using a non- probability sampling method. Purposive techniques of sampling method were used to get the ten (10) disadvantaged children from each school using the class registers. Teachers selected were those who taught actively and also had an extra school duty. That meant teachers had more than just teaching work but other responsibilities to perfonn.

This ensured that no bias is introduced in the sample of disadvantaged children. Since the selection of the children was random, a sample size of 10 was representative enough.

25 3.5 Sample Size The study was conducted in three annexed nursery schools in Wakiso District. Three head teachers, 10 class teachers, 10 disadvantaged children from the target study population. This acted as the representative sample for the target population.

3.6 Data Collection Method; Researcher Instrument: The instruments of data collection for the study depend on the kind of data to be collected by the researcher. Since the study collected both qualitative and quantitative data, there were both qualitative and quantitative data 16 instruments such as questionnaires, interviews, observation, school records short list.

3.6.1 Questionnaire Questionnaire with both open and closed ended questions (see appendix ii) were used to collect data from head teachers, class teacher and disadvantaged children. According to Kerlinger (1973), interviews enable respondents to give infonnation in a free atmosphere and make scoring of data easy. Open ended items provided enough room for the respondents to clarify and amplify their responses to the closed- ended items. This method helped the researcher to get detailed information and data on the long detailed infonnation and data on the respondents experience, feelings and knowledge on how the ECP program has been of benefit to disadvantaged children. To supplement quantitative data from the questionnaire, the following qualitative instrument were employed.

Interviews schedules for key information that included head teachers, class teachers and disadvantaged children, were conducted to get information directly from knowledgeable people and give allowance to explore new ideas and issues not anticipated during planning. In depth interviewing is a data collection method

26 relied on quite extensively by qualitative research (Marshall & Rossman, 1989). It is often described as a conversation with a purpose" (Kalin and cannel 1957:149) or resembles a conversation among acquaintance an immediate feed back, quick and easy data collection method.

3.6.3 Observations The researcher directly observed what happens in some of the classrooms of the selected to get the real life experience of the disadvantaged children in a natural setting and also get a richer understanding of what they go through inside the classrooms.

3.6.4 Source of Data Data was both primary and secondary. Primary data was collected by questionnaires and secondary data was got from the reports, journals, magazines, newspapers, internet text books.

3.7 Validity and Reliability

Validity Validity of the instruments was established through discussion with colleagues and supervisor to judge whether the items in the questionnaire were adequate for measuring what they were for. Then necessary adjustments were made later on.

Reliability: The questionnaires were administered to small groups to determine clarity of questions effectiveness of instructions and time required to fill the three (3) head teachers, ten (10) class teachers, ten (10) disadvantaged children, took part in the pilot study to measure the validity of the questions in the questionnaires. The subjects for the pilot subjects for the pilot study were not included in the final

27 study. Pilot study indicated that the questionnaire was reliable. The triangulation method was also used to test for reliability of the instruments that is data gathered from one source was checked against another source.

3.8 Research Procedure The researcher obtained an introductory letter from the Head teacher of the Department introducing him to the School authority and research participants. Equipped with this, the researcher went into the field for data collection. The questionnaires of head teachers, class teachers and disadvantaged children were administered first to get information and views of those directly involved in the implementation of education provision strategies for the disadvantaged children. Interviews with the head teachers and disadvantaged children were held next to crosscheck information given by the school administrators.

Observations were done next to see the real life experience of pupils inside the classes or what they go through in the course of getting early childhood Education. Real life experiences were observed and documented to understand the real issues like space, gender, availability of resources, enrolment and so on.

Analysis of relevant records like Class Register, duplicate Report Cards, Circulars from Ministry of Education and Sports. Interpretation and discussion of findings followed. After the collection of data, the researcher went back from the field and made data analysis from his office of work, data was organized, studied, coded, edited and analyzed. Lastly, with the supervisor's guidance the researcher compiled the report.

3.9 Data Processing and Analysis Marshall and Rossman (1989), define data analysis as the process of bringing order, structure and meaning to the process of bringing order, structure and

28 meaning to the mass of collected data. They further say that qualitative data analysis on the other hand is a search for general statements about relationship among categories of data. Data collected by way of qualitative methods and techniques was analyzed after collection from the field. Computer using statistical data analysis programme like SPSS analyzed it. Data was analyzed by content analysis. Data was collected into a central pool, preparation and organization into themes, sub themes and entered into computer to generate descriptive statistics frequencies counts summarized percentages, graphic interpretation, score with varying percentage calculated. Interpretation drawing of the conclusions was done in accordance with the number of occurrences on each item.

3.10 Limitations of the Study The researcher envisaged a few challenges in conducting the study. The study was limited in its conduct by the busy schedule that teachers had around themselves. They were so busy with academic work that finding time to participate in the research meant postponing some duties that required urgent attention. The research participation was perceived as a contribution factor to stress given that a compromise about handing other duties had to be made.

