Letters
Advise to Chairman Koomu and the Nakaseke Council
Komu in Black court gave directive
I have been following the debate on “Subjecting Teachers to Primary Exams” in Nakaseke District. With all due respect to the Nakaseke District Council and the entire community, I am disappointed with the level of competence stemming the leadership of the district.
They should have been at the front in raising awareness and advocating for a conducive environment for our employees, especially teachers, for them to deliver quality services to the people.
Chairman Koomu and your Council, you have belittled the efforts of our prominent educationists in this country, especially “Mama UPE”, Namirembe Bitamazire, Steven Maloba, the late Oneka, Margaret Ochen, the late Margret Nsereko, F.X.Lubanga, the former PS in the Education ministry to mention but a few.
One of the project coordinators of Support Uganda Primary Education Reform (SUPER) Project Mr. Bill, as we used to call him, said: “There is no strong foundation of any country without a strong education.” What is my concern?
The current assessment standard performance for the district stands at 66%. The total ceiling for Primary teachers is 932: i.e., 113 head-teachers, 113 deputies and 706 teachers. Out of this total, 685 teachers are available, there are 21 vacancies. Of the 91 vacancies for the deputies, only 22 have been filled; there are only 15 head-teachers, leaving 62 vacancies. The Local Government has substantively filled all positions of school inspectors.
The education sector in the districts has a very powerful education institution, called, “Core Primary Teacher Colleges.” The PTCs objective is to deliver a holistic quality education. Another is to mobilize stakeholders to support Universal Primary Education. These two objectives have helped some individuals like; Vincent Ssempijja, who is the Minister of Agriculture and MP Muyanja Ssenyonga, to rise up to their positions. In their areas, they have managed to deliver these social services, and the community has entrusted them to continue guiding them.
To my surprise, Nakaseke Council is coming up with a resolution which will divert the services of the teachers. They are not reading the UPE guidelines mandating the setting up a Core Primary Teachers Colleges.
The Primary teachers are supposed to continuously be trained and refreshed, that is why the Core PTCs are a very good innovation to this country. The MP for the area, Ms. Najjuma, raised pertinent issues, which if well thought out would help all the persons concerned.
You, Chairman Koomu and the Nakaseke Council, have exposed your incompetence to the community which entrusted you with the powers to lead them. The Shs. 5 million budgeted to assess the teachers should help the council get transport for the councilors to go to Nakaseke Core PTC for refresher courses. This will also help the community mobilization to be on the same page with the teachers.
Unfortunately, the honourable councilors just requested for the per diem; and have not attended to the proper assessment, instead they are merely involved in passing fake resolutions which do not help.
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