Critically evaluate the Uganda’s National Examination Board’s UCE and UACE syllabuses for Literature in English and; a)What socio-economic and political reasons justifies the syllabuses b)If it were upto you,make a list of possible literary texts you would propose to be taught. Gitira Cynthia, Ato Bella Vicky, Ayerango Freda and Nyafwono Christine

The following are the aims of teaching literature according to the National Curriculum Development Centre; To provide an introduction to African and world literature through the study of works which are likely to be appreciated, to develop the culture of reading for pleasure, to enhance students linguistic, aesthetic and creative growth and to promote the understanding and appreciation of the value of national unity, patriotism and cultural heritage. According to Uganda National Examination Board, the following books constitutes section A on the UCE examination board; William Shakespeare’s ‘The merchant of Venice’, Francis Imbuga’s ‘Betrayal in the city ‘and Laury Lawrence Ocen’s ‘The Alien woman’. There are various socio-economic and political reasons that justify the above selected books as unveiled below: “BETRAYAL IN THE CITY” by Francis Imbuga ‘Betrayal in the city’ is a play written by Francis Imbuga. It examines the problems of independence and freedom in post-colonial Africa states, where few believe they have a stake in the future. Africans end up disappointed when the African leaders they had hoped to bring change become perpetrators of corruption, dictatorship, nepotism and assassinations. It is a story of Kafira, headed by Boss. A demonstration is organized by concerned university students to protest against the influx of expatriate specialists. This leads to the death of a student, Adika who is shot by a police officer. It is after Adika’s death that the plot of the play is developed because after the funeral, Mosese is arrested for criticizing the government’s actions, Jere is also arrested for siding with Nina and Doga, a play is set and a prisoner falls ill before the rehearsals, forcing Boss to pot for live guns. The book closes with a coup to overthrow Boss’s government and Jusper shoots Mulili in revenge. This book should be studied in ‘O’ level because of various reasons, some of which have been discussed below. The book is a clear portrayal of partriotism and how one’s love foe his/her country may cost them but in the long run it gives peace. This is seen from the university students who protest against bad governance in Kafira. Although Adika loses his life and Mosese imprisoned, these students achieve their goal at the end of the play, a clear indication of struggle and patriotism hence the above book should be studied. Furthermore, the book exposes bad governance through Boss’s government full of corruption, nepotism, assassinations at the expense of poor states men. Boss does not defend the rule of law and only relies on Tumbo and Mulili people who are not competent.Mulili,who is holds a prestigious post in government because he is related to Boss while qualified citizens suffer. This clearly brings out what happens in our current society, a reason as to why the above book should be studied. While reading the book, one comes to terms with betrayal.Mulili betrays Boss at the end of the play. It is however a coincident that the staged play within a play is entitled ‘Betrayal in the city’. It is absurd because we expect Mulili to protect Boss but instead he unveils his evils and at one point he swears that he wasn’t related to Boss. This is also true in our current society and through such a book, students learn to be faithful and trustworthy to their relatives and friends. b] If granted chance I would choose Henrik Ibsen’s ‘An enemy of the people’. This text explores political and environmental issues in the Norwegian society in a manner that depicts the true state of affairs in any society of the modern world.Dr. Stockmann,a Medical officer attached to the Baths project, brushes everyone the wrong way when he sticks to his view that the whole project is a ‘whited sepulchre’; a contaminated source of disease and corruption. His obstinacy pits him against all the political and democratic forces in the town. This book applies to our society today because the same leaders we entrust our hopes are the very ones who disappoint us through their hypocricy.Dr.Stockmann however does not accept to be corrupted in mind and he stands alone for the truth, a reason as to why he is branded ‘an enemy of the people’ at the end of the play. The play portrays a clash of ideas that succinctly lays bare hypocritical underbelly of the modern society, and how truth and integrity are trampled underfoot in the name of democracy, as depicted in our current society where truth is bitter. THE ALIEN WOMAN” by Laury Lawrence Ocen 1a) Bungatira , a district in Northern Uganda, is basically rural, its people practice witchcraft; they are against education and believe that cattle and land are the only sources of wealth, more so they are firmly polygamous The plot centers on the family of Bicencio Olugo and his wife Cerina and their two sons Fred Opito and James Obina. By Bungatira’s standards Olugo is a poor