A way of life in lower primary

MS Uganda is working hand in hand with the National Curriculum Development Centre, NCDC to mainstream “Democracy as a way of life” into the curriculum of lower primary classes (P1-P3) beginning 2007. Henry Muguzi reports from one of the workshops with stakeholders in the education sector.

Since 1999, MS Uganda has been running a series of advocacy projects with the aim of contributing to the creation of a culture of democracy and participation in the development of Uganda at all levels. This has been done in collaboration with MS Uganda’s 35 partners and mostly through public information campaigns using posters, cartoons and booklets. In 2005 the NCDC invited MS Uganda to contribute to the review of the Primary School curriculum. With effect from 2007, the thematic curriculum of lower primary classes (P1-P3) will mainstream democracy as a way of life. MS Uganda was invited to contribute to the review of the secondary curriculum.

Involving Stakeholders

To spell out and review the secondary curriculum, MS Uganda and NCDC jointly organised a stakeholder’s workshop in Kampala - August 2006. It focused at reviewing the secondary school curriculum in order to incorporate in it Democracy as a way of life. The stakeholders at the workshop included among others: representatives from the ministry of Education and Sports, Local Government, Directors of National Teacher Training Colleges, Uganda National Examinations Board, Secondary Schools Teachers, civil society organisations and students.

Practice democracy

One of the key guest speaker during the stakeholders’ workshop, Professor Dan Nabudere wondered whether the current education curriculum of Uganda responds to the challenges of conflict and poverty which characterize the African continent. He challenged the participants to practice democracy at personal level and advised them to retain the positive and democratic cultural values.

Nabudere’s contribution to the workshop made people sit up and pay attention because he made it crystal clear that democracy was not only about elections and who is in government, but about themselves. He also emphasised the fact that democracy is not a foreign concept but can be traced in all African traditions.

- Before preaching democracy to other people, it is vital that people start living democratically at family level and in their workplaces, he said. Professor Dan Nabudere is a renowned researcher and academician on issues of democracy and good governance.

Preparing more

The MS Democracy team which comprises of Mie Hersted, Rita Pobo and Alex Jurua is now preparing comprehensive training materials for training trainers to implement the concept of democracy as a way of life. A series of teacher training workshops on democracy are being conducted by the National Curriculum Development Centre. Already the team worked with ULGA to develop a training manual for the wider community on democracy as a way of life. Four handbooks of the same manual were presented to the ministry of Local Government for approval.

The manuals were pre-tested with pupils and communities in different regions of Uganda and were found to be appropriate. Mie Hersted, a member of the MS Democracy Team observed that,

- the best approach in furthering democracy is targeting the young ones and nurture the principles of good governance right from primary schools.

New Materials

The materials to train and mobilise communities for democracy have already been secured. They include a new version of the cartoon book, posters and a box of debate cards.

Rita Popo another member of the team explained that,

- The focus of these materials is on changing the conceptualization of democracy from being seen as a political issue to being perceived as something that must be practiced in homes, places of work and other ways of life.

A Memorandum of Understanding between the MS democracy team and the National Curriculum Development Centre (NCDC) is set to be signed to benchmark what will turn out to be a long-time strategic partnership and define the principles of engagement.

Mobilisation and awareness has been made, and there is commitment from all stakeholders that are actively participating in the democracy activities.

- For example, the ministry of education has already given a go-head to the National Curriculum Development Centre to integrate the changes in lower primary classes with effect from academic year 2007. The challenges of this undertaking are however enormous. First, it calls for re-orienting of all the primary teachers in the country and the NCDC does not seem to have enough resources to do so. Secondly, there has been some negative perception and politicking derived from using the word democracy which has for decades been associated only with politics.

The team is optimistic that the good will and commitment of the NCDC will make the project a success. So why not apply democracy as a way of life in whatever you do?