Renowned promoter of Pan Africanism and serving army officer, Gen. Elly Tumwiine has slammed Uganda’s education for being short on basic life knowledge but rather emphasizing academic qualifications.
He says it is ignorant and useless for people to depend on classroom knowledge since it limits exposure and critical thinking.
Gen. Tumwine made the comments while speaking to students of Makerere University on Thursday at an event organized by the ‘Knowledge for Life’ initiative to which he is a member.
“Education these days is killing its beneficiaries. It has produced more of beggars than creators of wealth, leaving nobody to bridge the gap in food production,” he said.
“Increasingly, everybody’s ultimate dream is getting a mere paper (Degree) but of what relevance is it if you are going to take years with no job? Much of my day to day life depends on the things I taught
myself or life experiences,” Gen. Tumwiine added.
He urged young people to engage themselves by broadening their thinking beyond careers and scholarly intellect adding that half knowledge is dangerous. In addition, Gen. Tumwiine asked universities to incorporate components of knowledge-for-life in each course being taught.
Dr. John Arinaitwe, a nutritionist at Mulago hospital commented on the lack of knowledge among young people concerning good feeding habits.
He cautioned them against wasting their lives with the growing obsession of ‘eating poison’.
The medic noted; “Young people must take charge of their lives. Stop eating sausages, samosas and hamburgers which are sometimes rotten and could result into diabetes, hypertension and cancers.”