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The study sought to establish the level of parental involvement and learners’ academic performance at P.L.E in rural government- aided primary schools in Sissa Sub-County, Wakiso District, Uganda. Three specific objectives guided the study thus; · To establish the level of home-based parental involvement in rural government-aided primary schools in Ssisa Sub county, Wakiso district. · To establish the level of school-based parental involvement in rural government-aided primary schools in Ssisa Subcounty, Wakiso district. · To examine the relationship between parental involvement and learners’ academic performance at PLE in rural government-aided primary schools, Wakiso district. The study employed a descriptive research design using a mixed methods approach. The study also adopted a cross- sectional research method to gather the data from headteachers and teachers. Both qualitative and quantitative research approaches were applied in the collection, analysis, and interpretation of data. Results indicated that the level of home-based parental involvement in government aided primary schools in Sissa Subcounty was high at a mean of 3.64 with a standard deviation of 1.23. The results of school-based parental involvement in government aided schools in Sissa indicated that there was a high level of parental involvement with a mean of 3.66 and a standard deviation of 1.2. Results also revealed a positive and significant relationship between parental involvement and learners’ academic performance at (r = -.120, N = 102, p = .230 > 0.05). The study recommended that; Parents should; provide a conducive learning environment to their children at home, provide quality supervision to children when given homework and show a positive attitude to their learners in home-based activities since it enhances performance of these children at P.L.E. The education department at the dsitrict should fully sensitize the public about the relevance of parental involvement and how it enhances performance. School administrators should create close partnerships between parents and learners.

The study focused on Instruction Supervision Practices and Teachers’ Performance in Public Primary Schools in Bamunanika Subcounty in Luweero District. The objectives were: to examine the level of instructional supervision practices, to establish the level of teachers’ performance, and to examine the relationship between instructional supervision practices and teachers’ performance in selected primary schools in Bamunanika County, Luweero District. There was a high level of instructional supervision practices in selected primary schools in Bamunanika County, Luweero District as indicated with a grand mean of 3.45 and standard deviation of 1.018. A moderate level of teachers’ performance was found in selected primary schools in Bamunanika County, with a grand mean of 3.32 and standard deviation of 1.060. There is a relationship between instructional supervision practices and teacher’s performance in selected primary schools in Bamunanika County with r= 0.412 and p. value 0.000. The study hypothesized that there is no significant relationship between instructional supervision practices and teacher’s performance in selected primary schools in Bamunanika County, Luweero District. The study was based on descriptive and correlation research designs; data was gathered from 195 teachers using a self-administered questionnaire and 52 head teachers and Heads of Department were interviewed. The researcher recommended that: school administrators in public primary schools should ensure that they provide instructional supervision practices of lesson plan preparation, use of teaching –learning and class management. School administrators and teachers should work together to ensure high teacher performance in different areas where it was found to be weak or low.

The study focused on neo-liberalism and its influence on Governance Reforms and Student Politics at Makerere. Systematic Literature Review was employed to review academic journals, policy papers and book chapters. Both broad search and specific focused search were used to generate themes and subthemes of the required literature. The study was guided by the public-private distinction theory which elucidated succinctly on the role of public-private organizations and their relevance to this study. The study revealed that before and after independence, higher education in Uganda was a monopoly of the state. However, in the late 1980s and early 1990s there were reforms in Uganda’s higher education delivery based on neo-liberal policies. It is pointed out that government was no longer competent enough to maintain its monopoly in the management of higher education in the country because of its inability to adequately fund the system. So what happened is that a number of governance reforms were implemented based on neo-liberal policies which focused on market-oriented approaches. Such market-oriented concepts included; cost sharing in public universities, private higher education, commercialization/commoditification and massification of higher education. Students’ response to such neo-liberal reforms was particularly significant especially at Makerere. These policies shaped students’ politics at Makerere characterized by violent demonstrations and strikes which at times led to lose of lives and property in and around Makerere.

