KYANKWANZI –The vice president Maj. Rtd. Jessica Alupo has reiterated government commitment on the issues surrounding teachers’ welfare and well-being saying they feature prominently in the overall policy framework of government.
“Dear participants, I wish to remind you that in the 2021-2026 Manifesto, the NRM Government committed to “carry out a pay reform and continue with salary enhancements to remove injustices and address the discrepancies in salary scales”.
She made the remarks while addressing head teachers from Eastern Uganda during their 14day retreat at the National Leadership Institute Kyankwanzi yesterday.
Alupo thanked the head teachers for attending the retreat in big numbers and added that her experience gives her the confidence to stand before them to broadly discuss the policy issues relating to secondary school teachers; the welfare and well-being of our teachers; Education Management Systems; access to secondary education; and curriculum among others.
She said the NRM government recognizes the critical role played by teachers towards the overall development agenda of Uganda as a country.
Alupo explained to participants that the 1992 Government White Paper (currently under review) on Education notes that well-trained teachers have a key role to play in; forging effective links between the school and the community, positively influencing national development programs, and in preparing the human resources essential for national development.
“Similarly, the NDP III (2020/21 – 2024/25), Vision 2040, and the current NRM Manifesto (2021-26) emphasize the critical role of teachers in our journey of transforming from a peasant to a modern and prosperous country,” Alupo noted.
POLICY DEVELOPMENTS
The vice president noted that government recently approved the National Teacher Policy (NTP) which seeks to professionalize the teaching profession to levels comparable with other professions like medicine, engineering, legal, and accounting among others, and to produce highly competitive teachers who can be employed in the region.
The policy provides the basis for the establishment of the Uganda National Institute of Teacher Education (UNITE) mandated with the supervision of Teacher Education programs in all higher institutions of learning.
The policy furthermore established the National Teacher Council responsible for approving all teachers seeking to participate in the teaching profession in Uganda (This applies to teachers in government and private schools and institutions).
Lastly, it gives teachers with Grade III and Grade V qualifications up to August 2028 to upgrade and become Graduate Teachers.
Teachers’ recruitment.
Alupo noted that in FY 2022/23, the government through the Education Service Commission recruited 5,002 teaching staff and non-teaching staff for new Seed Schools and to fill gaps in existing secondary schools.
But due to wage shortfalls, only 2,005 of the recruited staff were deployed which resulted in operational challenges for the schools.
She said as a result, the government has set aside Ushs. 50.09 billion in the current FY 2023/24 to absorb 2,022 staff who were recruited but not deployed. That notwithstanding, there is a need to recruit a further 1,622 staff to fill the staffing gap in the new Seed Secondary Schools.
Implementation of the lower secondary curriculum.
She told headteachers that the government through the Ministry of Education and Sports rolled out the New Lower Secondary School Curriculum (NLSC) in February 2020.
The new pedagogy aims at providing learners with 21st Century skills which include; critical thinking, creativity, collaboration or teamwork, communication, information literacy, ICT, and flexibility.
“This is good news for the nation; however, implementation is still challenging due to the lack of critical infrastructure, especially in rural schools,” the vice president said.
She stressed that for the learners to become creative especially in ICT and the natural sciences, there must be necessary equipment such as well-furnished laboratories, effective internet and obviously knowledgeable trainers.
She assured participants that government shall continue providing resources to ensure the successful implementation of the New Lower Secondary Curriculum (NLSC).
Education Management systems.
In a bid to address absenteeism, Alupo said the Ministry of Education and Sports has rolled out the Teacher Effectiveness and Learners Achievement (TELA) system to all public Primary and Secondary Schools as well as Certificate Awarding Institutions.
She said the above system is a time-on-task performance management system that uses a smartphone with GPS and biometric features designed to monitor real-time teacher/head teacher and Learner attendance and timetable adherence.
The system was developed by the Ministry to address systemic challenges associated with high absenteeism of learners, teachers, and Headteachers and inadequate supervision by Headteachers and School Management Committees in order to improve learning outcomes.
She explained that this innovation should help address the phenomenon of “moonlighting” where teachers engage in additional work for pay with a negative impact on their primary employment.
The system has the capacity to strengthen the administrative role of headteachers and the function they play as the “first inspectors”.
Managing Education Statistics
Regarding education statistics, the Ministry of Education and Sports has also rolled out the Education Management Information System (EMIS) to ensure the availability of relevant and up-to-date data for planning (including budgeting), monitoring and evaluation, policy analysis and development, and decision-making.
“Please note”, she “all learners across all levels of education (Pre-primary, Primary, Secondary, Certificate, and diploma Awarding Institutions, Universities) must be registered on EMIS”
Increasing the stock of Secondary Schools infrastructure.
She said the government has also continued with its policy of constructing a Seed School in every sub-county without a public secondary school.
The Uganda Inter-Governmental Fiscal Transfers (UgIFT) Program
Currently, the government is constructing 255 Seed Schools in sub-counties without a Public Secondary School across the country under the Uganda Intergovernmental Fiscal Transfers (UgIFT) Program which commenced in FY 2018/19.
To date, 102 out of 117 new Secondary Schools under the first phase have been completed; 111 sites were handed over to contractors to
embark on the construction of new Secondary Schools under the 2nd Phase while procurement of contractors to implement the 3rd phase (with 27 Seed Schools) was concluded in July 2023.
The scope of a new Seed Secondary Schools includes among others three 2-unit staff houses which is a direct response to the challenge of accommodation of teachers.
Uganda Secondary Education Expansion Project (USEEP)
The Ministry shall also construct 116 new Seed Schools under the Uganda Secondary Education Expansion Project (USEEP) and expand 61 existing secondary schools.
Uganda Learning Acceleration (ULEARN) Project
Alupo said plans are also in place to rehabilitate, renovate, and expand 120 traditional Secondary Schools using a funding facility from the Global Partnership for Education (GPE-II) and a concessionary credit facility from the World Bank.
Of these, 35 government-aided traditional secondary schools and 3 special and inclusive secondary schools in the Eastern region are earmarked to benefit.
She assured the headteachers that the Government is fully cognizant of the invaluable contribution of teachers in instructing and nurturing competent human resources that can effectively exploit the available opportunities and resources for national development.
She thanked the political leaders of the Ministry of Education and Sports for the visionary leadership which is helping to drive the education agenda of the country in the right direction.
The Deputy Director of National Leadership Institute Kyankwanzi Col. Henry Sserugo thanked government for giving an opportunity to teachers saying the 14day retreat provides an opportunity to headteachers to step out of regular work environment and engage in activities that promote bonding, share experiences, ignite motivation and increase morale amongst them.
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