First Lady bids farewell to outgoing German ambassador

EDUCATION 

KAMPALA - The First Lady and Minister of Education and Sports, Mrs Janet Museveni, has bid farewell to the outgoing Ambassador of Germany Dr Albrecht Conze, who completes his tenure of service in Uganda on Friday. 

The First Lady, flanked by senior officials from the ministry, met with Conze last Thursday at State House, Nakasero. 

Conze was accompanied by Iris Knabe, the head of development co-operation at the embassy of the Federal Republic of Germany in Uganda. 

A release from her office stated that Mrs Museveni and the German envoys talked about reviving the discussion on the possibility of the German government supporting the training of Master Trainers for Uganda's Technical Institutes that was started last year but came to a standstill because of the COVID-19 crisis. 

She said what Uganda really lacks are hands-on trainers for the many technical institutes in the country and would want to benefit from the German Master Trainers with expertise in the various fields. 

Mrs Museveni added that Uganda needs this urgently, to skill the young people with the expertise in fields such as road construction and others that are currently done by foreign companies, only. 

About the opening of education institutions, Mrs Museveni said they are praying and hoping that it is possible to at least open for the last term of the year, to facilitate the students, who are currently doing some studying at home, to do their final examinations so that the year is not lost completely.

Conze commended Uganda's remarkable success in handling the COVID-19 danger, saying Uganda is among the top three in Africa with Namibia and Rwanda. 

He invited the education ministry to participate in the bilateral negotiations to refine the German government's programme of co-operation with Uganda that is due in a fortnight so that they can present more concrete information on the areas the ministry would like to prioritise. 

Knabe talked about the dual-track vocational training model, which comprises classroom study and supervised on-job experience, that is practiced in Germany. 

She suggested that technical and vocational training institutions in Uganda should have close links with the existing industries. 

Knabe recommended more detailed discussions with the education ministry on what fields of skills development they would want to engage the German government on.