Mr Filbert Baguma, the General Secretary of Uganda National Teachers’ Union (UNATU) has implored the media to get facts in schools and report more on education as this will help on improving the education system of Uganda.
“Currently there groups of people who go and bombard schools and take away girls on boda boda, we need all these facts to come through the media such that the public is aware of what is going on” Baguma highlighted.
Baguma made these remarks at the National Media Dialogue on Education organized by Media Challenge Initiative in Kabalagala on Wednesday.
The General Secretary also noted that the country lately has schools that completely have no male children and this is due to the economic activities around these education institutions.
“All this needs to be highlighted and reported by the media because when they do, it will possibly change the minds of the powers that make policies” he added.
After the covid19 lockdown and school closure that stretched up to two years, Uganda’s education system situation worsened and a huge gap in the sector developed leading to a big number of young girls getting pregnant.
Baguma however applauded the media for their extensive coverage of teenage pregnancies that happened during the covid19 lockdown highlighting that all this came to light through the media and without doubt their coverage had an impact.
On the issue of high unemployment among graduates, Baguma said that there is a need to go back to the drawing table to identify what students are subjected to learn versus what is in the outside world plus also strengthening the collaboration between students and employers.
In her submission, Brenda Namata a communication specialist at Uganda Media Women’s Association highlighted that the media while reporting on education issues should always embark on their core values of sensitizing and informing the public plus also working towards solution-based journalism as this will help in providing solutions that will keep the girl child in school.
Mpindi Abaas the Chief Executive Officer of Media Challenge Initiative (MCI) noted that the legislators are doing a good job to represent their communities but the media too should be seen as reflecting the country as a whole.
“We have rural news deserts that arise from news outlets focusing on urban centers which deny the public the chance to hear important stories happening in rural areas. We want to create means of how these stories can penetrate to the national conversation” Mpindi articulated.
The CEO also added that the main aim of this dialogue that was organized by DW Akademie in partnership with MCI was to link journalists with custodians to public information such that the public gets balanced news and views.
Abaas also highlighted that much as this dialogue was focused on education, MCI will traverse all other sectors too, and while on this they will work with a section of community reporters who will decide on which sector and challenge to address.
