Government has been tasked to address the absence of teaching courses in public universities which legislators say is affecting the training of teachers.
According to Hon. Joseph Ssewungu (NUP, Kalungu West County), teacher training colleges were closed, requiring primary school teachers to acquire a Bachelor’s Degree in Education.
“I raised this matter here before and I asked the minister at that time to bring a policy that is going to establish university courses for primary teachers,” he said adding that, ’recently, some nuns who sought these courses were sent away from Makerere University and were told that National Council for Higher Education has never sanctioned the course units’.
Sewungu who raised the issue during the House sitting on Tuesday, 06 August 2024 alluded to a recent newspaper article indicating that many teachers across the country are seeking early retirement from the profession.
“Validation reports are showing us that many districts do not have teachers but nothing is being done about this. Do we know what exactly is happening? Where are you going to get teachers from? When teachers run out of schools, they go into riding bodabodas,” Ssewungu added.
Hon. Gerald Nangoli (NRM, Elgon North County) raised concern about the inconsistency in pay for head teachers of schools who previously served as science teachers.
“Once these science teachers are promoted to head schools in the various districts, they go back to a lower pay. This anomaly has not been sorted by the Ministries of Education and Public Service up to now. This is one of the reasons why so many teachers are asking for early retirement,” Nangoli said.
The State Minister for Higher Education, Hon. John Chrysostom Muyingo said the concerns raised about teacher training and salary disparities shall be addressed by the National Teachers’ Bill, 2024.
“It is true that teacher training colleges were closed, and we have been holding discussions with stakeholders to convert them into what the stakeholders want. If you read through this Bill, you will observe that many of the issues that are being raised now are going to be handled,” said Muyingo.
The Deputy Speaker, Thomas Tayebwa directed the Prime Minister to call a meeting with the Ministers for Education, Finance and Public Service to address the inconsistencies in payment of head teachers.
The Leader of the Opposition, Hon. Joel Ssenyonyi called for an assessment of the policy on increasing salaries of only science teachers.
“This policy states that we should pay science teachers a lot more than the arts teachers, with whom they sit in the same staff room, with whom they teach the same man hours. Is there value for this? It has demoralized the arts teachers who are seen as non-entities yet they also contribute to this country,” Ssenyonyi said.
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