man ,he has only one wife, no large herds of cattle and limited land. His only pride is his job as a local administrator, despite his lack of wealth, he decides to send his children to school in the hope that they would lift his family out of poverty, an idea ridiculed by villagers especially Ogang, for whom education is “ too long a way of acquiring money!!!” Ogang is wealthy but refuses to educate his children: he is antisocial and practices witchcraft. Despite their humble background, Opito and Obina both study hard and do well at school. Though they look alike, their ideas of the future are very different Opito doesn’t participate in cultural activities and hopes to marry an educated woman even if she is from another tribe.This worries his parents.Obina still believes in cultural norms, so he is set to marry from his people. When Opito joins the school of technology, he finds the woman of his dreams, Gladys. But she is rejected by his people and sent away in embarrassment. She decides to end their relationship and Opito is heartbroken. Ogang, who all along is jealous of his progress sends him a sprit,an alien which resembles Gladys. It keeps him company at night. Out of desperation he marries a village girl but the spirit still comes. When he is finally set free and his wife hopes for a normal marriage, Opito rejects her in fear that she might be another alien since she is moody and never laughs! Obina joins Makerere University where he meets Margaret Nagawa, a daughter of a prominent business man in Kampala. Margaret, a real beauty has strong feelings for Obina,but he cant reciprocate them because she is from a different tribe.He tells her “for us a boy who marries a muntu has sold his people.” Margaret suggests they avoid the village once they are married but he says “if a wife deserts society, it means she regards the society with contempt. A young man who does that brings ridicule and disgrace to his people.”Even though Obina admits that Margaret is beautiful, he observes that; “Beauty...is accorded the lowest point in the choice of a spouse…those…end up choosing wizards, stingy misers and harlots. These are qualities sugarcoated by beauty” Despite the many obstacles, Margaret is determined to marry the man of her choice,Obina.This is how she decides to follow him to the village. The events that follow show her determination, she is treated with lots of indifference and given lots of hardwork in the hope that she can go back to her people. But she stays, and endures all even a burn from his rival-Obina’s bethrothed.With time, her noble and unique conduct wins over Olugo and his family and they end up agreeing to the marriage between Obina and Margaret.One has to ask though,had Gladys persisted would she have won the hearts of Opito’s parents the way Margaret did? The text has the following economic aspects as discusses below; It describes the abundance of wealth that wins one (the owner)a very high status in the society, hence portraying wealthy as one of the major themes in the novel. Although un educated/illeterate,Ogang is an extreamly wealthy man who owns large herds of cattle, huge chunks of land, many wives and many children, which also qualifies polygamy as an aspect of wealth. Unlike Bicencio Olugo who is the total opposite of Ogang, he owns limited land, one wife(Cerina) two children/sons- Fred Opito and James Obina who happen to be his only source of wealth through their education, and his only pride lays in his job as a local administrator. Hence, due to this extend of poverty, he is undermined in society and his social status is also low. Ogang’s arrogant attitude towards education as he describes it as “too long a way of acquiring money” clearly portrays how the already wealthy people less importantly and undermining look at education. They consider it a long term goal to be achieved which in turn wastes time for making money. Although Ogang looks at education in such a negative manner, Olugo embraces it wholesomely because he considers it as one of his major sources of wealth. He does so by striving to educate his only two sons till they each attain a university degree from his meager income.Therefore,in my opinion, education is a source of wealth although it is a long term course because it eventually pays Olugo’s family and hence shines his social status. The following are also the social aspects that justify then text, as discussed below; Since one of NCDC’s aims is to promote the understanding and appreciation of the value of cultural heritage such as( marriage),national unity and patriotism, students are in position wholly embrace the different cultural diversities from reading and studying this text. Marriage in this society of the society earns ones social prestige unlike intermarriage which in turn draws different forms of criticism from the societal members. Opito has great hopes of marring an educated woman from a different tribe since he considers those of his own tribe as being illiterate and with barbaric manners. This idea of intermarriage draws all sorts of criticisms towards Opito since his culture doesn’t embrace it. For instance,Obina, Nagawa’s sentimental feelings for him because she is from a different