Major issues

1. Focus on Schooling :access, quality and relevance of education for rural childrenChair Person : Hon. Minister Gerald Namerembe BitamazireMajor facilitator: Dr. Lavinia GasperiniRaportour : Dr. Azene Bekele-Tesemma

2. Major issues • Access/equity • EIMS to monitor progress in ERP • School building policy tailored to MGT • School feeding on homegrown food crops • Affirmative actions for attracting and retaining girls to complete primary schools • Distance learning including radio-education and ICT as appropriate • Financial and material support for educating rural HIV/AIDS orphans in livelihood support programs • Quality /Relevance • Having indicators for monitoring quality • Research and technical assistance in characterization of learning needs and quality of rural communities as a tool for decision making • Strengthen and compile data bank • accumulation, retrieving, repackaging and disseminating knowledge and information for improved relevance of learning of the rural communities

3. Targets • Rural children • Girls • Disabled • Children at work • Refuges/displaced • Minority ethnic groups • Nomadic/pastoralist/remote dwellers

4. Recommendations • Examine GMO food relevance to school feeding program • Governments to ratify conventions related to children • Take incentive measures to families to avoid children exploitation at home and promoting schooling • Create gender responsive environment in and around the schooling communities • Promote involvement of communities in school governance • Measure the quality of students interims of skills and competence that they have obtained

5. Recommendations continued • Promote decentralization of curriculums to capture the needs and cultures of rural people • Issue policies that encourage the built-up of infrastructures necessary for rural learning and rural enterprising • Issue policies that make availability of training materials books free of charge • Develop indicators for assessing the current learning status and monitoring progress being made periodically • Adopt MGT as a tool to improve access • Focus on skills that have relevance to improved livelihoods of rural communities

6. Recommendations continued • Develop curriculums focusing on mainstreaming training in marketable basic skills at basic education programs (eg. Grafting mangoes, artificial insemination for cows, preserving and storage, market intelligence, etc.) • Encourage Tertiary level education to be connected to adding value of the productions of the rural communities • Governments to promote education/training for farmers’ children on off-farm jobs that are relevant for adding value to on-farm activities of the communities

7. Recommendations continued • Issue policies that target education relevant to wealth creation in the rural setting • Government to create support infrastructures such as energy, roads, markets and grassroots organizations which have bearing to better schooling • Create a mechanism by which relevant institutions and professions can complimentarily cooperate for relevance of education for rural people • Focus on complementarities between education and training