3.1 OVC AND NON FORMAL EDUCATION
DESCRIPTION OF THE PROBLEM
The HIV/AIDS pandemic continues to wreck havoc in Kassanda Sub-County HIV/ Prevalence rates estimated to be between 7% and 14% (KASSANDA HEALTHCENTRE OPD). It ranks among the 10 killer diseases. But among the 10 killer diseases HIV/AIDS is unique as it kills both Caretakers (man and woman) most of the time. This has brought about some relatively new unfortunate developments. These include children who head families. There is an average of 5 such orphans caring for younger siblings in each of the L.C.I villages of Kassanda Sub-county ALONE. (Source: The Nutrition and Early childhood Development Project- NECDP social maps of Kassanda Sub-county). From the same source; helpless, senile grand parents are in charge of big numbers of young children. There are 21 such families in each of the L.C.Is. Even then every household has an orphan in its care. Such families are financially stretched and since the area is 78.2% subsistence agricultural, more farm hours are needed to counter the pressure.
This means the class requirements of attendance 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. as demanded in formal primary schools are too unrealistic. Even then, the school uniforms and small levies demanded at Formal Primary schools are too much. These combined with the acute “we are finished” attitudes of the rural poor, losing close bread winning relatives to AIDS, has led to many formal Primary Schools drop-outs. With AIDS still around the numbers are destined to continue. The government policy of Universal Primary Education (U.P.E) is thus meaningless to these special group orphans and adolescents. Some must care for themselves, others, and most of all - their sickly parents.
Realizing this horrible situation, Local communities set up Community schools in 1996. An NGO, ACTIONAID UGANDA came to the communities’ assistance and trained volunteers in the community in primary teaching techniques based on the REFLECT approach. This approach compressed the 7-year formal Schools curriculum to 3 years. It threw out the grading, classes and promotions based on exam performance as the normal in formal Schools. Here grading was based on the instructors continuous assessment of pupils. What has the pupil learnt? It’s on the basis of that question that the Instructor gauged what the pupil could do next. The Non-formal system threw out the rigid 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 P.m. School day and introduced a 3 hr school day. These hours were chosen at convenience of pupils. A child family head could tend gardens till midday cook lunch and be at school from 1 to 4 P.m. Even the adolescent now aged 15 could survive the horror of joining Primary one (starting class for anybody who has never been to school in Formal school). In joining the class – less Non formal Schools, only his/her instructor could tell his knowledge level there by swallowing up all drop-outs.
The Local NGO paid the NFE instructors’ allowances and teaching utensils and the communities erected the school structures. Due to acute poverty, these are mainly mud and wattle structures thatched with grass. ACTIONAID 5-year fund-life for this NFE project expired. The centres (NFE) were handed over to Local governments and community. The local government converted some of the centres to formal schools (UPE Schools), closed some (in fact most) and surrendered others to willing NGOs to sustain. The community remains desperate. The need for sustainability of this flexible Non formal Education system given this AIDS – related Social Era is more than it ever was during the project conception in 1996.
There is need to continue the NFE centres and support the REFLECT circles that are presently struggling with basic operations costs. There is need to set up Skills development projects, OVC economic interventions, counseling and OVC rights advocacy campaigns
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