Educationists say no to govt mergers

Kampala.

Some government officials have opposed the merging of education entities, saying it will be a blunder as they play different roles.
Dr Grace Lubaale, the head of Teacher Education and Development department at Kyambogo University, yesterday warned that transferring the development of teacher education curriculum entity from Kyambogo University to National Curriculum Development Centre (NCDC) would be a mistake.
Dr Lubaale said the department is only responsible for developing curricula for primary and secondary teachers while their counterparts at NCDC take care of the content taught to pupils and secondary students in the country.
“The work we do is different. NCDC is responsible for what students learn. Kyambogo is concerned with what is taught to primary and secondary teachers. I have not been consulted. Maybe the vice chancellor was, it is up to them as government,” she said.
Government also wants National Council of Higher Education, NCDC and Directorate of Industrial Training (DIT) merged into a council.
However, Mr Patrick Byakatonda, the DIT director, yesterday said: “DIT is not an agency. It is a directorate under the ministry. We get Public Service salaries, government had proposed that if an agency has similar roles with a directorate, they mainstream it to the directorate because the principal is to save money. I earn Shs1.5 million. A director in an agency is earning Shs17m. If they collapse us, the aim to save money will not have been achieved.”
The 2018 Ministry of Public Service report also recommended that Uganda Allied Health Examination Board (UAHEB), Uganda Nurses’ Medical Examination Board (UMNEB), Uganda Business and Technical Examination Board (UBTEB) and Uganda National Examinations Board (Uneb) be merged under one institution to eliminate overlaps and save government resources.
Also the functions of the Students Financing Board will be merged with the directorate of Higher Education at the Ministry of Education.
The Uneb executive secretary, Mr Dan Odongo, yesterday said he had not received any communication about the new development.