Government cancels one-year certificate courses
The Minister of Education, Ms Janet Museveni
Kampala- The Ministry of Education has given training institutions up to the end of this year to stop training their students in business, technical and vocational certificate courses for one year.
The Minister of Education, Ms Janet Museveni, yesterday said all students who enroll for certificate programmes will now be taking two years unlike the one-year most institutions had adopted.
“All post Ordinary Level certificate programmes in Business technical, vocational and education training sub-sector must take a teaching duration of two years and be assessed nationally,” Ms Museveni said at the release of May/June 2017 examinations results for certificate and diploma programmes in technical, business and specialised institutions on Wednesday.
She also ordered that admission to universities and tertiary institutions be completed by end of June every year to allow students report to their respective institutions on time and give room for parents to organise resources for their children.
Out of 6,730 candidates who registered for the papers, 324 did not turn up. Mr Onesmus Oyesigye, Uganda Business and Technical Examinations Board executive secretary, attributed the absenteeism to students who fail to complete their studies because of working.
The examinations tested competencies in technical diploma, business diploma and certificate and physical, and biological diploma and certificate programmes.
The number of candidates who sat the programmes declined from 8,111 who registered in 2013 to 6,730 this year.
Why the decline?
“There is a small decline in number for mainly business certificate programmes because of advocacy of promoting science education. The candidates exhibited good performance in physical and biological sciences,” Mr Oyesige said.
The board reported a slight improvement in performance from 71 per cent in 2016 to 71.4 per cent in 2017.
Ministry officials could not explain why some institutions are offering one-year courses.
The board’s chairperson, Prof Venansius Baryamureeba, said they need more funds to enable them implement their assessment on a competence-based curriculum.