Purpose: The study focused on the role of School Management Committees (SMCs) and headteacher effectiveness in government-aided primary schools in Luweero district, Uganda. The objectives of the study were (i) To establish whether School Management Committees (SMCs) monitored headteachers’ performance in the management of school academic programmes. (ii)To examine whether School Management Committees (SMCs) effectively monitored how headteachers utilized school funds. (iii) To assess whether School Management Committees (SMCs) monitored how headteachers managed discipline in their schools. Methodology: The study employed a cross-sectional study design using both quantitative and qualitative approaches to data collection and analysis. A sample of 160 respondents comprising of head teachers and School Management Committee (SMC) members was selected using purposive and cluster sampling techniques. Data was collected using structured questionnaires and Focus Group Discussion (FGD) guides. Findings: The findings under the first objective revealed that SMC members did not effectively monitor head teachers’ management of academic programmes as all the responses scored below average(below 50%). As such the head teachers did not commit much of their time in ensuring that school academic programmes were effectively managed. Findings under the second objective revealed that SMCs’ performance in monitoring head teacher’s utilization of school funds was above average in regard to the preparation of work plans, approval of budgets and cash withdrawals while a dismal performance was reported in the approval of school expenditures and monitoring of accountability of funds. Under the third objective, the findings revealed that the SMCs performed above average in working collaboratively with the head teachers in attending to disciplinary reports, sanctioning errant teachers /pupils and disseminating measures of managing discipline to stakeholders while the performance was below average in the area of formulating school rules and regulations. The dismal performance of SMCs in some areas was attributed to capacity gaps, low motivation and conflicts within the school community. Recommendations: The study recommended that the district local government needed to organize workshops and seminars to equip SMC members with the requisite skills and knowledge in school monitoring and sensitizing them about their roles and responsibilities. It was also recommended that a minimum level of education and one’s integrity and contribution to community welfare be tagged to selection of SMC members.

Statistical relational learning (SRL) frameworks are effective at defining probabilistic models over complex relational data. They often use weighted first-order logical rules where the weights of the rules govern probabilistic interactions and are usually learned from data. Existing weight learning approaches typically attempt to learn a set of weights that maximizes some function of data likelihood; however, this does not always translate to optimal performance on a desired domain metric, such as accuracy or F1 score. In this paper, we introduce a taxonomy of search-based weight learning approaches for SRL frameworks that directly optimize weights on a chosen domain performance metric. To effectively apply these search-based approaches, we introduce a novel projection, referred to as scaled space (SS), that is an accurate representation of the true weight space. We show that SS removes redundancies in the weight space and captures the semantic distance between the possible weight configurations. In order to improve the efficiency of search, we also introduce an approximation of SS which simplifies the process of sampling weight configurations. We demonstrate these approaches on two state-of-the-art SRL frameworks: Markov logic networks and probabilistic soft logic. We perform empirical evaluation on five real-world datasets and evaluate them each on two different metrics. We also compare them against four other weight learning approaches. Our experimental results show that our proposed search-based approaches outperform likelihood-based approaches and yield up to a 10% improvement across a variety of performance metrics. Further, we perform an extensive evaluation to measure the robustness of our approach to different initializations and hyperparameters. The results indicate that our approach is both accurate and robust.

The study focused on school inspection and managerial effectiveness in government-aided primary schools in Wabinyonyi sub-county and Nakasongola Town Council in Nakasongola district, Uganda. Two study objectives guided the study thus; (i) To assess the efficacy of school inspection in Wabinyonyi sub-county and Nakasongola Town Council (ii) To examine the influence of school inspection on school effectiveness in Wabinyonyi sub-county and Nakasongola Town Council. A descriptive study design using a mixed-methods approach was employed. The study population comprised of headteachers and teachers from the 19 government-aided primary schools in Wabinyonyi sub-county and Nakasongola Town Council plus the inspectors of schools at the district headquarters. The study sample included 19 headteachers, 154 teachers and 2 school inspectors. The school inspectors and headteachers were selected purposively while the teachers were selected using a simple random technique. To collect quantitative data, closed-ended questionnaires were administered to teachers. Focus Group Discussions (FGDs) and interview guides were employed to collect data from headteachers and school inspectors respectively. Quantitative data were presented using descriptive statistics while content and thematic analysis techniques were used to analyse qualitative data. Results revealed that inspection efficacy was rated to be good in some quality indicators as evidenced by the ability of the inspectors to assess the appropriateness of teaching/learning, the effective assessment of teacher preparedness and planning, and the effective assessment of reports on the quality of school facilities. The inadequacies in school inspection included inspectors’ lack of in-depth knowledge of specific subjects and the inability by the inspectors to mentor headteachers in leadership. The study also revealed that school inspection had a significant influence on school effectiveness and this was manifested in the improvement in the teaching and learning process, improvement in the level of teacher preparedness/planning and improvement in the utilization of school resources. Article visualizations