29 CHAPTER FOUR

PRESENTATION, ANALYSIS AND INTERPRETATION OF FINDINGS

4.0 Introduction In this chapter, the findings are presented, analyzed and interpreted by utilizing what transpired in the study. This has been done in consideration of the objectives of the study as well as questions posed at the beginning of the study.

The chapter was organized according to the following research questions; ., What is the trend in enrolment of the disadvantaged children m ECP schools ofWakiso District? ., What are the benefits ofECP Programme to the disadvantaged children? ., What are the challenges the disadvantaged children face in ECP Programme. • What are the intervention and strategies to overcome the challenges which disadvantaged children in ECP Programme still face?

Because the study is important for Policy makers, planners, head teacher, class teachers in particular, the data analysis was guided by relatively easy to comprehend statistical method. For example, descriptive statistics, frequency counts, percentages, pie charts among others and examples depicting the emerging themes and views plus pictorial representation of research findings are used.

30 Figure 4.1: Trend of Nursery Enrolment by Gender from 2000-2007

600000 ~----

-+-Boys ,"';,", Girls

2000 2001 2002 2003

Source: Census Forms 2008

A figure above shows the trend of nursery children enrolment by gender, which clearly depicts increased access to nursery education.

Figure 4.2 Level of Education Responses on the level of education for teachers will obtain to reveal whether they would understand the questions asked in the questionnaire so that they can give the right information.

31 Figure 4.2: Level lfEducatiou of Teachers

7 ~------,

6 -1--

5

4 3 2 1 0 Certificate Diploma Masters Other

From the figure above, 60% of the respondents were Certificate holders, 30% degree holders and 10 percent others. This therefore indicates that respondents had the capacity to understand the questionnaires and answered it accordingly.

During the research process a 5 percent sample of the disadvantaged children from each of the three schools was randomly sampled. The samples were as follows;

4.1 The eurolmeut of disadvautaged childreu iu the ECP Schools The researcher found out that the enrolment of disadvantaged children was as follows; Table 4.1 Eurolmeut of the disadvautaged Childreu iu ECP Schools School No. of Total No. of Perceutage of disadvautaged Pupils Disadvautaged childreu Childreu School A 103 536 19.2 SchoolB 66 371 17.7 School C 32 124 25.8

32 It should however be noted that the total number of pupils indicated above is only of those who are entitled to the ECP programme i.e. middle and top class pupils.

The above statistics are clear proof that the ECP programme has largely been beneficial to the disadvantaged children.

The following were the categories of disadvantaged children that the researcher found.

Table 4.2: Number of Disadvantaged children in the schools School Total No. of 5% Sample disadvantaged children School A 103 5 School B 66 3 School C 32 2

Similarly, a five percent random sample of the total number of class teachers in the ECP classes of middle and top were selected for the research. The sample was as follows;

Table 4.3: teachers who are aware about the existence of the disadvantaged children in the schools School Total No. of Class 5% Sample Teachers School A 12 2 School B 08 1 School C 02 1 TOTAL 22 04

33 All the head teachers of the three schools were interviewed and they gave the following as the challenges faced by the disadvantaged children.

Table 4.4: Categories of disadvantaged children in the schools CATEGORY School A SchoolB School C Special Needs 2 00 00 Orphans 24 16 10 Disabled 07 05 01 Low economic status 70 45 21 TOTAL 103 66 32

The above statistics clearly illustrate that the greatest percentage of the disadvantaged children are of low economic status.

4.2 The benefits ofECP to the disadvantaged children in Wakiso District The three categories of respondents i.e. Head teachers, class teachers and disadvantaged children were asked this question.

The head teachers said the programme was beneficial in that it would uplift educational standards and increase on the literacy levels of disadvantaged children. They further commented that the programmed would benefit disadvantaged children who would have otherwise been unable to join top class as they skip baby and lower nursery education.

The Class teachers and disadvantaged children both stated that the programme has benefited children who would not have been able to study in nursery top class.

34 The head teachers were asked the teacher what they thought with the benefits of ECP program. Some of their answers were similar and the researcher would like to present findings. They indicated frequency with which the Head teachers wrote the benefits. Table 4.5 Ranking of benefits of the ECP program by head teachers Benefits Frequency Percentage Access to pnmary 03 100 education Increased enrolment m 02 66 nursery schools Increasing literacy levels 01 33 Increasing gender balance 01 33 in the education system Reducing on the level of 00 00 primary school dropout Increasing on the number 00 00 of nursery leavers who got in primary Reducing the poverty 00 00 levels in the country The table below shows the most outstanding benefit of ECP is that it has increased access to early childhood Education. It is clearly evidenced by all the head teachers pointing out this benefit.

