Promoting Real Healthy Families: Home Economics

Complexities on diversity in languages is a challenge to the acquisition of quality education.

A research that Kole Intellectual Forum is exploring into to find how these issues of languistic diversities can be accommodated to bring about a clear and unquestionable positive results in the quality of education in Uganda, particularly in Kole District

Kole Intellectual Forum is mainly focused on the issue of using mother tongue / local language as a medium of instruction and how this relates to learning outcomes. Following the background that, in Uganda, there is an existing language policy, which requires the use of pupils' mother tongues or a common area language as a medium of instruction from Primary 1 to Primary 3. 

The team of the organization argued that while the policy is well-intentioned, it is faced with a number of challenges in practice and has not yet translated into desirable learning outcomes. For example, due to the linguistic diversity of Uganda even within smaller geographical areas, choosing to use one local language as a medium of instruction in one given village may exclude some learners who do not speak the language, thus, affecting their learning.

In all this, the team noted teachers to be a key factor, yet they have hardly been well-supported to implement the language policy. A recent spotlight study by the organization reported on basic education completion and foundational learning in Uganda highlighted a scarcity of curriculum documents and teacher guides. Where these existed, they were all in English, inserting more pressure on the teachers to be language interpreters while delivering the curriculum (Nakabugo et al 2024).

In her final submission, Kole Intellectual Forum argued that, improving children’s learning outcomes requires much more than simply having in place a language in education policy that requires the use of local language as a medium of instruction. Other factors, such as support to teachers, availability of resources, the support to learners and parental and community awareness of the value of the policy need to be considered.

Community, organizational & students: Child Development

The stakeholders above of Kole Intellectual Forum have agreed to meet periodically to discuss their children’s development needs and if possible, design means and ways of addressing them.

The meeting look at the children's physical, mental, and emotional well-being support as the key elements of their overall development, an if it’s properly addressed, it can help them to grow, learn, and build the skills they need to reach their full potential.

Others elements of their development were found out to be embedded into their warmth, loving and affectionate relationship among themselves, school administrations and the parents which are expected to make them feel safe and secure. This sense of security is known as bonding or attachment. When your child feels secure they are more likely to be happy and confident, and be able to confront any challenge that comes his/her way.

Kole Intellectual Forum is promoting this kind of meeting because their research has shown it to them that: if there is a good consistent interaction with the child at early childhood; that child would endeavor to have a direct positive impact and a long-term health with promising future opportunities, school attainment as well as exploring into her or his potential.