Ministry faults school inspector

The Makindye Division inspector is accused of disrupting a national programme due to conflicts with a workmate.

The Makindye Division Inspector of Schools in charge of Pre-Primary and Primary Education Amir Nantalaga has been accused of sabotaging a Ministry of Education programme aimed at curbing teacher and student absenteeism in schools.

According to Mr Joseph Eilor, the assistant commissioner education planning in the Ministry of Education, Mr Nantalaga is hiding crucial information, making it hard for them to train officials who will run the programme at the division level.

“Mr Nantalaga has stubbornly proved uncooperative and whenever we send there our officers, he refuses to give them the information they want. This is unacceptable and it is intended to sabotage the programme,” he said in an interview yesterday.
However, when contacted yesterday, Mr Nantalaga denied the accusations.

“The ministry made the communication by email and since our internet at the division was down, I was unable to check and pass on the information to the stakeholders on time. But the problem has been rectified and training of teachers is yet to start,” Mr Nantalaga said yesterday.

The ministry is in the process of rolling out the new software which will help track absenteeism in schools across the country. The District Education Management Information System programme, which is already piloted in 20 districts, will link critical school data such as teacher and student absenteeism directly from schools into the National Education Management Information System.

The ministry is currently training district education officers, administrative officers, and head teachers on how the new technology works.

According to Ministry of Education plan, a total of 5,400 teachers across the country must have acquired training for the new technology by February 4 when the new term opens.