Same old story of recruitment, private schools not qualified

What a Week! By Anthony Mugeere That government is in the final stages of recruiting 20,000 primary school teachers, is something we are already used to. Up to twice that number of jobs for the same category of workers are available. However, the fact that they are not yet taken up because some bureaucrats are "simply not interested" in the issue, is something we should ponder over. Government's ban on civil service recruitment has affected all its departments -education inclusive. There are several vacant posts at various levels despite claims by officials that the ban was actually lifted a year or two ago. Yes, a number of adverts have been placed in the media for various posts but the appointments are yet to be made. Budgetary constraints is one of the most cited reasons for the delay. Now President Museveni himself says the money for the 40,000 jobs was included in the budget but the local governments are not recruiting the teachers. It is disappointing that our local leaders have chosen to ignore such an important issue. Many unemployed teachers are out there and UPE has suffered because of poor staffing in schools. This is the time to wake up and fill up the "vacant" posts as soon as possible. Kampala City Council (KCC) is already tightening its grip on UPE. Reports last week said the city authority is to recruit bursars for all its primary schools to streamline the management of UPE funds. Muwonge Kewaaza, the city education officer, says KCC will appoint an auditor to monitor funds sent to the schools. A reshuffle is meanwhile eminent for the existing bursars. Private schools, both primary and secondary, have undoubtedly played an important role in the provision of education in this country. But it was appaling to learn that over 90% of the private primary schools in Uganda would close if the Ministry of Education and Sports insisted they meet all conditions for the establishing a proper school! For long, the requirements for licencing private schools have been questioned. In fact, many of them are neither licenced nor known by the education authorities. So we were not surprised when Dr. Emurion Malinga, a Makerere University researcher on private education, told a Kampala workshop that most of the about 30,000 private primary schools do not meet the conditions. By Friday, Sister Cephas Cormack had officially confirmed her retirement and commended for her contribution to education in Uganda by none other than President Museveni himself. The week also saw Lady Sylvia Nagginda, the Nabagereka of Buganda, provide us with some food for thought when she proposed a review of the national curriculum to accommodate the interests of children with disabilities. It was also during the same week that Makerere University revealed its plans to increase its student population to 30,000 by the year 2005. Ends