Uganda: Let ministry consider education review report – Speaker

 

Speaker Anita Among has asked legislators to allow the Ministry of Education and Sports to consider the Education Policy Review Commission Report before it is presented to Parliament.

The report was presented to the Minister for Education, Hon. Janet Kataaha Museveni by former minister Hon. Amanya Mushega who the review commission. 

The Education Policy Review Commission was tasked with looking into the state of Uganda’s education sector with the aim of proposing reforms to synchronise it with current global and national needs.

During the plenary sitting on Tuesday, 11 February 2025, Kalungu West County MP, Hon. Joseph Ssewungu was concerned that the report has not been disseminated to the public. 

“The report gives new changes to the education system, but we have not got a single copy as the Committee of Education. The Ministry of Education should provide Members of Parliament with the report because it is an open document,” Ssewungu said.

Ssewungu also urged the Ministry of Education and Sports to correct misleading narratives on the details of the report which he said have disoriented public opinion on the matter.

“You must keep your document confidential until it is the government leading paper that is giving information to the public,” Ssewungu added.

The Speaker however, guided that the report, in its current form  being from a commission of inquiry requires the Ministry of Education and Sports to review it and prepare a White Paper.

“And it is this White Paper that translates into a policy which is then brought to Parliament for consideration. This is provided for under the Commission of Inquiry Act,” said Among.

Section 6 of the Commission of Inquiry Act, Chapter 166 states ,in part that, “The commissioners shall, after taking the oath…make a full, faithful and impartial inquiry into the matter specified in the commission…report to the minister, in writing, the result of the inquiry…”

The State Minister for Higher Education, Hon. John Chrysostom Muyingo reiterated that the ministry is studying the report before it is rolled out to the public.

“Right now we have established a technical committee that will advise government concerning the issues that have been raised by this report,” Muyingo said.

The report among others calls for expansion of the name of the Ministry of Education and Sports, to Ministry of Education, Sports and Training to enable the ministry offer more effective leadership for the evolving sector.

The report also proposes a merger of the functions of the National Council for Higher Education, the Directorate of Educational Standards, and the TVET Council into a National Education Standards and Quality Assurance body.

Distributed by APO Group on behalf of Parliament of the Republic of Uganda.