'Staff shortage, land wrangles hampering education in Mukono schools'

MUKONO - Insufficient teachers, schools sitting on disputed land and managers who release erroneous and misleading final results to the parents and public with a view to stepping up recruitment, among others, are conspiring to hinder education development, especially at the primary school level, New Vision Online has heard.

According to Mukono Resident District Commissioner (RDC) Hajat Fatuma Ndisaba Nabitaka, teacher shortage is being caused by the dysfunctional District Service Commission (DSC), which was last year confronted with shortcomings, including arrest and pending investigations of some officials, including commission chairperson Eng. Godfrey Kibuuka Kisuule and Mukono district speaker Betty Hope Nakasi.

The officials were accused of involvement in the job-selling scam, leading to a halt in the commission’s business.

Ndisaba made the revelations on January 29, 2026, as she briefed the media ahead of the release of the 2025 Primary Leaving Examinations (PLE) results on Friday, and the opening of the new school calendar falling on February 10, 2026. The meeting took place in the RDC’s office.

She suggested that the Chief Administrative Officer (CAO) and district executives take steps to find the possibility of setting up modalities for hiring service commissions from other districts for the purpose of recruiting teachers to fill the missing gaps.

The commissioner sadly noted that while some schools were discontinued for not meeting the minimum basic requirements stipulated by the Ministry of Education and Sports, others are embroiled in land wrangles, with some sitting on two land titles and some landlords wishing to forcibly evict them.

“On this matter, we are appealing to the Government to enforce the ministries of education and that of lands to put in place a fund for government[-aided] schools to be able to get titles, especially in the central region where landlords have rejected busuulu (legally fixed annual ground rent) from bibanja holders”, she noted.  

Mukono Resident District Commissioner, Hajat Fatuma Ndisaba Nabitaka addressing the media on Thursday. (Credit: Henry Nsubuga)

Commenting on the land wrangle issue, district education officer (DEO) Rashid Kikomeko cited Seeta Nazigo Church of Uganda Primary School, which he said is sitting on two land titles, with one landlord trying to evict the school’s staff quarters, adding that, however, negotiations are underway for ironing out this anomaly.

Kikomeko said over seven government-aided primary schools in the district are on a time bomb, following landlords who are threatening to evict them.

The DEO also noted that the district is haunted by a small number of teachers not meeting the staff ceiling of government-aided schools in the district is 1,758, with only 1,512 teachers on payroll, leaving a deficit of about 200 teachers.

“Some teachers died, others absconded, while some of them retired, and with the district DSC problem, replacement right now is not possible”, the DEO said.

Both district officials decried crafty school managers who feed parents with wrongful and misleading final results with the aim of luring more learners to their schools, and advised parents to apply available online applications to access their children's performance, to avoid cheating school heads.