20,000 more teachers to get jobs
Nov 13, 2010
A total of 20,000 teachers will get jobs in the Government over the next five years, education ministry officials have disclosed.
By Conan Businge
and Milton Olupot
A total of 20,000 teachers will get jobs in the Government over the next five years, education ministry officials have disclosed.
According to Uganda's commissioner for primary education, Dr. Daniel Nkaada, the teachers would be recruited in a phased approach.
This is in addition to the 8,000 who will join the payroll within this financial year and the rest will come in the following years, with 4,000 being recruited every year.
The money for the 8,000 has been provided for in the 2010/11 budget.
Nkaada said the teachers would be recruited by the district service commissions and the names sent to the ministries of Public Service and Education.
Most of the 8,000 additional teachers planned for in this financial year have already been recruited by the district service commissions.
“Almost all districts have already recruited more teachers, and 80% of them have submitted their lists to the Public Service Commission,†Nkaada said.
He added that all newly recruited primary teachers were likely to access their payroll at the end of the month.â€
He explained that the 20% of the districts which have not yet submitted their names had technicalities since some of them were new.
“Some of the new districts which did not have service commissions did not want their mother districts to recruit for them,†he explained.
“But in such cases, they were given liberty to have neighbouring districts recruit for them,†he explained.
For instance, he added, Butambala district stopped Mpigi District’s Service Commission from recruiting for them and sought the services of Mityana District.
Currently, Uganda has 130,000 teachers on the government payroll. The planned recruitment, if fully implemented, would raise the number to 150,000.
In its 2011 election manifesto, the NRM promises to reduce the teacher:pupil ratio from 1:57 to 1:45 within the next five fears.
“Each class shall get a teacher as a minimum; for example a primary seven school will be allocated seven teachers, and the allocation will be in line with the number of streams in a class,†says the manifesto.
Currently, Uganda has more than 12,000 government primary schools with over 8.2 million pupils receiving free education.
The Universal Primary Education scheme dramatically increased primary school enrollment from 2.7 million in 1996 to 8.2 million in 2009. This put an extra load on teachers, but with increased recruitment, the Government hopes to solve the problem and improve the quality of education.
The starting salary for teachers has been increased from sh200,000 to sh260,000 a month.
Earlier this week, President Museveni promised that the Government would construct teachers’ houses, beginning with the hard-to-reach areas.
Addressing rallies at Kolo in Madi-Okollo and Chiapa Primary School in Vurra County, Nebbi district, Museveni said providing teachers with accommodation around the school would ensure their availability at school to teach lessons in time and hence improve standards of education.
He said lack of accommodation was one of the causes of poor performance because teachers travel long distances to school and hence unable to cover the whole syllabus in time.
The President also said his Government would concentrate on increasing the number of classrooms and latrines in primary schools; and libraries and laboratories in secondary schools.
He, however, warned that parents should not be involved in the ventures, but left to provide uniform, packed lunch and scholastic materials to their children.
Museveni, who is seeking re-election, said there was a law which prohibited charging extra dues to parents in UPE and USE schools, but did not want to rush to implement it before he engaged parents and school boards for an amicable settlement.
“Some of these people would be in Luzira Prison now. We have already set a law that I thought they would understand after I have discussed with them,†Museveni pointed out.
He reiterated his new offer for free education at Advanced Level. The NRM candidate also promised that his government would meet examination fees.
and Milton Olupot
A total of 20,000 teachers will get jobs in the Government over the next five years, education ministry officials have disclosed.
According to Uganda's commissioner for primary education, Dr. Daniel Nkaada, the teachers would be recruited in a phased approach.
This is in addition to the 8,000 who will join the payroll within this financial year and the rest will come in the following years, with 4,000 being recruited every year.
The money for the 8,000 has been provided for in the 2010/11 budget.
Nkaada said the teachers would be recruited by the district service commissions and the names sent to the ministries of Public Service and Education.
Most of the 8,000 additional teachers planned for in this financial year have already been recruited by the district service commissions.
“Almost all districts have already recruited more teachers, and 80% of them have submitted their lists to the Public Service Commission,†Nkaada said.
He added that all newly recruited primary teachers were likely to access their payroll at the end of the month.â€
He explained that the 20% of the districts which have not yet submitted their names had technicalities since some of them were new.
“Some of the new districts which did not have service commissions did not want their mother districts to recruit for them,†he explained.
“But in such cases, they were given liberty to have neighbouring districts recruit for them,†he explained.
For instance, he added, Butambala district stopped Mpigi District’s Service Commission from recruiting for them and sought the services of Mityana District.
Currently, Uganda has 130,000 teachers on the government payroll. The planned recruitment, if fully implemented, would raise the number to 150,000.
In its 2011 election manifesto, the NRM promises to reduce the teacher:pupil ratio from 1:57 to 1:45 within the next five fears.
“Each class shall get a teacher as a minimum; for example a primary seven school will be allocated seven teachers, and the allocation will be in line with the number of streams in a class,†says the manifesto.
Currently, Uganda has more than 12,000 government primary schools with over 8.2 million pupils receiving free education.
The Universal Primary Education scheme dramatically increased primary school enrollment from 2.7 million in 1996 to 8.2 million in 2009. This put an extra load on teachers, but with increased recruitment, the Government hopes to solve the problem and improve the quality of education.
The starting salary for teachers has been increased from sh200,000 to sh260,000 a month.
Earlier this week, President Museveni promised that the Government would construct teachers’ houses, beginning with the hard-to-reach areas.
Addressing rallies at Kolo in Madi-Okollo and Chiapa Primary School in Vurra County, Nebbi district, Museveni said providing teachers with accommodation around the school would ensure their availability at school to teach lessons in time and hence improve standards of education.
He said lack of accommodation was one of the causes of poor performance because teachers travel long distances to school and hence unable to cover the whole syllabus in time.
The President also said his Government would concentrate on increasing the number of classrooms and latrines in primary schools; and libraries and laboratories in secondary schools.
He, however, warned that parents should not be involved in the ventures, but left to provide uniform, packed lunch and scholastic materials to their children.
Museveni, who is seeking re-election, said there was a law which prohibited charging extra dues to parents in UPE and USE schools, but did not want to rush to implement it before he engaged parents and school boards for an amicable settlement.
“Some of these people would be in Luzira Prison now. We have already set a law that I thought they would understand after I have discussed with them,†Museveni pointed out.
He reiterated his new offer for free education at Advanced Level. The NRM candidate also promised that his government would meet examination fees.