Dokolo Parents Recommend Screening of P7 Candidates to Improve Academic Performance

Dokolo District, one of the districts in the Lango sub-region, has been grappling with poor academic performance in the Primary Leaving Examinations (PLE). The 2024 PLE results placed the district among the least-performing in the region, raising serious concerns among education stakeholders, parents, and government authorities.

Now, the dismal results have prompted local authorities to take drastic measures in addressing the root causes of underperformance. 

Among these measures is an operation led by the Resident District Commissioner (RDC) of Dokolo, Babra Akech, that was earlier initiated at the beginning of the first term of 2025. The operation aims at ensuring that all school-aged children are attending school.

In an unprecedented move, several parents and their children have been arrested in an effort to understand why many children were still at home instead of being in school. The initiative, spearheaded by RDC Akech, has recently led to a significant increase in school attendance across various government schools in the district.

During an interview with QFM on Monday, February 24, 2025, RDC Akech expressed satisfaction with the current level of commitment shown by parents and teachers towards improving education in Dokolo.

“Both parents and teachers are now playing their role in ensuring that education standards improve in Dokolo District,” Akech stated.

Following a series of community meetings held by RDC Akech with parents, stakeholders, head teachers, and technical education officers across various sub-counties in Dokolo, a new proposal has equally emerged, with many parents expressing concerns about the automatic promotion of pupils from one class to another without assessing their readiness to advance.

They strongly recommend that before registering candidates for the Primary Leaving Examinations (PLE), there should be a screening process to assess the academic competence of each P7 pupil.

According to the parents, this measure would ensure that only qualified pupils sit for the national exams, thereby improving the district’s overall performance.

Mary Adongo, a parent, challenge that there is need to stop the habit of pushing pupils to sit for PLE simply because they have reached P7. 

"Many children are not adequately prepared, and this is why we continue to get poor results,” Adongo said.

The parents also emphasized that continuous assessment should be a mandatory practice, ensuring that only capable learners progress to the next level. They blamed the practice of automatic promotion, where teachers move pupils to the next class regardless of their performance, for the consistently poor results in the district.

Beyond screening P7 candidates, a parent identified as John Opio also called for the revival of debate competitions among primary schools in the district citing that inter-school debates will enhance learners' critical thinking, confidence, and communication skills, which are essential for academic excellence.

“In the past, debate competitions were a strong tool for sharpening pupils’ ability to express themselves and think critically. We need to bring them back,” Opio added.

Furthermore, parents urged head teachers to ensure that pupils are given homework regularly, a practice commonly seen in private schools noting that most government schools do not assign homework, leaving children idle after school hours, which contributes to poor academic performance.

Dokolo District has been struggling with several challenges that contribute to poor acdemic performance. These challenges include; high absenteeism and school dropout, inadequate parental involvement, shortage of qualified teachers and learning materials, poor school infrastructure, and lack of motivation among teachers and learners.

In response to the education crisis in Dokolo, various stakeholders have proposed several strategies to improve performance including; implementation of P7 screening policy, strengthening continuous assessment, enhancing parental involvement, reviving debate competitions and homework assignments, and improving school infrastructure and learning materials.

Others are implementing teacher motivation aspects and capacity building, and engaging in community sensitization on importance of education,

The push by Dokolo District parents to introduce screening of P7 candidates before PLE registration is a bold step toward improving academic performance. If well-implemented, this initiative, coupled with other recommendations such as restoring debate competitions and enforcing continuous assessment, could significantly transform education in the district.

With the combined efforts of parents, teachers, government authorities, and other education stakeholders, Dokolo District can overcome its academic challenges and achieve better results in the coming years.