Primary School Mathematics Education

School text books sold on the street

When her daughter was joining Namagunga Primary School last year, Ms Namata was asked to buy at least three textbooks of different authors per subject. She wondered if a P2 child was going to use the books in that year because as a requirement, every pupil in the school is expected to buy the textbooks for every subject in the level they have reached.

She added: “I am a guardian to a student at Kibuli Secondary School. We were also asked to buy textbooks but hardly had the term ended when the boy called me telling me that someone had cut his suitcase and stolen all the books worth Shs200,000.” This is the dilemma of many parents. Schools demand for books but whether the students use them or not is another issue.

In Kiboga District, the education officer, Mr Prosper Lwamasaka, recently reported that about seven government primary schools have lost textbooks worth millions of shillings to suspected thieves. He said the government had, as an intervention supplied books to schools including Lunya, Sinde, Kalagala, Kirinda, Bukomero and Kasega, but some people broke into the lockers where the books were kept and stole them. However, he could not put a cost to the stolen books.

“The government distributed new textbooks to seven schools in my district. We have not yet established who stole them and where they were sold. But police are handling it. I encourage teachers to put books in the hands of children because if the children are using them, it will be difficult for thieves to take them,” Mr Lwamasaka said on phone.

“The public wants to blame the Ministry of Education when there are eventualities. The parents must ensure before they take their children to any school that they inspect the laboratories, library, dormitories, washrooms and find out if the school has qualified teachers,” Mr Lubwama said. But walking on Kampala streets, one asks where books sold on these streets come from.

For Judith Ninsiima, a student at Royal College Makindye, she would rather buy books on the street than go to bookshops because she believes they are generally cheaper. She says although her mother is strict on what she buys, as a person, she doesn’t mind whether the book has a stamp as long as she can have some change to help her go and watch a film at National Theatre.

A Survey of Instructional Methods used by Primary School Teachers ...

The purpose of general education is to provide rich and significant experiences in the major aspects of living. This is directed so as to promote the fullest possible realization of personal potentialities and the most effective participation in a democratic society. The contributory role of basic mathematics curriculum in achieving these laudable goals cannot be over emphasized especially in the primary school. This is why there is much emphasis on mathematics as a core subject in the primary and secondary school levels of education in Nigeria (FGN 2004). Mathematics as a bedrock of science and technology and as a school subject is recognized as the foundation without which a nation cannot become prosperous and economically dependent (Umonyang, 1997).This underscores the significance of the mathematical competence of all the learners at basic level of education, at the same time the need for teachers to make learning of mathematics more interesting to the learner  is imperative. In order words, good teaching should begin with the teacher having a clear, mental way of the exact changes he has to bring about in the learner.

Mathematics is a tool used in the daily lives of the individual. Every daily activity of man requires the knowledge and use of mathematics inquiry needed for action learning to take place which will help learners to develop essential 21st century skills through relevant and authentic content and contexts in the MDG. Agwagah, (1996) stressed the important role of mathematics and mathematics teachers in national development in actualising the needs of the learner and society in MDG programmes. Teachers’ method of instruction has not been effective in meeting the needs of this national development in Nigeria. Teacher instructional strategies especially at the foundation level of teaching and learning is a vital aspect of the nation’s productively independent (Okolo, 2000).

Research reports (Bruner, 1996, Darling-Hammond & Snyder, 1992) have indicated that changes are necessary in the way mathematics is been handled. The traditional method of instruction does not relate mathematical problems to the real world, help students think about realistic situations, or help students to generate and pose their own solutions. As a result, students may become unmotivated to learn and unconnected with what the teacher is doing in the classroom, developing an overall negative attitude towards mathematics.

Why school?, reclaiming education for all of us

Mathematics, a very short introduction

Mathematics, the new golden age

School, the story of American public education

Mathematics, The Science of Patterns: The Search for Order in Life, Mind and the Universe