Are Grade 5 teachers doomed?
Oct 24, 2004
IT may no longer be a wise strategy to enrol at the National Teachers Colleges (NTCs) as Education Ministry embarks on a path to phase out Grade Five teachers.
By Joshua Kato
IT may no longer be a wise strategy to enrol at the National Teachers Colleges (NTCs) as Education Ministry embarks on a path to phase out Grade Five teachers.
The phase out has started with a recent announcement by the ministry of education and sports that it was withdrawing funding to six NTCs including Kakoba in Mbarara, Kaliro in Kamuli, Masindi in Masindi, Nkozi in Masaka and Ngetta in northern Uganda.
While Mubende, Kabale, Unyama and Nagongera NTCs are to be retained, they may not operate beyond 2008 as the Government, the main consumer of Grade Five teachers will no longer be interested in them.
“We have an over supply of Grade Five teachers and by 2008, we may be recruiting mainly graduate teachers,†the education ministry Permanent Secretary, Francis Lubanga said.
According to the ministry, the closed institutions are to be turned into vocational training colleges because the demand for diploma teachers has gone down.
“The need for diploma teachers even among private secondary schools is very low. Schools now prefer graduate teachers who can teach both O’ and A-levels,†says Lubanga. Grade Five teachers are only competent át teaching O’ level.
Lubanga revealed that the Grade Five teachers would not be taken into primary schools but that the Primary Teacher Colleges (PTCs) will be improved to produce better products.
Unlike PTCs that produce Grade Three teachers, NTCs produce subject specialists. Primary school teachers do not have subject specialisations.
Yusuf Nsubuga, the commissioner for secondary education said another problem with Grade Five teachers was the rate at which they upgrade.
“Because of knowing their weaknesses, the majority of them always want to go for further studies as soon as they get onto the payroll. So the ministry saw it as a waste,†Nsubuga said.
This year, NTCs are yet to open since government has not released funding for them. Officials at the ministry of education say, this is the beginning of a gradual withdraw of funding from the diploma institutions.
NTCs were set up in the early 1970s to carter for a huge deficit of teachers in secondary schools. They were programmed to teach through crush programmes. The mother institution was the Institute of Teachers Education Kyambogo (ITEK), to which all diplomas from NTCs are accredited.
Through the years, NTCs became the option for so many A-Level leavers, who could not get admission into the University. Between 1990 and 2004, each of the 10 NTCs passed out an average of 500 Diploma teachers every year.
NTCs do not only help direct secondary school leavers, but also upgrading grade three teachers.
NTCs offer easily accessible holiday courses to these teachers, after which they receive Diplomas. At the moment, there are over 8,000 students in NTCs.
There is no doubt that the biggest number of teachers in both primary and secondary schools today passed through NTCs. “I am surprised that the ministry of education is phasing out Grade Five institutions, but maintaining the lower Grade Three.
Government should understand that whereas secondary schools now prefer degree holders, primary schools prefer upgraded Grade Five teachers,†observes Steven Ssentamu, a veteran teacher. He wonders where the upgrading Grade Three teachers will go to turn into Grade Fives.
The other reason for phasing out the diploma institutions is that the liberalisation of the education sector. Today, there are very many private universities teaching graduate teachers in the country.
This means that while NTCs used to admit students who have failed to get direct entrance into the university, even when they had the basic qualifications, these students now have the option of joining private universities to pursue courses of their choices.
Many students joined NTCs not out of their will to become teachers, but as a stepping-stone into the University and other careers. Indeed today, many of them are journalists, engineers and even lawyers.
“When I left Mubende, I joined the University and did a degree in Mass Communication, thanks to my diploma from Mubende,†says Kassim Nsimbe, currently working at Radio One. Today, there are so many professionals who started as Grade Five teachers.
Under the new arrangement, Mubende is to be retained, to serve students in the central region. Of the two NTCs in central, Nkozi and Mubende the latter had better facilities. But when it comes to serving the entire region, the facilities might not cope. The same applies to the other NTCs retained.
To some lecturers, cost sharing should have been introduced instead of phasing out the NTCs.