35 The teachers were asked this question. The researcher's findings in the table below; Benefits Frequency Percentage Access to early childhood 4 100 education Increased enrolment in 3 75 ECP Centres Increasing literacy levels 2 50 Increasing gender balance 2 50 in the education system Reducing on the level of 2 50 school dropout Increasing on the number 01 25 of Nursery leavers who got in Primary Reducing the poverty 01 25 levels in the country

The above clearly shows that access to early childhood education is the most outstanding benefit of the ECP. This does not, however, mean that other benefits are irrelevant. It is clear that ECP has had numerous benefits.

The same question was posed to the disadvantaged children and the responses were as follows;

36 Table 4.7 Ranking the benefit of the ECP program by the disadvantaged children Benefits Frequency Percentage Access to quality 6 60 education Increased enrolment m 4 40 ECP Centres Increasing literacy levels 3 30 Increasing gender balance 2 20 in the education system Reducing on the level of 3 30 primary school dropout Increasing on the number 5 50 of nursery leavers who got in Primary Reducing the poverty 3 30 levels in the com1try The table clearly shows that the disadvantaged children know that there are numerous benefits of ECP. This therefore shows that ECP is of great importance to the Ugandan citizens.

Table 4.8 Response of teachers to whether there are programs pnt in place to assist the disadvantaged children Response Frequency Percentage Paying of tuition fees 8 80 Provision of scholastic 2 20 materials Total 10 100

37 From the table above, 8, 80% of the 10 respondents who answered this question indicated a positive attitude from the disadvantaged children to the programs while 2, 20% indicated that children have a negative attitude to ECP program.

4.3 The Challenges disadvantaged children face in the ECP programme There is delayed reporting to school due to lack of scholastic materials. The pupils do not get lunches at school. The government has not set up enough structures to handle the ECP programme. There is a very high teacher to pupil ratio of 1: 120.

The disadvantaged children stay very far away from school. The statistics below illustrate this;

Table 4.9 Distance travelled from home to school Distance from school No. Percentage of distance traveled in Kms 0-2km I 10 2.1-4 km 3 30 4.1-6 km 4 40 6.l-8km 2 20 TOTAL 10 100

This long distance to school has led to late coming, school dropout and in the end, ineffective learning of this disadvantaged children. These schools also have inadequate facilities such as Library and relevant play materials space. Disabled children do not have toilet facilities that suit them and share with the rest. There is lack of guidance and counseling services for the disadvantaged children in these schools. Some of them have very many problems and require this.

38 Figure 2: Showing the distance traveled by the children from home to school

mo- 2 km 2-4 km m4-6 km m6-8 km

From the above figure, I 0% of the disadvantaged children indicated living O - 2 km from school, 30% of the children walk 2 - 4 km, 40% of the children struggle to cover 4 - 6 km, while 20% of the children cover 6 - 8 km to school. Long distance travelled by already disadvantaged children inconveniences them, leads to late coming and school dropout. Worse or so, these long distances are traveled on empty stomach due to absence oflunch at school.

The head teachers, class teachers and disadvantaged children asked what challenged disadvantaged children face in ECP. Their opinions varied but some were more popular than the others. This prompted the researcher to rank the challenges as shown below. The head teacher responded as seen below

39 Table 4.10 Ranking of the challenges by the head teachers Challenges Frequency Percentage Inadequate funding 3 100 Poor infrastructure 3 100 Poor rest rooms and 2 66 equipments for nursery Negative social and 1 33 cultural normal Inadequate supervision 2 66 and monitoring Low community 1 33 participation m implementation No lunch provided 3 100 High dropout rates 1 33 High teacher to pupils 3 100 ratio Long distance to school 3 100

The above table shows that the head teachers identified inadequate funding, poor infrastructure, and inadequate lunch, high teacher-student ratio and long distances to school. However, there were also other problems that were not as outstanding, but they were nevertheless challenges.

The table below shows the response of class teaches as the challenges to the ECP program.

40 Table 4.11: Ranking of challenges identified by the class teachers. Challenges Frequency Percentage Inadequate funding 4 100 Poor infrastructure 4 100 Poor rest rooms and 2 50 equipments for nursery Negative social and 1 25 cultural normal Inadequate superv1s1on 1 25 and monitoring Low community 0 00 participation Ill implementation No lunch provided 4 100 High dropout rates 1 25 High teacher to students 4 ratio Long distance to school 4 100

The above table shows that the teachers identified the most profound challenges as long distance to school, higher teacher to students ratio, inadequate lunch , finding and poor infrastructure.

Below are the findings of what disadvantaged children gave as the challenges that ECP faces.

41 Table 4.12: Challenges identified by the disadvantaged children Challenges Frequency Percentage Inadequate funding 02 20 Poor infrastructure 05 50 Poor play materials and 03 30 equipments Negative social and 00 00 cultural normal Inadequate superv1s1on 00 00 and monitoring Low community 00 00 participation m implementation No lunch provided 08 80 High dropout rates 00 00 High teacher to students 04 40 ratio Long distance to school 10 100

The most outstanding problem identified by the disadvantaged children was the long distance that they have to travel to school.

