Who calls the shots in govt schools?
Feb 05, 2008
DURING the recent transfers of teachers and head teachers, accusations of patronage were common. Big shots in Government and founding bodies were interfering in the process. <b>Irene Nabusoba</b> and <b>Aisha Ahmad</b> examine the problem.
DURING the recent transfers of teachers and head teachers, accusations of patronage were common. Big shots in Government and founding bodies were interfering in the process. Irene Nabusoba and Aisha Ahmad examine the problem.
TEACHER transfers do not always go down well with stakeholders. While there are guidelines for this exercise, many teachers commonly cry foul, alleging bias and hatred. Nevertheless, the teachers often settle in once the ministry takes its stand.
But this year’s transfers involving headteachers of Mengo Senior School, Kings College Budo and Lubiri Secondary School have raised a lot of questions about the role of founding bodies and ‘godfathers’ in education institutions.
It started as a minor issue with Mengo SS objecting to the replacement of their headteacher, Patrick Bakka Male, by George Wamala Lule of Lubiri SS on grounds of poor administration and lack of integrity.
In a petition to the commissioner for secondary education in the education ministry, the Rt. Rev. Samuel Balagadde Ssekadde, the chairman Board of Governors of Mengo SS, wrote that since the transfer announcement, a lot of objections from different stakeholders had reached his office.
Ssekadde said the board found the environment under which Wamala would operate in the school as ‘unconducive’ and suggested a possible swap of the Budo and Mengo headteachers, appointing an acting headteacher or posting another one agreeable to the stakeholders.
“Mengo’s Old Student’s Association wrote a petition objecting strongly to the replacement. The Parents and Teachers Association (PTA) also received complaints from the parents expressing their dissatisfaction with the replacement. So did other stakeholders including teachers, non-teaching staff and students. The Board sat and considered all the above petitions,†the January 4 letter reads.
Ssekadde sighted the closure of Nakanyonyi SS examination centre in 2000 due to examination malpractices when Wamala was the headteacher. However, the ministry considered ‘baseless’ the above allegations in a letter signed by Francis Lubanga, the permanent secretary, to Mengo SS instructing Bakka Male to vacate office.
Established in 1895 by the Church Missionary Society, Mengo SS is one of the first schools in the country. The school is a model day school with a comprehensive curriculum and a high level of Christian background. This is probably the reason the school is one of the best day schools in the country.
“The ministry is destabilising us. Some schools have had headteachers for over seven years, but we have had eight since 1986, with an average stay of three years each,†Sam Mulindwa, Mengo’s chairman PTA says.
He says changing headteachers frequently affects the good performance of the school because each individual comes with his own policies.
“It takes a while for teachers and students to adjust to a new system. It is worse if the headteachers also teach. Besides, some are transferred as a punitive measure or poor relations with staff and they just shift the bad habits to their new workstations,†Mulindwa notes.
Well, at least the ministry heard Mengo SS’ plea and opted for a swap. George William Semivule, Budo’s headteacher, who was supposed to go to Kako SS, would be replaced with Bakka Male as Wamala shifted to Mengo. But Wamala has been posted to Kako, although he cries foul.
“I am being a sacrificial lamb. The allegations raised against me are simply meant to malign my name,†Wamala alleged in an earlier interview with The New Vision.
Nonetheless, the fact that the ministry caved in to Ssekadde’s suggestion leaves one question: Who calls the shots in government-aided schools? There are those with founding bodies, private but government-aided and those with well-placed alumni.
Robinson Nsumba-Lyazi, the commissioner for comprehensive secondary education in the ministry, says there are 903 government-aided secondary schools in the country although there are no statistics on the number of those with founding bodies like churches. He recounts that education in Uganda was an initiative of voluntary organisations, especially the early Christian missionaries.
In 1925, the colonial government took over control of the sector when it established the directorate of education and expanded the system in the 1950s and 1960s.
After independence, the government started exercising its influence in the sector, particularly on the equality of education, expansion of girls’ education and provision of adult education.
“Most of these schools became government-aided in the 1960s. It was very difficult for the churches to manage them solely because of the costs involved,†Nsumba-Lyazi says.
With the liberalistaion of the economy in the 1990s, private schools also came into play, but the Government had to show its stake by declaring some of them government-aided.
Does the Government still have full authority over these schools? What happens to the headteachers with no godfathers or who are not favoured by the founding bodies? And the private government-aided schools, can Universal Secondary Education truly be universal with this ‘power struggle’.
Yusuf Nsubuga, the commissioner for secondary education, says the ministry makes final decisions pertaining to school policies.
“Like in the Mengo SS case, we did not simply follow the founding body’s proposals to swap the two headteachers. Semivule had already appealed to stay in Kampala because of personal reasons which the ministry considered,†Nsubuga says.
Nsubuga says they often consult stakeholders like founding bodies before taking any decisions in schools.
The minister of education, Geraldine Namirembe Bitamazire, recently said certain politicians, whom she called ‘godfathers’ of some teachers, were trying to resist transfers.