tribe. He tells her “for us a boy who marries a muntu has sold his people ”Obina’s statement above therefore shows the importance of marriage within the same culture and that it should be embraced by readers the way it is. Hence,the importance of marriage in this text greatly justifies it as a social aspect since marriage is one of the most important things in society. Witchcraft is also another social aspect since it is part of culture.In the text, it is portrayed by Ogang’s bewitching of Opito by creating an alien woman in the image of Gladys, his former wife. It’s from witchcraft practices in the book therefore that the title of the text is derived: “The alien woman” Therefore, the text satisfactorily meets the social and economic aspects as per the justification discussed above. b) If given the opportunity, I would choose the text “Animal farm” by George Orwel. It’s an allegorical text which reflects the events leading up to the Russian revolution of 1917.The animals in this text led by the pigs( Napoleon)overthrow Mr Jones, the farm owner and send him out of the farm. The events that follow after this overthrow portray the kind of livelihood that the animals go through eventually. I would recommend it to be read by students since its plot can easily be comprehended and the events in it are amusing and fun to be read. This is in relation to the NCDC’s aims. One of the NCDC’s aims is to promote the understanding and appreciation of the values of national unity, partriotism and cultural heritage. From this text, students are able to strive for their rights of independence and rise to action if these rights are being violated, just as the animals rise against frequent mistreatment by Mr. Jones and overthrow him from power over the farm. Students are also able to exercise their democratic rights such as voting, just like the animals vote and put rules to be followed. Conclusively, from the above text students are able to effectively comprehend, interpret, analyze, illustrate, evaluate, apply and relate the text to the contemporary society as per the NCDC’s aims. “CARCASE FOR HOUNDS” - Meja Mwangi “Carcase for hounds” is novel by Kenyan writer Meja Mwangi published in 1774.The novel concerns the Mau Mau liberation struggle during the latter days of British colonial rule and the attempts ,by the actions of the main protagonists, to show how Mau Mau was organized and why it took so long for the colonial government to defeat them. The story centers on general Haraka, a former village chief turned Mau Mau warrior and Captain George Kinsley who is after him. The author explains in detail the origin of Mau Mau revolution, and how the owners came to become the hunted,and the settlers ame to be the hunters. The social factors in this book is brought out in the culture of the Kikuyu and how they plan to overthrow the British rule.We see the Kikuyu’s under the command of General Haraka come together as Mau Mau warriors to bring down the British colonial rule. The economic factors come in where the British are too corrupt, the Kenyans are exploited and underpaid and Kenya as a country is underdeveloped. This shows that the British rule is full of corruption and exploitation towards the Kenyans. The political factors come in the book where by Kenyans and the British come under war to lead the country.The Mau Mau warriors came under the commander General Haraka to bring down the British colonial rule. All these social, economic and political made NCDC to choose the above book for the O’level syllabus because these are the very factors that appeal to our contemporary societies in Uganda. I would choose “Romeo and Juliet" by William shakespear as one of the books on the syllabus.Its a tragedy play of william’s early career about two young star-crossed lovers whose deaths ultimately reconcile their feuding families. This play will therefore suit the learners since it’s an interesting love story that appeals to their age bracket.In this play therefore,we see the social factors as the Montague and Capulets as Kingdom bring out their cultural customs in the play.This is because they hate themselves and that is why Romeo and Juliet are prohibited from marrying themselves. The political aspects and economic factors come in the play where we see how the Montague and Capulet’s fight among themselves.With this play therefore the learnersb will have a lot of interest in learning it since the play appeals to both social,economic and political factors in their contemporary society. The play nalso fulfills the aims of teaching literature as stated by NCDC as, developing the culture for reading for pleasure in Uganda,to enhance students with linguistic,aesthetic and creative growth,to get exposed to a variety of oral and written works of literature from Africa and the rest of the world. This play will therefore meet the aims of teaching literature in the uganda’s education system. REFERENCES George Orwell (1954), Animal Farm, Longman Imbuga Francis (1976), Betrayal in the city, Nairobi Longman publishers Laury Lawrence Ocen, The Alien Woman, Penguin publishers Shakespeare William, (1986),The Merchant of Venice, Macmillan publishers www.africabookclub.com www.shmoop.com