Kabale University Interdisciplinary Research Journal (KURJ)
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Teacher rewards and their performance: a case study of selected secondary schools in southern division, Kabale municipality
Get PDFTeachers’ performance management is a continuous process for identifying, evaluating and developing the work performance of teachers, so that the goals and objectives of the schools are more effectively achieved, while at the same time benefiting teachers. This study was carried out to how teacher rewards influence their performance. A case study of selected secondary schools in Southern Division, Kabale Municipality. The study used cross sectional survey research design. Both quantitative and qualitative approaches were utilized for data collection and analysis Interviews guides were used to collect qualitative data while structured questionnaires instrument was used to collect quantitative data. The study participants were 55 teachers, and 15head teachers in the selected secondary schools in southern division Kabale municipality. The researcher used systematic analysis method to analyze quantitative data and thematic data analysis to analyze qualitative data. The study established that, teachers’ rewards is highly influenced their performance, and also, financial rewards highly influenced the teachers’ rewards in secondary schools in southern division, Kabale municipality. Finally, it was recommended that the Government of Uganda and the Ministry of Education and sports should provide adequate information and counseling to teachers on creating an environment, inside the classroom and beyond where students can talk openly about their learning, their challenges and what allows them to succeed, teachers’ salaries should be determined according to sector needs as opposed to macro-economic policy requirements if Uganda is to attain the Millennium Development Goals related to Education, there is also a need to continuously engage teachers in the National teachers Union (UNATU) a statutory representative of teachers at all levels in both private and government sectors; this will enable teachers to consult on educational, labor and other relevant issues
The transition from the stone age to Iron age in East Africa: excavations at Nkuba rock shelter, Bussi Island, Lake Victoria, Uganda
Get PDFThe Stone to Iron Age transition in northern Lake Victoria Nyanza is typically associated with the spread of Bantu speaking people from Cameroon to east Africa in the first millennium BC. Here we present the results of excavations carried out in 2006 at Nkuba rock shelter on Bussi Island on Lake Victoria, Uganda, where both Late Stone Age lithic materials dating ca. 1411-1275 BC, and Early Iron Age (EIA) Urewe ceramics dating between ca. 1303-1123 BC and ca. 771-887 AD were found. The Urewe horizon is characterised by both ceramics and lithics, and represents an intermediate stage between the lithic dominated Later Stone Age (LSA) phase of occupation, and the Later Iron Age (LIA) phase that has ceramics but no lithics. Analysis of seeds and bones revealed no evidence of domestic agriculture or pastoralism at the site. The site was dated for the very first time and elements of continuity between occupation phases suggest gradual process of transition rather than abrupt transition / population replacement
Promoting work-family balance as a strategy for optimising female faculty productivity in Uganda’s public universities
Get PDFScholarship on Work-Family Balance (WFB) has increased since the 1970s when employees, including those in universities, began realising that fulfilling job demands was attained at the expense of their family life, and vice-versa. Much of this research has, however, examined how to balance job and family responsibilities. Little effort has been made to analyse employees’ Work-Work Balance (WWB) and how it and WLB affect their productivity. This gap is specifically evident in the context of female faculty members whose job, moreover, has different demanding dimensions that include teaching, research, community service and administrative work for those in managerial positions. Additionally, as females, these lecturers tend to play more family roles compared to their male counterparts especially in African settings such as Uganda. This article fills this gap by analysing this effect. The article is based on a cross-sectional survey that involved 230 female faculty members randomly selected from three also randomly selected public universities in Uganda. Quantitative questionnaire data was collected and analysed using descriptive and multiple regression analysis. The key findings indicate that 84.6% of these faculty members did not realise desired WFB, 87.4% did not attain desired WWB and 73.9% were underproductive in all their job dimensions of teaching, research, community service and administrative activities due to performing them simultaneously. WFB and WWB predicted these lecturers’ productivity in teaching, research and community service in a significantly positive, suggesting that improving each of them translates into a significant improvement in the lecturers’ productivity. The management of Uganda’s public universities was hence urged to adopt strategies that improve WFB and WWB, including allowing these lecturers to concentrate on one dimension of their job at a time instead of requiring them to perform all the dimensions concurrently as this leads to suboptimal productivity in each dimension. 