Historia de dos ciudades(título original,A Tale of Two Cities) es una novela del escritor británicoCharles Dickens. En estanovela históricase narra la vida en el siglo XVIII, en la época de laRevolución francesa. La historia se desarrolla en dos países: Inglaterra y Francia, y en las ciudades de Londres y París en la época de los albores de la Revolución francesa. La primera ciudad simbolizaría de algún modo la paz y la tranquilidad, la vida sencilla y ordenada; mientras la segunda representaría la agitación, el desafío y el caos, el conflicto entre dos mundos en una época en la que se anuncia drásticos cambios sociales.

in the late high winds* I was blown to a great many places—and indeed, wind or no wind, I generally have extensive transactions on hand in the article of Air—but I have not been blown to any English place lately, and I very seldom have blown to any English place in my life, where I could get anything good to eat and drink in five minutes, or where, if I sought it, I was received with a welcome.

When I think I deserve particularly well of myself, and have earned the right to enjoy a little treat, I stroll from Covent-garden into the City of London,* after business-hours there, on a Saturday, or— better yet—on a Sunday, and roam about its deserted nooks and corners. It is necessary to the full enjoyment of these journeys that they should be made in summer-time, for then the retired spots that I love to haunt, are at their idlest and dullest. A gentle fall of rain is not objectionable, and a warm mist sets off my favourite retreats to decided advantage.

A great reader of good fiction at an unusually early age, it seems to me as though I had been born under the superintendence of the estimable but terrific gentleman whose name stands at the head of my present reflections. The instructive monomaniac, Mr. Barlow, will be remembered as the tutor of Master Harry Sandford and Master Tommy Merton.* He knew everything, and didactically improved all sorts of occasions, from the consumption of a plate of cherries to the contemplation of a starlight night. What youth came to without Mr. Barlow was displayed in the history of Sandford and Merton, by the example of a certain awful Master Mash.* This young wretch wore buckles and powder, conducted himself with insupportable levity at the theatre, had no idea of facing a mad bull single-handed (in which I think him less reprehensible, as remotely reflecting my own character), and was a frightful instance of the enervating effects of luxury upon the human race.

So much of my travelling is done on foot, that if I cherished betting propensities, I should probably be found registered in sporting newspapers under some such title as the Elastic Novice, challenging all eleven–stone mankind to competition in walking. My last special feat was turning out of bed at two, after a hard day, pedestrian and otherwise, and walking thirty miles into the country to breakfast. The road was so lonely in the night, that I fell asleep to the monotonous sound of my own feet, doing their regular four miles an hour. Mile after mile I walked, without the slightest sense of exertion, dozing heavily and dreaming constantly. It was only when I made a stumble like a drunken man, or struck out into the road to avoid a horseman close upon me on the path—who had no existence—that I came to myself and looked about.

There are some small out-of-the-way landing-places on the Thames and the Medway, where I do much of my summer idling. Running water is favourable to day-dreams, and a strong tidal river is the best of running water for mine. I like to watch the great ships standing out to sea or coming home richly laden, the active little steam-tugs confidently puffing with them to and from the sea-horizon, the fleet of barges that seem to have plucked their brown and russet sails from the ripe trees in the landscape, the heavy old colliers, light in ballast, floundering down before the tide, the light screw barks and schooners imperiously holding a straight course while the others patiently tack and go about, the yachts with their tiny hulls and great white sheets of canvas, the little sailing-boats bobbing to and fro on their errands of pleasure or business, and—as it is the nature of little people to do— making a prodigious fuss about their small affairs.

