300 private schools blocked from opening, says federation

Kampala.

About 300 private primary and secondary schools did not yesterday open for first term after they failed to meet the minimum standards as required by the ministry of Education, according to the Federation of Non-State Education Institutions (Fenei), an umbrella organisation for all private schools in Uganda.
The Fenei secretary, Mr Patrick Kaboyo, has asked the ministry to allow them to operate as they improve on their standards.
“We have been contacted by our members who are concerned about the ministry of Education directive to close unlicensed schools. Whereas we believe that standards as stipulated in the Education Act of 2008 should be followed by all operators in the education sector, the process remains challenging and tedious,” Mr Kaboyo said in a statement.
Some of the minimum standards include having a land title or tenancy agreement, qualified teachers, infrastructure such as classrooms and toilets, among others.
He accused the ministry officials of delaying with files some schools submitted for approval. He requested the ministry’s permanent secretary, Mr Alex Kakooza, to issue a receipt to those schools whose files they have which they can present to inspectors when they are doing their checks.
“Recently at our meeting with the permanent secretary of Ministry of Education, Alex Kakooza, he confirmed the fact that the ministry is faced with a backlog, especially in the licensing and clearing for primary schools licences and promised to act on it.
We hope this is happening because we have many of our members whose files are still stuck at the Ministry of Education and Sports, some of them over a year. It is comforting that the permanent secretary comes out strongly and clarify that all schools with evidence of having submitted documents for licensing shall be assisted,” he said.
However, the permanent secretary said they had deployed enough officers to verify if there are any schools that could have started the term without minimum facilities and warned that they will be closed.
“Any unlicensed school should not be allowed to open until the requirements are fulfilled and a licence to operate is issued,” Mr Kakooza said in a statement.
He explained that the ministry had assigned officers to directly help those chasing for their licences and promised it would not take long.
By Sunday, the permanent secretary told Daily Monitor that there was no backlog of the files waiting for licensing.
“We don’t have a backlog or people on standby to register,” Mr Kakooza said.
Mr Kaboyo however, believes if this standoff between government and proprietors of schools remains, it will lock out thousands of children from attending school arguing that some of the institutions are in areas where the government has no facility.
According to Mr Ismail Mulindwa, commissioner in charge of private schools, 1,006 primary schools and 348 secondary schools have so far been licensed since November.