Parents
UGANDA'S Catholic parents' and teachers' organisations have appealed to the Government to maintain Uganda's traditional system of providing State aid for denominational schools.
in separate messages to the recently established national education enquiry committee, which is expected to report on the whole educational system some time this month, both groups emphasised the rights of parents in the education of their children.
The parents' committee, in a 3,000-word statement, noted that the great majority of the country's primary and secondary schools were denominational, and added: "These schools have not only produced great leaders in Church matters, but also the majority of the civil rulers have had their elementary training at least in Christian schools".
The memorandum asked the government to help remedy the "wastage" of teacher-time and school space caused by underattendance by "instructing our people in the usefulness of education". It is said that parents' inability to provide tuition fees or lunch money for their children was one of the major reasons why only 50 per cent of primary school-age children attend school.
The Uganda Catholic Teachers' Guild stressed in its submission to the committee that "it is the duty of the government to uphold the rights of parents, who arc also taxpayers".
Catholic teachers. it pointed out, had no objection to teaching children of other denominations in Catholic schools but "they stand strongly behind the rights of parents to send their children to schools of their own denomination".