Lived experiences and perceptions of COVID-19 survivors, caregivers and frontline health workers on the COVID 19 disease in Kabale District
Get PDFThe study's main goal was to understand how COVID 19 victims, their caregivers, and primary healthcare providers in Kabale district experienced and perceived home-based care, in order to help the district taskforce for COVID 19 and the national a task force improve their pandemic response plans. The study was guided by the specific objectives which include; identifying the perceptions of COVID-19 survivors on risks, fears and characteristics of COVID-19 disease, the perceptions of COVID 19 home-based caregivers on COVID 19 disease, the lived experiences of home-based care of COVID-19 survivors, their caregivers and frontline health workers in Kabale district, and the perceptions of frontline health workers on COVID 19 pandemic response in Kabale district. A qualitative study design with a descriptive phenomenological methodology, were adopted to explore the lived experiences of COVID-19 survivors, frontline health workers, caregivers, and home-based caregivers. On the COVID-19's onset, testing, and development, all 59 individuals who participated tested positive for COVID-19; 40 of them were homebased employees at the time of their positive test, while 19 of them were not, but they were still taking precautions like frequently donning masks, frequently washing their hands, avoiding social situations, isolating themselves from others, and drinking clean water. It was found that caregivers had to keep watching and caring for the patients, preparing hot drinks, giving medication at night, paying maximum attention and ensuring the patients took medication, feeding the patient right diet, washing cloths and other chores for the patients, making contacts with the family of the isolated patients. The home-based care givers reported daily practices as ensuring hygiene and clean environment
Anxiety and fear of negative evaluation as predictors of hypomanic activity among freshly admitted university students in Lagos Nigeria
Get PDFThis study examines whether anxiety and fear of negative evaluation predict hypomanic activity among new entrants to the University. A total of 350 first-year students comprising 181(51.7%) females and 169 (48.3%) males, selected from various departments and faculties of the University of Lagos, Nigeria, surveyed through convenient sampling, participated in the study. State-Trait Anxiety Inventory: Fear of Negative Evaluation scale and Hypomania scale of Multiphasic Personality Inventory 2 (MMPI-2) were used to collect data for the study. The result of the regression analysis indicates that anxiety predicts hypomanic activity (R=. 122, R square=. 012, F ratio = 5.21, Pv=. 23), and the t-test revealed that male participants (t (348) =-3.560, Pv=0.001) scored higher on measures of hypomanic activity compared to their female counterparts. It also found that fear of negative evaluation does not predict hypomanic activity, while anxiety and fear of negative evaluation have no combined predictive ability on hypomanic activity; participants' age has no association with hypomanic activity. We recommend that parents and university administration implement interventions to reduce anxiety-provoking situations among freshers to ensure an easy adjustment into the university environment
The effect of fractionation of the essential oil from pinus syvestris on the synergistic and antagonistic medicinal activities
Get PDFCrude and fractionated essential oils from the seed of Pinus sylvestris were analysed by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) and was evaluated for their synergistic and antagonistic medicinal activities against E.coli, Klebsiella pneumonia and Bacillus cereus. Column Chromatographic revealed that highest yield was obtained from fraction P1. The GC-MS analysis revealed major chemical constituents like isoborneol, Fenchol, δ-terpineol, Terpine-1-ol and Diisooctyl phthalate across the samples. The phytochemicals obtained showed the present of alkaloids, phenolic acid, tannin, saponin, flavonoids, terpenoids and cardiac glycosides in all the samples except alkaloids that was absent in the crude essential oil. The values for antioxidant and the ABTS activities varied across the samples with fraction P3 having the lowest IC50 value in both assays. For the α-amylase assay, least value was recorded for fraction P2 while for α-glucosidase assay, fraction P4 recorded the least value. The crude essential oil with a MIC value of 6.20 mg/mL was most effective against E.coli, while fractions P1, P2 and P4 and the crude essential oil were most effective against K. pneumonia, and fraction P2 was most effective against B. cereus. All the fractions and crude essential oil showed antioxidant, antidiabetic, and antibacterial activities, the activities of the crude essential oil were synergic only in relation to antibacterial activity on E.coli, while all the fractions proved the antagonistic activity of some components in the crude essential oil
Analysis of viability of core inflation components based on excluded items in Uganda