Plate 4.1: Disadvantaged children on the way from school to home

42 Plate 4.1 above indicated the disadvantage child traveling long distance from school to home using "Boda Boda" Bicycle. They spend money on daily basis to access the education. Besides staying without lunch due to the distance from home. There is need to provide the disadvantaged children with lunch and transport to and from their home.

Plate 4.2: Overcrowding of the children during a play lesson in the field

Plate 4.2 above clearly indicates that the laboratory and laboratory equipments are inadequate for all the students to perform the practical. This has been forced the teacher to perform it while the students look on. This impacts negatively on teaching and learning process of science subject. There is need to boost the stock of laboratory equipment for ECP. Plate 4.3: Acute shortage of furniture in the school

43 Plate 4.3: clearly indicates that the school experiences serious shortage of furniture like desks, chairs, tables. The children are forced to sit on the ground and read under the trees. This impact negatively on the learning. There is need to furnish the school with furniture. Also, it is clearly seen that students lack uniform, shoes and this indicates the level of poverty in the area.

Plate 4.4: Shortage of meals in the school

Plate 4.4: indicates the inadequate of tables, teachers are forced to improvise chair in place of the table due to acute shortage of furniture. The disadvantaged child is stranded with books and no furniture to use. This contributes negatively to learning and there is need to provide the furniture.

Plate 4.5: Poorly built classroom without rams for cycles and children with clutches into the classroom

44 Plate 4.5 indicates the difficulty faced by physically disabled child struggling to climb the verandah built without rams for cycles and platform. There is need to build classrooms, laboratories, offices and other buildings in the school with rams, platforms to cater for the different categories of the disadvantaged children.

Plate 4.6: Inadequate play facilities and lack of uniform among the low income children

Plate 4.6 explains children in the lab forced to share due to inadequacy of lab apparatus and facilities. This needs to be addressed urgently of learning of science subjects is to be improved. The plate further shows the low income students who is unable to afford school uniform.

4.4 Possible interventions to overcome the challenges which disadvantaged children face The researcher posed this question to the head teachers and their responses were as follows;

The table below shows clearly the responses given by the Head teachers.

45 Table 4.13 Ranking of the interventions by head teachers Interventions Frequency Percentage Increased funding 2 66 Infrastructure 2 66 improvement Increased supervision I 33 Provision of lunch 3 100 Construction of more 1 33 ECP schools

The most profound intervention given by the Head teachers was provision of lunch. They argued that this would improve performance and reduce on school dropouts.

The government should go ahead and subsidize or completely pay for the scholastic materials of disadvantaged.

The government should also pay for lunches of these students so that they can study effectively and efficiently. Furthermore, the Uganda Government needs to recruit more teachers in order to reduce on the teacher student ratio from 1:120 to 1:50 in order to improve on the quality of education that these schools offer.

The disadvantaged children should all be allowed to attend school and the condition given restricting entry is denying these children a fundamental right to education.

46 The researcher suggests that early childhood Education should be changed to Universal ECD Education. This will ensure that the programme caters for pre­ vocational education at different stages. This is of great importance since many of these disadvantaged children come from traditional houses where some items can be made and said to reduce poverty.

It would be better if they went to vocational schools which would benefit them more and make them productive citizens.

The Government Policy today is that each sub-county can only have one ECP school. This is inadequate and more schools should be set up in order to reduce on the mileage the students travel to school. This measure will reduce on drop-out levels, increase retention levels and improve on educational quality.

The government should increase on the facilities available in the current ECP schools such as Libraries, play materials and Classrooms which are still in short supply. This would lead to better education for disadvantaged children and all students generally.

Special needs education should be provided to those who require it in the ECP programme. This category of students too has a right to quality education.

Facilities for disadvantaged children such as latrines/toilets should be set up in the ECP schools. This will enable the disabled children to be comfortable while at school.

The Uganda Government should give proper training to nursery School teachers that will make them able to guide and counsel disadvantaged children.

47 However, in spite of all challenges, and shortcomings of the ECP programme, all the respondents agreed that the programme has been and is still helpful not only to disadvantaged children but to all Ugandans. Furthermore, the researcher has found out that the programme has everything to show that ECP will benefit the disadvantaged children and the populace as a whole. The researcher has undertaken this research in order to add on the wealth of knowledge on how to improve on the quality of the ECP programme.

48 CHAPTER FIVE

DISCUSSION, CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS

5.0 Introduction This chapter is basically discussion of the findings of the study, conclusion and possible recommendations made by the researcher. This discussion thereof, conclusions drawn at the end of the study and recommendations made are primarily based on the findings of the study. The study set out to investigate; enrolment of the disadvantaged children, benefits of ECP programme to disadvantaged children, challenges the disadvantaged face in ECP programme and the interventions to overcome the challenges of the ECP programme.

