KAMPALA- The assessment of over 22,000 learners from 76 Seed Schools will be jeopardized if the current teachers in these schools are sidelined in the ongoing recruitment of teachers by the education service commission.
Since the current curriculum provides for continuous assessment of learners, with their teachers required to submit their results to UNEB annually, which later form part of the final score in national exams.
The warning was issued by Stanley Ochom, National Chairperson Care takers Head Teachers of Community Seed Secondary Schools, while appearing before Parliament’s Joint Committee of Education and Local Government during the scrutiny of a petition filed by some aggrieved teachers who also asked Government to lower the minimum qualifications from the required Master’s degree to instead a Bachelor’s degree for Head teachers of Seed Schools, saying most of the head teachers in these schools didn’t have time and resources to pursue further studies.
He noted, “All sitting teachers in 76 operational seed schools will abandon their work since they would have lost trust and hope in the processes of Education Service Commission. The record for continuous assessment for the learners will be lost as there will be no teachers responsible for submitting continuous assessment results to UNEB as well as processing the end of year assessment cycles, hence affecting the progress of learners.”
“All the learners in the 76 schools, about 22,800 learners are already in these schools, will need to find new distant schools with boarding sections, new uniform as the open advert would cause some to disband. These schools have achieved remarkable in academics and enrollment which we would not love to jeopardize,” Ochom added.
His remarks are contained in the 25th November 2024 petition to Speaker Among where the current caretaking teachers in the 76 seed schools are demanding for special consideration during the ongoing recruitment exercise and have it done at school level as has been practice since 2017, instead of the current mechanism adopted by Education Service Commission of recruiting at national level.
“Consideration for the already substantive education officers on Government payroll who have been caretaking some of these seed schools to be done. These Education Officers have put in much effort to keep these schools operational and it is our prayer that their positions as head teachers be formalized,” he said.
Ochom further said, “We would kindly pray that recruitment of sitting staff is done on site at the school level as agreed upon by Parliament and also as done before since 2017. Education Service Commission considers a minimum requirement of Bachelor’s Degree in Education for caretaker head teachers since they haven’t had time and financial resources to pursue further studies. These teachers can be given time to go for further studies after enrolling them on payroll as would be guided by the Minister of Education and Sports.”
It should be noted that last year, Parliament asked the Ministry of Education to halt the ongoing recruitment of teachers in Seed Schools under the World Bank funded project, citing reports of nepotism, corruption and bribery, but the Ministry ignored the recommendations of Parliament, saying the halting of the recruitment exercise would affect the scheduled opining of these schools this year.
