Uganda: ‘Recruitment of seed secondary school teachers to go on’

 

The Ministry of Education and Sports maintains that the recruitment of head teachers and deputy head teachers of the contested 76 seed secondary schools will go on.  

Head teachers and their deputies of the schools under the Uganda Intergovernmental Fiscal Transfers Programme (UGIFT)Phase two, petitioned Parliament seeking to halt of the recruitment process stating  that the advertisement is internal and disqualifies them.

The Committee on Education and sports is handling the petition and met the Minister of State for Education and Sports (Sports), Hon. Peter Ogwang and the Education Service Commission on Tuesday, 04 February 2025.

The Members of Parliament (MPs) appealed to the Education Service Commission to reconsider opening up the advertisement to allow the care taker head teachers and their deputies to apply. 

Committee Chairperson, Hon. James Kubeketerya asked the Education Service Commission to amend the advertisement. 

“Are you going to have an addendum of the advertisement to take care of the sitting head teachers and deputies,” he asked.

Minister Ogwang however, said that the commission will not make any changes. 

“The commission will recruit as per the advertisement which is still standing. Nobody is stopping anyone who qualifies to apply. We want strong and committed head teachers to help us lead,” Ogwang said.

The Secretary to the Education Service Commission, Dr Asuman Lukwago pointed out that the commission’s decision to advertise internally is partly premised on concerns of corruption raised by the World Bank, which is the biggest funder of the programme. 

“As we discuss these issues, we should be aware that the schools are funded by the World Bank and the Bank threatened to stop due to corruption. We have allowed those who qualify to apply and this will ensure transparency,” he said.

The Chairperson of the Education Service Commission, Professor Samuel Luboga said that some of the care taker head teachers and deputies ended up in the seed schools after they were deleted from the government pay roll due to forgery of appointment, posting or transfer letters and disciplinary cases. 

“Corruption in the sourcing process of sitting teachers has been reported. In some instances, some staff are made teaching and non-teaching staff yet they do not qualify,” he said.

Hon. Joseph Ssewungu (NUP, Kalungu County West) however, warned of legal repercussions should the recruitment go on.

He said that the petitioners cited Articles 21, 41 and 32 of the Constitution as well as Section 36 of the Labour Act all of which provisions give the sitting head teachers rights to apply for the jobs. 

“The moment you do not give these people the opportunity, they will seek legal redress. We ask that you re-visit the internal advertisement to open the jobs to all, even the care takers,” Ssewungu said.

UGIFT is a World Bank funded programme which has seen government build 117 seed secondary schools. Some of the seed schools were previously started by communities and  later on taken over by government. 

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