7,000 Teachers Missed Lower Secondary Curriculum Training

More than 7,000 teachers did not take part in the teacher training exercise ahead of the implementation of the new lower secondary school curriculum. 

According to preliminary results from the Ministry of Education, many teachers were denied to take part in the training because their schools do not have Uganda National Examinations Board-UNEB centre numbers. 

According to UNEB records from 2019, there are 2,205 UNEB centres at secondary school level.

Officials from the education ministry say that only 8,820 teachers are estimated to have been trained.

Fred Kyaka, the assistant commissioner for secondary education says that during site visits, they discovered that in some parts of the country, teachers who did not come from schools with UNEB centre numbers were left out of the exercise.

“At some regional training centres, as many as 300 teachers were denied the chance to take part in the training. But at some regional centres, the teachers reached an agreement with the people carrying out the training and they were allowed to take part though they provided their own food,” Kyaka said.

According to Kyaka, some government-aided schools were also affected.

Moses Ssemwanga, a deputy headteacher at Iganga Secondary School, one of the schools where trainings took place says that the trainings were successful.

“We got a few cases of teachers like that at the beginning of the training but they were quickly resolved and the training continued with no problems,” he said.

The training of teachers is one of many activities that were planned for by the education ministry to take part in the first phase of the implementation of the lower secondary curriculum.

Dr Grace Birungi Baguma, the executive director of the National Curriculum Development Centre-NCDC says that the reports from the ministry are false because all teachers were invited to take part in the training. 

“Teachers were invited though the SESEMAT regional centres. Even teachers in private schools were invited. So this is not true. All teachers were invited for the training,” Dr Baguma said.

Dr Jane Egau the Commissioner in Charge of Teacher Instructor, Education and Training-TIET says that it was unfortunate that some teachers missed the training. She, however, says that during the second year of implementation of the curriculum, they plan to fill the gap.