Get PDFThe motivation behind this study was to investigate the viability of core inflation components based on traditionally excluded items of the consumer price index in Uganda. Particularly, this was achieved through subjecting all Energy, Fuel and Utilities (E,FU) and Food crops to volatility and persistence tests. The study used time series data obtained from the Uganda Bureau of Statistics (UBOS) for the period July 2010 to June 2017 and covered all the 10 baskets monitored by UBOS. The measurement variables included volatility and persistenceIn this paper, the sum of the coefficients of an AR (q) model is used as a measure of persistence. In the study, food and related items are noted to be more volatile than EFU items. Particularly tobacco leaves, peas, matooke and malewa recorded the highest volatility with a low persistence while cassava fresh, water melons, apples, ground nuts and french beans recorded the least price volatility during the study period. On the other hand, the EFU items namely petrol, diesel, paraffin, Uganda National Water (UNW), firewood and electricity recorded the least variation in prices with a high persistence during the study period. The study further indicated that inclusion of the EFU and food items found to be less volatile and highly persistent, did not yield significantly different results when comparing means of the recompiled and existing core index at 5 percent level of significance. However, the recompiled core index was more precise than the existing core index because the standard error was reduced by 7 percent. In light of the findings, this study recommends a periodical review of the core inflation components based on both volatility and persistence in order to improve estimates
Mobile money usage and financial inclusion in Uganda
Get PDFGiving the less fortunate in developing and emerging nations like Uganda the mobile money they need opens up a world of opportunity for banks and newly emerging financial technology companies. In contrast to its siblings, such as automated teller machines, online banking, point-of-sale banking, etc., many people view mobile money services as a distinct domain within the banking and payment business. The purpose of this study was to establish the relationship between mobile money usage and financial inclusion. A conceptual model based on the stimulus-organism-response paradigm is presented in this work. The key objectives set for the study included;
To identify the level of mobile money usage in Uganda.
To identify the level of financial inclusion in Uganda.
To determine the effect of mobile money usage on financial inclusion in Uganda.
To establish the relationship between mobile money usage and financial inclusion in Uganda.
The study used a cross sectional research design to collect data from mobile money users located in Kabale district, western Uganda. A correlational research design was also used to establish the relationship. Both quantitative and qualitative approaches were adopted.
The findings revealed that there is a strong relationship between mobile money usage and financial inclusion (r = 0.670, p< 0.01). Similarly, the findings indicated that mobile money usage influences financial inclusion by 45%
Biology practical influence on students’ academic performance in Ilorin- East LGA, Kwara State: a statistical analysis
Get PDFThe study looked at the statistical analysis of how biology lab work affected senior secondary students' academic performance in Ilorin East, Kwara State, Nigeria. The research was a form of descriptive survey in Ilorin East L.G.A., Kwara State. 120 pupils were sampled for the study utilizing a proportionate and easy random selection procedure. To gather data from respondents, a questionnaire that had been carefully constructed was used. Utilizing percentage, mean, frequency count, independent t test, ANOVA at 0.05alpha level of significant. Three research questions and two research hypotheses that had been formulated. The study's findings showed that biology practical has a significant impact on senior secondary school students' academic performance as well as their level of comprehension and retention abilities. However, there was no significant impact of biology practical on students' academic performance based on gender but it was significant based on class size. The Ministry of Education should provide adequate laboratory equipment and a good laboratory environment to foster a spirit of curiosity in students, and stakeholders should build more infrastructure, such as laboratories, classrooms, and other spaces, in order to facilitate better understanding among the student
Students’ perception toward mobile-based blended pedagogy: an emerging paradigm in a post-pandemic Nigerian tertiary institution
Get PDFThis study focuses on the perception of undergraduate students towards the use of the Telegram software application; a cloud-based social network channel for mobile devices and work station. The purpose of this investigation is to determine whether undergraduate students in the University of Benin, Edo State, Nigeria support the blending of this mobile-based technology with the regular face-to-face classroom lectures. Research design for this study involves a cross sectional online survey with data collection from four hundred and one (401) students. Findings reveal that majority of respondents 386 (96.3%) were within the 15-30 year age group, a quarter of the respondents described the overall effect of the online lectures compared to the physical teaching style as excellent 112 (27.9%) with a majority of the students 322 (80.3%) supportive of blending the Telegram software application with the regular face-to-face classroom teaching. In conclusion, where blended learning is employed, academic performance can be improved. Policy and curriculum modification, and infrastructure to fully embrace blended learning approaches to lecture delivery in public universities in Nigeria are recommended