420 teachers recruited
Nov 15, 2008
THE Government has recruited 420 teachers to be posted to Universal Secondary Education (USE) schools.
By M. Safari And C. Natukunda
THE Government has recruited 420 teachers to be posted to Universal Secondary Education (USE) schools.
An additional 1,000 will be recruited throughout this financial year, the assistant commissioner for secondary education, John Agaba, said.
The recruits are mainly for secondary schools in rural and hard-to-reach areas and those where double shift class system is to be introduced next year.
“We want to ensure a student/teacher ratio of 35 to 1,†Agaba said. “We particularly need more teachers for Mathematics and Sciences before the new academic year begins.â€
In March this year, there were 17,155 secondary school teachers covering 920 government-aided secondary schools. About 700 of these are under USE.
According to ministry statistics, about 318,091 students are benefiting from the free education programme, while another admitted to technical and vocational institutions.
While some of the new teachers have been allocated specific schools, others are pending allocation from their districts.
Contrary to common practice, Agaba disclosed that the jobs were not publicly advertised. “We realised that over 1,000 teachers (who were earlier) posted to the hard to reach areas, had refused to go there. We let headteachers submit the names of teachers who were committed to the schools and were not on the pay roll,†he explained. Our goal is to fast track staffing in those areas with immediate effect. Double shifts are also to be introduced next year and that explains why the recruited teachers must respond with immediate effect,†Agaba said.
The commissioner for education services, Henry Turyagyenda, remarked: “We intend to recruit more teachers every year.â€
THE Government has recruited 420 teachers to be posted to Universal Secondary Education (USE) schools.
An additional 1,000 will be recruited throughout this financial year, the assistant commissioner for secondary education, John Agaba, said.
The recruits are mainly for secondary schools in rural and hard-to-reach areas and those where double shift class system is to be introduced next year.
“We want to ensure a student/teacher ratio of 35 to 1,†Agaba said. “We particularly need more teachers for Mathematics and Sciences before the new academic year begins.â€
In March this year, there were 17,155 secondary school teachers covering 920 government-aided secondary schools. About 700 of these are under USE.
According to ministry statistics, about 318,091 students are benefiting from the free education programme, while another admitted to technical and vocational institutions.
While some of the new teachers have been allocated specific schools, others are pending allocation from their districts.
Contrary to common practice, Agaba disclosed that the jobs were not publicly advertised. “We realised that over 1,000 teachers (who were earlier) posted to the hard to reach areas, had refused to go there. We let headteachers submit the names of teachers who were committed to the schools and were not on the pay roll,†he explained. Our goal is to fast track staffing in those areas with immediate effect. Double shifts are also to be introduced next year and that explains why the recruited teachers must respond with immediate effect,†Agaba said.
The commissioner for education services, Henry Turyagyenda, remarked: “We intend to recruit more teachers every year.â€