Dilemma of English illiterate students at Cavendish University.

Being an international institution, Cavendish university is home to students from different parts of the world.

Most of these come from the Uganda’s neighboring Francophone states with no prior knowledge of the English language yet it is by design the language used in the institutions they seek enroll in.

Commonly the international students who are unaccustomed to using the English language may not benefit as much in a lecture as other who have used English.

A one Deborah Kabemba from Congo, who is now a student at Cavendish University studied at the Mandela language school for three months. She recounts her first experiences in Uganda before learning the English Language and in the same interview she further emphasizes the impossibility of anyone who is English illiterate to study at any institution in Uganda without prior knowledge of the Language.  

According to Shafiq Musisi, a teacher at Sir Nelson School of Languages in Kabalagala, most of the students who enroll in their school drop out midway to start studying at the universities, this adversely birthing challenges for the schools of languages because it stunted their goals of producing thorough English literate student at the end of the months subscribed for study. He further emphasizes that the lack of evaluation systems to sieve out the incompetent or half qualified students when they enrol at the different international universities is majorly contributes to this challenge faced.

Initially Cavendish University had an English course that could possibly address this problem but in the last three years, it vanished. In an interview with Mr. Ibrah Maseruka, the ICT department staff member and an authority to the course structuring at Cavendish university, he expounds more on the former structure that included the English Language and why it was “put on hold”.

On a stroll, I met with and interviewed Mr. Christian Barack, a Congolese student at Cavendish university who happened to finish the English language course he acquired at Makerere Corporate institute, earning him a certificate at the end.

Christian highlights the advantages of finishing the English language course before deciding to continue with any further studies, further on he mentions the achievements and ease he had learning at Cavendish university with the knowledge of the English acquired.

Mr Barack recommends an evaluation by the university before admitting the students as he views this as an important course of action to help the International students, majorly those from the same country as him, to have a better learning experience at the University.