Discussion of the Findings The following is the discussion of the research findings.

5.1 Trends in enrolment of disadvantaged children in the various schools; The findings of this research revealed there is serious numerical change in the enrolment of disadvantaged including special needs children, orphans and low economic status in the school system after the implementation of equalization measures under ECP scheme. In 2007, governrnent introduced the ECP programme in order to absorb the large number of students that could not pay 363 private nursery schools. Currently, the numbers have increased to 804 governrnent and 431 private nursery schools. Statistics in both private and governrnent schools indicate that there is tremendous increase in the enrolment of disadvantaged children. In 2000, enrolment in nursery schools stood at 518.931 pupils, it increased to 954,328 following the launch ofECP in 2007, with 50% of the pupils in private nursery schools. Over the four year period, an increase in access to

49 nursery education has been registered. Refer to the trend of ECD enrolment by gender figure 1.

5.2 Benefits of ECP to the disadvantaged children From the findings of this research, indicate that the three categories of the respondents that is head teachers, class teachers and disadvantaged children were asked this question.

The head teachers said the programme was beneficial in that it would uplift educational standards and increase on the literacy levels of disadvantaged children. They further commented that the programme would benefit disadvantaged children who have otherwise been unable to go to Secondary schools.

The class teachers and disadvantaged both stated that the ECP programme has greatly benefited children who would not have been able to study in Primary.

5.3 Challenges disadvantaged children face in the ECP programme The research findings seem to suggest that orphans are on the increase in the District as a result of death of one or both parents due to AIDS and other causes, which affect the best involvement of the disadvantaged children in the school system.

Access to universal education remains a big challenge according to the research finding due to long distance as well as shortage of space and facilities. It is inconceivable for children with disabilities to trek long distances (over 4 -6 km in some areas) to access a day ECP School. It also reveals clearly that the facilities of the disadvantaged are overstretched and limited facilities ( classroom, latrines, laboratories, poorly equipped), inadequate funding, especially capitation grants for

50 the implementation of ECP, late release of funds and budget cuts, inadequate instructional material for the disadvantaged children.

Doubtful support by families due to poverty and negligence by the parents and caretakers; this is because of inadequate sensitization for public/beneficiaries.

The ghost student syndrome, consideration of (Student Identification Number - SIN) for improvement in the statistics is another challenge which faces the implementation ofECP.

Negative social and cultural norms and values, such as a child labour, teenage pregnancies and early marriages, undermine efforts at enhancing education.

5.4 Intervention to overcome the challenges facing ECP Programme From the findings of this research, government, parents, NGOs and school owners are collectively and individually doing a lot to assist the disadvantaged children by providing school requirements, safe water and better sanitation. The school requirements mentioned by the respondents include classrooms, desks, and scholastic materials. ECP funds, teachers' salaries, schools dues, school uniforms and lunch for the pupils. NGOs are also mobilizing parents to participate in classroom constructing orphans (foster children) to access education. These findings are in line with the 1995 Constitution of the Republic of Uganda and Government of Uganda 1995 that in all strategies to ensure equity in education, it is assumed that Government Community and the private sector will work as partners in providing education to all Uganda citizenry.

The findings further revealed that the Government of Uganda has put in place strategies to ensure education for all. It is evident from the research that the biggest stakeholder in basic education provisions Government through the districts

51 due to the ECP programme. The findings are in line with the Government White Paper (1992) and the MOES (1998) which contended that ECP will be accorded highest priority as a way of assuring universal access to Secondary education. The findings are also in line with the intentions of the 1995 Constitution of the Republic of Uganda, MOES (1998) and 1997 Local Government Act, which aim at shifting administration from the Central Government to districts and Local Councils with view of adhering to National Priority Areas. It is evident that in Uganda since independence, Governments have put in place policies to provide education to all school-going age children before ECP is instituted as indicated in the Five year Development Plans of 1961-76. However, it is 40 years now since independence; education for all is still a dream to many disadvantaged children.

Also, relevant and qualified "manpower" for Uganda's needs especially the needs of children with disabilities is still far below the requirements. Quality and relevance or education to the rural population needs to be re-addressed.

5.5 Conclusions Having made discussed the major findings in Wakiso District Researcher made the following conclusions;

1. Disadvantaged children including special needs children, disabled children, orphans and low economic status are a reality in Wakiso District and are increasingly enrolling in its schools. 2. Whereas, all stakeholders have demonstrated moral and practical support for education of children with disabilities, there is yet more expected from all of them if education is to be efficiently provided to all categories of children especially children with special learning needs. 3. There are several factors preventing the optimal participation of the disadvantaged children in schools lack of infrastructure such as biting

52 poverty in the area, ignorance of parents about the value of education, problems pupils have at home and at school, lack off instructional materials and equipment and poor monitoring of the ECP program, long distances traveled to school by the disadvantaged children is a problem discovered during the study. 4. Government, parents, NGOs and School Administrators are collectively and individually doing a lot to assist the disadvantaged children by providing school requirements, safe water and better sanitation. 5. Given the importance of extending education to all people in the country as required by the 1995 Constitution of the Republic of Uganda in section 30 that all persons have a right to education, it is in order to outline some policy objectives that might address problems and issue identified in this study. With the above discussion and conclusions in mind, the researcher puts forward the following recommendations. 6. Inadequate funding especially capitation grants which delays; lack of lunch to the disadvantaged children was also found. 7. High teacher-student ratio is imbalanced and this overworks to teachers that is a ratio of about I: 120.

