The government of Uganda introduced the mother tongue education programme with hope of improving literacy levels 12 years ago.

In a recently published study we conducted in 2018 in three rural schools in Northern Uganda, Gulu District, we found that teachers complained about inadequate training in the mother tongue, Acoli.

This limited training affected the teaching of the learners' mother tongue and ultimately, the level of literacy acquisition, which is both slow and poor.

National exam data from 2017 where children in Grades 1 to 3 were assessed in English and local languages in government schools, showed that only 27% of the pupils could identify 4 out of 5 Acoli letters.

These organisations are involved in various activities such as teacher training, provision of teaching and reading materials and sensitising the community about the value of mother tongue education.