The Resident District Commissioner (RDC) of Tororo, Mr Nickson Owole, has ordered heads of post-primary education institutions to consider reviving patriotism clubs, as a way to help instill a sense of love for their country among their students.
He noted, during the pass out of 2,100 patriots drawn from various secondary schools in the district, that introducing learners to Patriotism at a tender age could hold them back from indulging in violent activities like strikes.
Mr Owole lauded the heads of schools for introducing learners to patriotism skills and challenged the students to develop a heart of love towards their country.
“A strike in a school is an academic poison and usually learners who participate in organizing or leading strikes do not excel in academics. They often become a problem in the society so my prayer is that the skills you have acquired help to mold you into a responsible person who is always conscious of any decision you are about to take” Mr Owole appealed.
According to Mr Owole, the essence of patriotism is to instill a sense of ownership and develop change of mindset, after which he instructed the head of the patriotism secretariat at the district to submit a list of all secondary schools that have not established patriotism clubs.
Mr Luke Emurion, the coordinator of patriotism activities in the district revealed that a number of schools did not send their students for the training claiming it was waste of resources and time.
“Dear guest of honor, we wrote letters to every post primary educational institution asking them to send their senior one, two and senior five students for the training including the budget but some of them have not responded to the call and it is not the first time, so we cannot force them,” he explained.
He added that the response rate in most of the government-aided institutions was higher than in privately owned institutions, also disclosing that this year’s training has registered a higher turn up of female students than their male counterparts.