5.6 Recommendations Arising from the study and conclusions made, the research had the following recommendations; 1. Given the high numerical changes in the enrolment of the disadvantaged children, it would appear that unless various stakeholders take more action towards the education of the disadvantaged children, the situation is likely to go out of hand soon. As a result, specific interventions in the areas of text books, food, desks, classrooms, laboratories as well as well trained teachers are required urgently to cater for the increasing number of children enrolling in Wakiso District ECP schools. Long distance traveled is solved

53 by provision of transport or extending more of this ECP schools/programs closer to the local people. 2. Given the importance of allowing local people to develop views grounded in the knowledge of their lives, the researcher borrows the recommendations of the respondents that especially schools should be built in the District and teachers be trained to handle disadvantaged children who are now integrated in the school system. With these in place, a special syllabus should be developed to reflect the current situation and address current needs. 3. From the findings of this research, it is evident that poverty in individual homes and community at large is seriously affecting education provision for the disadvantaged children. Generally, people in Wakiso District have low purchasing power for school requirements and payment of school fees. Thus, in order for any Government Policy to be focused at re-dressing the imbalances between disadvantaged and advantaged children, it is important that the material condition of individual families is improved to enhance ECP achievements and continue with assistance of disadvantaged children.

The findings of research further revealed that catering for the needs of all children include those with disabilities who are now integrated in the school system will require commitment of both parents and communities. Parents therefore, should be fully involved in the affairs of the school in their communities. These could be done through local councils organizing regular meeting for the people in the area to discuss issues affecting the local people and finding solutions to them. This would be a good strategy if it were complemented with sensitization seminars to educate parents more about their role in education their children who are leaders of tomorrow.

54 5. 7 Areas of further Research Further investigation on reasons why Government strategies to ensure education for all have not been fully implemented in grass root communities a) Since this study was done in Wakiso District, other studies could be done in other sub counties and district for comparison purposes. b) The effect of ECP programme on the quality and relevance of education should further be investigated. c) Investigate on the real life experiences of children with special learning needs in the grass root schools.

55 REFERENCES

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Bellamy C. (2000, April 24); "Education for all remains a dream for many Children", New Vision p.20

Blumenfeld et al (1993), Systematic Observation in the Analysis of Primary Health Care Services, In Kumar K (Ed.) Rapid Appraisal Methods, Washington DC, The World Bank

Coleman J S (1966); Equality o[Educational Opportunity. Washington DC, US Government Printing Office

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56 Enon J. C (1998); Education Research Statistics and Measurement, IACE, Makerere University Kampala, Pg. 24

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Ezewu E. (1986); Sociology o(Education, London and Lagos, Longman Foster, J. P. (1965), The Vocational School fallacy in Development Planning in Halsey, A. H & Karabel J (1977), Power and Ideology in Education, New York, Oxford University Press

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Government of Uganda (1992); the Government White Paper of Educational Policy Review Commission Report, Education for National Integration and Development, Ministry of Education and Sports Gene Sperling (2001); Towards Universal Education, Making a Promise of Keeping it, Foreign Affairs 80(5)

Gene Sperling (2001); Educating the World, New York Times, 22nd November 2001

Jimenez E (1995); Public and Private Secondary Education in Developing Countries, Comparative Study Library of Congress, Cataloging/ Washington DC USA

57 Kasozi A. B. K. (1979); the Crisis of Secondary School Education in Uganda, Longman Uganda Ltd, Kampala, Uganda

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Lynch J (1994); Provision for Children in Special Needs in Asia Region, Washington DC

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Myrdal G (1970); the Challenge of World Poverty, A World Antipoverty Program on Outline, New York, Vintage Books

UNESCO (1990); World Declaration on Education for All, Meeting Basic Learning Needs, http://www2.unesco.org

58 UNESCO (1996 June 16-19); Education for All, Achieving the Goals of Amman Affirmation, http://www2.unesco.org

United Nations Development Program (1991); Human Development Reports, New York Oxford University Report

World Bank (1995); Priorities and Strategies for Education, A World Bank Review (Development in practice)

59 APPENDICES

APPENDIX 1: QUESTIONNAIRE FOR THE DISADVANTAGED CHILDREN

Please answer the following questions to the best of your knowledge by ticking the appropriate answer in the boxes provided. All information given shall be kept confidential.

a) School b) Sex c) Class d)Age

In which of the following categories of disadvantaged children do you fall?

a) Special Needs Child b) Orphan c) Disabled d) Poor e) Others (Specify)

2. Sibling Position ...... of...... children

3. What are the other siblings doing? ·········· ...... ····· ...... ·································· ......

60 4. What is the source of income at home? ······· ......