It came into my mind that I would recal in these notes a few of the many hostelries I have rested at in the course of my journeys; and, indeed, I had taken up my pen for the purpose, when I was baffled by an accidental circumstance. It was the having to leave off, to wish the owner of a certain bright face that looked in at my door, “many happy returns of the day.” Thereupon a new thought came into my mind, driving its predecessor out, and I began to recal—instead of Inns—the birthdays that I have put up at, on my way to this present sheet of paper.

I had parted from the small bird at somewhere about four o’clock in the morning, when he had got out at Arras, and had been received by two shovel-hats in waiting at the station, who presented an appropriately ornithological and crow-like appearance. My compatriot and I had gone on to Paris; my compatriot enlightening me occasionally with a long list of the enormous grievances of French railway travelling: every one of which, as I am a sinner, was perfectly new to me, though I have as much experience of French railways as most uncommercials.

I had been looking, yester–night, through the famous Dance of Death,* and to-day the grim old wood-cuts arose in my mind with the new significance of a ghastly monotony not to be found in the original. The weird skeleton rattled along the streets before me, and struck fiercely, but it was never at the pains of assuming a disguise. It played on no dulcimer here, was crowned with no flowers, waved no plume, minced in no flowing robe or train, lifted no wine-cup, sat at no feast, cast no dice, counted no gold. It was simply a bare, gaunt, famished skeleton, slaying his way along.

It is an unsettled question with me whether I shall leave Calais something handsome in my will, or whether I shall leave it my malediction. I hate it so much, and yet I am always so very glad to see it, that I am in a state of constant indecision on this subject.

Is the sweet little cherub* who sits smiling aloft and keeps watch on the life of Poor Jack, commissioned to take charge of Mercantile Jack, as well as Jack of the national navy? If not, who is? What is the cherub about, and what are we all about, when Poor Mercantile Jack is having his brains slowly knocked out by pennyweights, aboard the brig Beelzebub, or the bark Bowie–knife—when he looks his last at that infernal craft, with the first officer’s iron boot–heel in his remaining eye, or with his dying body towed overboard in the ship’s wake, while the cruel wounds in it do “the multitudinous seas incarnadine”?*

once upon a time (no matter when), I was engaged in a pursuit (no matter what), which could be transacted by myself alone; in which I could have no help; which imposed a constant strain on the attention, memory, observation, and physical powers; and which involved an almost fabulous amount of change of place and rapid railway travelling. I had followed this pursuit through an exceptionally trying winter in an always trying climate, and had resumed it in England after but a brief repose. Thus it came to be prolonged until, at length—and, as it seemed, all of a sudden—it so wore me out that I could not rely, with my usual cheerful confidence, upon myself to achieve the constantly recurring task, and began to feel (for the first time in my life) giddy, jarred, shaken, faint, uncertain of voice and sight and tread and touch, and dull of spirit.

By the side of most railways out of London, one may see AlmsHouses and Retreats (generally with a Wing or a Centre wanting, and ambitious of being much bigger than they are), some of which are newly–founded Institutions, and some old establishments transplanted. There is a tendency in these pieces of architecture to shoot upward unexpectedly, like Jack’s bean–stalk, and to be ornate in spires of Chapels and lanterns of Halls, which might lead to the embellishment of the air with many castles of questionable beauty but for the restraining consideration of expense. However, the managers, being always of a sanguine temperament, comfort themselves with plans and elevations of Loomings in the future, and are influenced in the present by philanthropy towards the railway passengers. For, the question how prosperous and promising the buildings can be made to look in their eyes, usually supersedes the lesser question how they can be turned to the best account for the inmates.

my journeys as Uncommercial Traveller for the firm of Human Interest Brothers, have not slackened since I last reported of them, but have kept me continually on the move. I remain in the same idle employment. I never solicit an order, I never get any commission, I am the rolling stone that gathers no moss—unless any should by chance be found among these Samples.

As I shut the door of my lodging behind me, and came out into the streets at six on a drizzling Saturday evening in the last past month of January, all that neighbourhood of Covent–garden looked very desolate. It is so essentially a neighbourhood which has seen better days, that bad weather affects it sooner than another place which has not come down in the world. In its present reduced condition, it bears a thaw almost worse than any place I know.

