Restore dignity to the teaching profession

In a move to improve tutors, teachers as well as pupils’ performance, the government is set to tighten the criteria for admission to teacher training colleges. (See Daily Monitor, September 22).
According to Dr Grace Lubaale, the head of Teacher Education and Development Studies at Kyambogo University, a department responsible for teacher training across the country, entry points for those who aspire to teach in Primary teachers’ colleges (PTCs) will be revisited to address the persistent substandard performance.

Going forward, only students who have completed Senior Six will be admitted for training as tutors. This is different from the past, when students who had completed Senior Four and trained as primary school teachers before going for a diploma course in Teacher Education, were eligible to teach in teacher training colleges.
While this move is long overdue, government still has to do more to improve academic standards and teachers’ services.
Currently, many teachers find themselves in the teaching profession as a last option. Several teachers join the profession as last resort – having failed to qualify to study courses of their choice at university.
To improve the quality of education in the country, government should address bottlenecks that make the teaching profession less attractive.

To attract vibrancy, competition, and best brains to the education sector, government should remunerate teachers well.
Teachers should not be forced into situations where they clash with police officers as they demonstrate over poor or delayed salaries. This should be a thing of the past.
The chapter where teachers walk to school barefoot because they cannot afford shoes should be closed.
We can achieve this by providing teachers decent accommodation, paying them reasonable and prompt salaries, offering them allowances for any extra work they do, etc.

The pupil-teacher ratio, especially in Universal Primary Education schools, should be improved to enable teachers give personal attention to learners. With deserving motivation, not only will the current teachers give their best, they will also exuberate confidence in the communities they live in.
This will have a ripple effect, as teachers will be inspired to double their teaching efforts and many will be inspired to join the profession. The government should also build permanent classes and equip them with desks, chairs and stock school libraries with relevant textbooks to facilitate teaching as well as learning.