5. What is the parent's educational background? a) Never went to school b) Primary school leaver c) Secondary school leaver d) Certificate holder e) Diploma holder t) Graduate holder g) I don't know h) Others (specify)

6. Who do you live with? a) Both parents b) Father only c) Mother only d) Other relatives

7. If answer to 6 is not ( a), why? a) One parent died b) Parents separated but are both alive c) Both parents died d) Parents separated and one died e) Other ......

61 8. If Parents died, what was the cause of death? ·································································································································

How far is your home from school? ......

9. Who pays your school fees? a) Father b) Mother c) Government d) Other relatives e) School NGO t) Other Sponsor (Specify) ...... g) I don't know

10. Who gives you the scholastic materials?

a) Father b) Mother c) Both parents d)NGO e) Other Sponsors t) School

11. Do you remember your position in class for the last three years? a) Yes b) No c) I was not in school for some of the last three months

12. If yes, State them in order. a) ...... out of...... pupils b) ...... out of...... pupils c) ...... out of...... pupils

62 13. If performance is poor, why? a) Fees Problem b) Work at home c) No scholastic materials d) Sickness e) Does not like studies t) Studies are too difficult g) My state as a disadvantaged child h) I don't know i) Others ...... 14. If answer to 13 is (c), why? a) Fees Problem b) No scholastic materials c) No uniform d) Sickness e) Lack of money t) Don't know g) Other reasons (specify) ......

15. Are you happy with this school? a) Yes b)No c) Don't know d) No answer

16. What is good in this school? a) Good teachers c) It is near home e) nothing b) Good head teacher d) everything t) Others ......

63 17. What is bad in this school? a) No teachers b) School is ill-equipped c) Everything d) Nothing e) Others (Specify) ......

18. Do you have any other personal problem regarding your studies? a) At School...... b) At Home ......

19. Does your family have more than one disadvantaged children? a)Yes b)No c)Idon'tknow

20. The highly real disadvantaged child in your home has gone beyond S.4. a) Yes b) No c) I don't know d) Others ...... ················ .. ································································ ......

21. Before ECP program, most of you were studying in primary and proceeding to secondary without any problem. a)Yes b)No c)Idon'tknow d) Others ......

22. Here in school, you normally experience better facilities in your education system. a) Yes b) No c) I don't know d) Others ......

64 23. With or without ECP, you would have attended secondary education without the problem of fees and other requirements. a) Yes b) No c) I don't know d) Others ......

24. Does the school you are studying m have the facilities to cater for disadvantaged learners? a) Yes b) No c)A few d) I don't know e) Others ......

25. Is ECP a problem or an opportunity to the disadvantaged children? a)Yes b)No c)Idon'tknow d) Others ......

26. If the answer is yes, give the reasons ...... ·················· ...... Ifthe answer is No, give reasons ...... ············· ...... ···················· ......

65 QUESTIONNAIRE FOR TEACHERS

Please answer the following questions to the best of your knowledge. All information given shall be kept confidential.

SECTION A: BACKGROUND CHARACTERISTICS Parish ...... Division ......

I. Type of School a) Private b) Government 2. Sex a) Male b) Female 3. Marital Status a) Single b) Married 4. What is your qualification level? a) Grade III b) Grade V c) Degree Holder d) Licensed (S.4 - S.6) e) Others (specify) ......

Do you have any property lost in war? a) Yes b) No

66 SECTIONB BASIC EDUCATION NEEDS OF DISADVANTAGED CHILDREN

5. Do you have disadvantaged children in your school? a) Yes b) No c) I don't know 6. If yes, which category? a) Special Needs Children b) Orphans c) Disabled d) Poor Children e) Others (Specify) ...... 7. If answer to question (6) is (a), what type of special needs do you have? a) Hearing impainnent b) Learning disabilities c) Motor disabilities d) Mental retardation e) Visual impairment f) Social emotional and behavioral problems 8. Are you trained in special needs education? a) Yes b) No c) I don't know 9. Do you experience problems particularly with those children? a) Yes b) No c) I don't know

67 10. If yes, what problems (specify) ...... ············· ...... ············· ...... ········· ...... a) At School ...... ···················· ...... ·······. ······· ...... ································································································ ... ·...... b) Athome ...... ······· ...... ····· c) Elsewhere ...... What has been done to assist these children? a) Registering them under special needs education b) Registering them under ECP c) Registering them in special schools d) Giving them extra study time e) Giving them scholastic materials f) Giving them free education g) Others (specify) ...... 11. What do you suggest should be done to help disadvantaged children? ...... 12. Who are the stakeholders in these programs? a) Government b) School c) Parents d) NGOs e) Local Council