“Part of the problem is brought by politicians who want to protect some headteachers. They run to the President and the Prime Minister, but we shall not accept to be undermined,†she told The New Vision.
She said the reshuffle is done in good faith with the major objective being to reduce rural-urban disparity and to promote Universal Secondary Education.
TEACHER transfers do not always go down well with stakeholders. While there are guidelines for this exercise, many teachers commonly cry foul, alleging bias and hatred. Nevertheless, the teachers often settle in once the ministry takes its stand.
But this year’s transfers involving headteachers of Mengo Senior School, Kings College Budo and Lubiri Secondary School have raised a lot of questions about the role of founding bodies and ‘godfathers’ in education institutions.
It started as a minor issue with Mengo SS objecting to the replacement of their headteacher, Patrick Bakka Male, by George Wamala Lule of Lubiri SS on grounds of poor administration and lack of integrity.
In a petition to the commissioner for secondary education in the education ministry, the Rt. Rev. Samuel Balagadde Ssekadde, the chairman Board of Governors of Mengo SS, wrote that since the transfer announcement, a lot of objections from different stakeholders had reached his office.
Ssekadde said the board found the environment under which Wamala would operate in the school as ‘unconducive’ and suggested a possible swap of the Budo and Mengo headteachers, appointing an acting headteacher or posting another one agreeable to the stakeholders.
“Mengo’s Old Student’s Association wrote a petition objecting strongly to the replacement. The Parents and Teachers Association (PTA) also received complaints from the parents expressing their dissatisfaction with the replacement. So did other stakeholders including teachers, non-teaching staff and students. The Board sat and considered all the above petitions,†the January 4 letter reads.
Ssekadde sighted the closure of Nakanyonyi SS examination centre in 2000 due to examination malpractices when Wamala was the headteacher. However, the ministry considered ‘baseless’ the above allegations in a letter signed by Francis Lubanga, the permanent secretary, to Mengo SS instructing Bakka Male to vacate office.
Established in 1895 by the Church Missionary Society, Mengo SS is one of the first schools in the country. The school is a model day school with a comprehensive curriculum and a high level of Christian background. This is probably the reason the school is one of the best day schools in the country.
“The ministry is destabilising us. Some schools have had headteachers for over seven years, but we have had eight since 1986, with an average stay of three years each,†Sam Mulindwa, Mengo’s chairman PTA says.
He says changing headteachers frequently affects the good performance of the school because each individual comes with his own policies.
“It takes a while for teachers and students to adjust to a new system. It is worse if the headteachers also teach. Besides, some are transferred as a punitive measure or poor relations with staff and they just shift the bad habits to their new workstations,†Mulindwa notes.
Well, at least the ministry heard Mengo SS’ plea and opted for a swap. George William Semivule, Budo’s headteacher, who was supposed to go to Kako SS, would be replaced with Bakka Male as Wamala shifted to Mengo. But Wamala has been posted to Kako, although he cries foul.
“I am being a sacrificial lamb. The allegations raised against me are simply meant to malign my name,†Wamala alleged in an earlier interview with The New Vision.
Nonetheless, the fact that the ministry caved in to Ssekadde’s suggestion leaves one question: Who calls the shots in government-aided schools? There are those with founding bodies, private but government-aided and those with well-placed alumni.
Robinson Nsumba-Lyazi, the commissioner for comprehensive secondary education in the ministry, says there are 903 government-aided secondary schools in the country although there are no statistics on the number of those with founding bodies like churches. He recounts that education in Uganda was an initiative of voluntary organisations, especially the early Christian missionaries.
In 1925, the colonial government took over control of the sector when it established the directorate of education and expanded the system in the 1950s and 1960s.
After independence, the government started exercising its influence in the sector, particularly on the equality of education, expansion of girls’ education and provision of adult education.
“Most of these schools became government-aided in the 1960s. It was very difficult for the churches to manage them solely because of the costs involved,†Nsumba-Lyazi says.
With the liberalistaion of the economy in the 1990s, private schools also came into play, but the Government had to show its stake by declaring some of them government-aided.
Does the Government still have full authority over these schools? What happens to the headteachers with no godfathers or who are not favoured by the founding bodies? And the private government-aided schools, can Universal Secondary Education truly be universal with this ‘power struggle’.
Yusuf Nsubuga, the commissioner for secondary education, says the ministry makes final decisions pertaining to school policies.
“Like in the Mengo SS case, we did not simply follow the founding body’s proposals to swap the two headteachers. Semivule had already appealed to stay in Kampala because of personal reasons which the ministry considered,†Nsubuga says.
Nsubuga says they often consult stakeholders like founding bodies before taking any decisions in schools.
The minister of education, Geraldine Namirembe Bitamazire, recently said certain politicians, whom she called ‘godfathers’ of some teachers, were trying to resist transfers.
“Part of the problem is brought by politicians who want to protect some headteachers. They run to the President and the Prime Minister, but we shall not accept to be undermined,†she told The New Vision.
She said the reshuffle is done in good faith with the major objective being to reduce rural-urban disparity and to promote Universal Secondary Education.