Currently, NTCs charge sh350,000 a year compared to an average of sh550,000 per semester for both public and private universities in the country.
Ends
IT may no longer be a wise strategy to enrol at the National Teachers Colleges (NTCs) as Education Ministry embarks on a path to phase out Grade Five teachers.
The phase out has started with a recent announcement by the ministry of education and sports that it was withdrawing funding to six NTCs including Kakoba in Mbarara, Kaliro in Kamuli, Masindi in Masindi, Nkozi in Masaka and Ngetta in northern Uganda.
While Mubende, Kabale, Unyama and Nagongera NTCs are to be retained, they may not operate beyond 2008 as the Government, the main consumer of Grade Five teachers will no longer be interested in them.
“We have an over supply of Grade Five teachers and by 2008, we may be recruiting mainly graduate teachers,†the education ministry Permanent Secretary, Francis Lubanga said.
According to the ministry, the closed institutions are to be turned into vocational training colleges because the demand for diploma teachers has gone down.
“The need for diploma teachers even among private secondary schools is very low. Schools now prefer graduate teachers who can teach both O’ and A-levels,†says Lubanga. Grade Five teachers are only competent át teaching O’ level.
Lubanga revealed that the Grade Five teachers would not be taken into primary schools but that the Primary Teacher Colleges (PTCs) will be improved to produce better products.
Unlike PTCs that produce Grade Three teachers, NTCs produce subject specialists. Primary school teachers do not have subject specialisations.
Yusuf Nsubuga, the commissioner for secondary education said another problem with Grade Five teachers was the rate at which they upgrade.
“Because of knowing their weaknesses, the majority of them always want to go for further studies as soon as they get onto the payroll. So the ministry saw it as a waste,†Nsubuga said.
This year, NTCs are yet to open since government has not released funding for them. Officials at the ministry of education say, this is the beginning of a gradual withdraw of funding from the diploma institutions.
NTCs were set up in the early 1970s to carter for a huge deficit of teachers in secondary schools. They were programmed to teach through crush programmes. The mother institution was the Institute of Teachers Education Kyambogo (ITEK), to which all diplomas from NTCs are accredited.
Through the years, NTCs became the option for so many A-Level leavers, who could not get admission into the University. Between 1990 and 2004, each of the 10 NTCs passed out an average of 500 Diploma teachers every year.
NTCs do not only help direct secondary school leavers, but also upgrading grade three teachers.
NTCs offer easily accessible holiday courses to these teachers, after which they receive Diplomas. At the moment, there are over 8,000 students in NTCs.
There is no doubt that the biggest number of teachers in both primary and secondary schools today passed through NTCs. “I am surprised that the ministry of education is phasing out Grade Five institutions, but maintaining the lower Grade Three.
Government should understand that whereas secondary schools now prefer degree holders, primary schools prefer upgraded Grade Five teachers,†observes Steven Ssentamu, a veteran teacher. He wonders where the upgrading Grade Three teachers will go to turn into Grade Fives.
The other reason for phasing out the diploma institutions is that the liberalisation of the education sector. Today, there are very many private universities teaching graduate teachers in the country.
This means that while NTCs used to admit students who have failed to get direct entrance into the university, even when they had the basic qualifications, these students now have the option of joining private universities to pursue courses of their choices.
Many students joined NTCs not out of their will to become teachers, but as a stepping-stone into the University and other careers. Indeed today, many of them are journalists, engineers and even lawyers.
“When I left Mubende, I joined the University and did a degree in Mass Communication, thanks to my diploma from Mubende,†says Kassim Nsimbe, currently working at Radio One. Today, there are so many professionals who started as Grade Five teachers.
Under the new arrangement, Mubende is to be retained, to serve students in the central region. Of the two NTCs in central, Nkozi and Mubende the latter had better facilities. But when it comes to serving the entire region, the facilities might not cope. The same applies to the other NTCs retained.
To some lecturers, cost sharing should have been introduced instead of phasing out the NTCs.
Currently, NTCs charge sh350,000 a year compared to an average of sh550,000 per semester for both public and private universities in the country.
Ends