Never had I seen a year going out, or going on, under quieter circumstances. Eighteen hundred and fifty–nine had but another day to live, and truly its end was Peace* on that sea–shore that morning.

“It is neither a bold nor a diversified country,” said I to myself, “this country which is three–quarters Flemish, and a quarter French; yet it has its attractions too. Though great lines of railway traverse it, the trains leave it behind, and go puffing off to Paris and the South, to Belgium and Germany, to the Northern Sea–Coast of France, and to England, and merely smoke it a little in passing. Then I don’t know it, and that is a good reason for being here: and I can’t pronounce half the long queer names I see inscribed over the shops, and that is another good reason for being here, since I surely ought to learn how.” In short, I was “here,” and I wanted an excuse for not going away from here, and I made it to my satisfaction, and stayed here.

I travel constantly, up and down a certain line of railway that has a terminus in London. It is the railway for a large military depôt, and for other large barracks.* To the best of my serious belief, I have never been on that railway by daylight, without seeing some handcuffed deserters in the train.

Immediately, all that W. and S. W. division of London began to slide away at a pace so lively, that I was over the river, and past the Old Kent–road, and out on Blackheath, and even ascending Shooter's Hill,* before I had had time to look about me in the carriage, like a collected traveller.

having occasion to transact some business with a solicitor who occupies a highly suicidal set of chambers in Gray’s Inn,* I afterwards took a turn in the large square of that stronghold of Melancholy, reviewing, with congenial surroundings, my experiences of Chambers.

The shabbiness of our English capital, as compared with Paris, Bordeaux, Frankfort, Milan, Geneva—almost any important town on the continent of Europe—I find very striking after an absence of any duration in foreign parts. London is shabby in contrast with Edinburgh, with Aberdeen, with Exeter, with Liverpool, with a bright little town like Bury St. Edmunds. London is shabby in contrast with New York, with Boston, with Philadelphia. In detail, one would say it can rarely fail to be a disappointing piece of shabbiness, to a stranger from any of those places. There is nothing shabbier than Drury-lane, in Rome itself. The meanness of Regent-street, set against the great line of Boulevarts in Paris, is as striking as the abortive ugliness of Trafalgar-square, set against the gallant beauty of the Place de la Concorde.

I entertain so strong an objection to the euphonious softening of Ruffian into Rough, which has lately become popular, that I restore the right word to the heading of this paper; the rather, as my object is to dwell upon the fact that the Ruffian is tolerated among us to an extent that goes beyond all unruffianly endurance. I take the liberty to believe that if the Ruffian besets my life, a professional Ruffian at large in the open streets of a great city, notoriously having no other calling than that of Ruffian, and of disquieting and despoiling me as I go peacefully about my lawful business, interfering with no one, then the Government under which I have the great constitutional privilege, supreme honour and happiness, and all the rest of it, to exist, breaks down in the discharge of any Government’s most simple elementary duty.

It lately happened that I found myself rambling about the scenes among which my earliest days were passed; scenes from which I departed when I was a child, and which I did not revisit until I was a man. This is no uncommon chance, but one that befals some of us any day; perhaps it may not be quite uninteresting to compare notes with the reader respecting an experience so familiar and a journey so uncommercial.

it fell out on a day in this last autumn that I had to go down from London to a place of sea-side resort, on an hour’s business, accompanied by my esteemed friend Bullfinch. Let the place of sea-side resort be, for the nonce, called Namelesston.

The chance use of the word “Tramp” in my last paper, brought that numerous fraternity so vividly before my mind's eye, that I had no sooner laid down my pen than a compulsion was upon me to take it up again, and make notes of the Tramps whom I perceived on all the summer roads in all directions.

My voyages (in paper boats) among savages often yield me matter for reflection at home. It is curious to trace the savage in the civilised man, and to detect the hold of some savage customs on conditions of society rather boastful of being high above them.

