ii) State of Education - The Education department is mandated to increase the levels of education and literacy in the district; which is vital in promoting sustainable development. The department obliged to plan primary education, although it provides policy guidance to secondary schools and post primary institutions in the district.
Education Institutions
Distribution of Primary Schools by Country and Ownership
|
County
|
Government Aided
|
Private/ Licensed
|
|
Kibuku
|
41
|
1
|
|
Bulebo
|
42
|
0
|
|
Pallisa
|
60
|
3
|
|
Total
|
143
|
4
|
Distribution of Secondary Schools by County and Ownership
|
County
|
Government Aided
|
Private/Licensed
|
|
Kibuku
|
4
|
3
|
|
Butebo
|
5
|
2
|
|
Pallisa
|
5
|
5
|
|
Total
|
14
|
10
|
There are 24 secondary schools of which 14 are government aided and 10 are private (Licensed/Registered). The government aided schools are almost equally distributed among the counties with
Pallisa and Butebo Counties were having 5 schools each and Kibuku County having 4 schools. However when it comes to private schools, Pallisa County has 5 schools which is the same as the total number of private schools in Kibuku and Butebo counties. Almost half of the secondary schools are in Pallisa County, 29. Therefore, all together, Pallisa County has 42% (10) of the secondary schools; while Butebo and Kibuku each have 29% (7). The district has one primary teachers college (Kabwangasi Primary Teachers College) at Kabwangasi Sub County in Butebo County and three technical institutions of which one is private. The governments aided are Nagwere Technical School in Butebo County and Kasodo Technical Institute in Pallisa County. The Private one is located in Kibuku County. The district does not have a fully registered and functional university but has branches of Busitema University and Busoga University that are operational.
Inspectorate
The inspectorate division was created to ensure that quality education is delivered to the pupils and students. The inspectorate section does this through: Routine school inspection, Monitoring of the national curriculum implementation in school, Licensing and registering private schools, evaluating the performance of teachers of pupils through various modes of assessment and Identifying and recommending relevant scholastic materials that suit curriculum implementation
Special needs education
Special needs section, deals with children that have disabilities in school. The section carries out activities like:
• Identifying, assessing, placing and referring children with special needs,
• Guiding and counselling parents, pupils, teachers and the community on special needs education
• Coordinating with other organizations which support special needs in the district and outside like Kumi hospital
• Training teachers how to manage children with special needs
• Giving support supervision to teachers
In 1997 DANIDA offered programme support covering all the schools in the district and this wound up in 2002. This programme catered for children with special educational needs in the categories of:-Visual impairment, Physical impairment, Mental retardation, Hearing impairment and Autism. Given that the district does not have a specific school for children with disabilities, some of children with disabilities have been placed in ordinary schools, while others with physical disabilities have been referred to Kumi for surgery. Disability friendly structures have also been constructed in schools and these include ramps and latrines for physical disabilities. The teachers for special learning have been rationalized in such a way that there is at least a teacher for or in charge of special learning in each school and a coordinator for special needs education established at each sub county. Although Pallisa district Union for persons with disabilities is constructing an office block, there is a critical need of establishing special schools for children with severe disabilities in the district.