68 f) Community g) Others ...... 13.Briefly explain the role of those ticked above ...... ········ ...... ·········· ...... ······· ...... ········ ...... ······· .. ············ ...... ··········· ...... What is the response of the children to program in place to assist them? a) Positive b) Negative 14. If Negative, why? (Summarize) ...... ······ ...... IS.How many classrooms are you teaching in your school? ...... 16. What is your workload per week? ...... 17. Are you comfortable with double shift teaching method? a) Yes b) No c) I don't know 18. Have the disadvantaged children benefited from these programs? a) Yes b) No c) I don't know 19. Does the teacher-learner ratio in your school balanced, that is, (1 teacher for 60 students)? a) Yes b) No

69 c) I don't know 20.Are they always delivered in time? a) Yes b) No c) I don't know 21. Does your school have adequate infrastructure to cater for the disadvantaged learners under ECP program? a) Yes b) No c) I don't know 22. Ifthe answer is NO, then specify the lacking facilities ...... ········· ...... ········ ...... 23. If YES, how? a) They like staying in school b) Their performances have improved c) Their discipline and social habits have improved d) Their intellectual capabilities have improved e) They are able to continue with their education f) Others (Specify) ...... 24. Is there anything, which can be done, or has been done now to assist these children? a) Yes b) No c) Everything possible has been done d) I don't know

70 25. IfYES, what is not being done?

26. How do you evaluate ECP program in your school?

71 d) Mental retardation e) Visual impairment f) Gifted and talented children g) Social, emotional and behavioral problems 11. Do you experience problems particularly, with these children? a) Yes b) No c) I don't know 12.Ifyes, what problems? a) AtHome

b) At School

c) Elsewhere

13. What has been done to assist these children? a) Registering them under special needs education b) Registering them under ECP c) Registering them in special needs school d) Giving them extra time e) Giving them free education f) Others (Specify) ...... 14. Who are the stakeholders in this ECP program a) Government b) School c) Parents

74 d) NGOs e) Local Council f) Community g) Others ...... h) a, b, c and d 15.Briefly describe the role of each of those ticked above

••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••u••••••••••••••••••••••••• ...... ·············· ...... 16. What is the response of the children to ECP program in place to assist them? a) Positive b) Negative 17. If negative, why? (Summarize) ·······················································••o.••···························································· ...... 18. Have the disadvantaged children benefited from these programs? a) Yes b) No c) I don't know 19.Ifyes, how? a) They like staying in school b) Their performance has improved c) Their discipline and socialization has improved d) Their intellectual capabilities have improved e) They are able to continue with their education f) Others (Specify) ...... 20. Does your school have the facilities to cater for the disadvantaged children? a) Yes b) No

75 c) I don't know 21.Ifthe answer is YES, which type of facilities?

u••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• ...... ·········· ·································· ...... 22. Is there anything which can be done that is not being done now to assist these children? a) Yes b) Everything possible has been done c) No d) I don't know 23. IfYES, what is being done? ················································································· ...... ···································--···················································································· ...... ·············· ...... IfNOT, what is not being done? ...... 24.How do you evaluate ECP program as a Head Teacher? ......

76 APPENDIX II: INTERVIEW SCHEDULE WITH THE CLASS TEACHERS 1. What type of program do you have? 2. What categories of disadvantaged children do you have in the school? 3. What criteria do you have for selecting the children? 4. What exactly do you give the disadvantaged children? 5. What problems do you experience particularly with the disadvantaged children? 6. What has been done to assist these children? 7. How have the children benefited from ECP program? 8. What can be done, that has not been done now to assist the above children?

INTERVIEW SCHEDULES WITH THE HEAD TEACHERS 1. How much money do you charge in form of school fees? 2. How may disadvantaged children do you have? 3. How many of these are under ECP? 4. How is the ECP program working? 5. Have the parents understood their role work regulating the ECP program if not what do you think is the reason for this? 6. How many teachers do you have? 7. Categorize the teacher according to their educational levels grades? 8. Any of your teachers trained in special needs education? 9. Categorize the disadvantaged children.

77 OBSERVATION SHORT LIST I. Number of the disadvantaged children. 2. Sitting arrangements 3. Students/book ratio 4. The grooming of the children 5. Availability of scholastic materials 6. Government/private sector contributions to the schools. 7. State of the classroom facilities and toilets. 8. Availability of sanitation facility and water supply.

SCHOOL RECORDS SHORT LIST 1. Number of the disadvantaged children 2. Number of boys and girls 3. Number of orphans, low economic status 4. Number of special needs children 5. Attendance 6. Capitation grant per quarter 7. Utilization of the ECP and schools 8. Number of teachers in the schools trained and licensed teachers.

78