Before the waitress had shut the door, I had forgotten how many stage-coaches she said used to change horses in the town every day. But it was of little moment; any high number would do as well as another. It had been a great stage-coaching town in the great stagecoaching times, and the ruthless railways had killed and buried it.

my day’s no-business beckoning me to the East end of London, I had turned my face to that point of the metropolitan compass on leaving Covent Garden,* and had got past the India House,* thinking in my idle manner of Tippoo–Sahib and Charles Lamb,* and had got past my little wooden midshipman,* after affectionately patting him on one leg of his knee-shorts for old acquaintance’ sake, and had got past Aldgate Pump, and had got past the Saracen’s Head* (with an ignominious rash of posting bills disfiguring his swarthy countenance), and had strolled up the empty yard of his ancient neighbour the Black or Blue Boar, or Bull, who departed this life I don’t know when, and whose coaches are all gone I don’t know where; and I had come out again into the age of railways, and I had got past Whitechapel Church, and was―rather inappropriately for an Uncommercial Traveller―in the Commercial Road.

some years ago, a temporary inability to sleep, referable to a distressing impression, caused me to walk about the streets all night, for a series of several nights. The disorder might have taken a long time to conquer, if it had been faintly experimented on in bed; but it was soon defeated by the brisk treatment of getting up directly after lying down, and going out, and coming home tired at sunrise.

No landlord is my friend and brother, no chambermaid loves me, no waiter worships me, no boots admires and envies me. No round of beef or tongue or ham is expressly cooked for me, no pigeonpie is especially made for me, no hotel–advertisement is personally addressed to me, no hotel–room tapestried with great–coats and railway–wrappers is set apart for me, no house of public entertainment in the United Kingdom greatly cares for my opinion of its brandy or sherry. When I go upon my journeys, I am not usually rated at a low figure in the bill; when I come home from my journeys, I never get any commission. I know nothing about prices, and should have no idea, if I were put to it, how to wheedle a man into ordering something he doesn’t want.

it is one of my fancies that even my idlest walk must always have its appointed destination. I set myself a task before I leave my lodging in Covent Garden on a street expedition, and should no more think of altering my route by the way, or turning back and leaving a part of it unachieved, than I should think of fraudulently violating an agreement entered into with somebody else. The other day, finding myself under this kind of obligation to proceed to Limehouse, I started punctually at noon, in compliance with the terms of the contract with myself to which my good faith was pledged.

“Within so many yards of this Covent Garden lodging of mine, as within so many yards of Westminster Abbey, Saint Paul’s Cathedral, the Houses of Parliament, the Prisons, the Courts of Justice, all the Institutions that govern the land, I can find—must find, whether I will or no—in the open streets, shameful instances of neglect of children, intolerable toleration of the engenderment of paupers, idlers, thieves, races of wretched and destructive cripples both in body and mind, a misery to themselves, a misery to the community, a disgrace to civilisation, and an outrage on Christianity.

one day this last Whitsuntide, at precisely eleven o’clock in the forenoon, there suddenly rode into the field of view commanded by the windows of my lodging, an equestrian phenomenon. It was a fellow–creature on horseback, dressed in the absurdest manner. The fellow–creature wore high boots, some other (and much larger) fellow–creature’s breeches, of a slack–baked doughy colour and a baggy form, a blue shirt whereof the skirt or tail was puffily tucked into the waistband of the said breeches, no coat, a red shoulder–belt, and a demi–semi–military scarlet hat with a feathered ornament in front, which to the uninstructed human vision had the appearance of a moulting shuttlecock. I laid down the newspaper with which I had been occupied, and surveyed the fellow–man in question, with astonishment.

There are not many places that I find it more agreeable to revisit when I am in an idle mood, than some places to which I have never been. For, my acquaintance with those spots is of such long standing, and has ripened into an intimacy of so affectionate a nature, that I take a particular interest in assuring myself that they are unchanged.

if the confession that I have often travelled from this Covent Garden lodging of mine on Sundays, should give offence to those who never travel on Sundays, they will be satisfied (I hope) by my adding that the journeys in question were made to churches.

Snitchey and Craggs had a snug little office on the old Battle Ground, where they drove a snug little business, and fought a great many small pitched battles for a great many contending parties. Though it could hardly be said of these conflicts that...

The world had grown six years older since that night of the return. It was a warm autumn afternoon, and there had been heavy rain. The sun burst suddenly from among the clouds; and the old battleground, sparkling brilliantly and cheerfully at sight of...