7,000 teachers miss lower secondary curriculum training

More than 7,000 teachers did not take part in the teacher training exercise ahead of the implementation of the new lower secondary school curriculum.

According to details from the Ministry of Education, thousands of teachers were denied taking part in the training because their schools do not have Uganda National Examinations Board (UNEB) centres.

According to UNEB, there are 2,205 UNEB centres at secondary school level.

Officials from the Education Ministry say that only 8,820 teachers are estimated to have been trained.

Mr Fred Kyaka, the assistant commissioner for Secondary Education said that that during site visits, they discovered that in some parts of the country, teachers who did not come from schools that have UNEB centres were left out of the training exercise.

“At some regional training centres, as many as 300 teachers were denied the chance to take part in the training. But at some regional centres, the teachers agreed with the trainers and participated in the training as long as they they could buy their own meals,” Mr Kyaka said.

According to Mr Kyaka, some teachers from government-aided schools were also affected.

However, Mr Moses Ssemwanga, the deputy head teacher at Iganga Secondary School, one of the schools where trainings took place, the training was successful.

“We got a few cases of teachers who came from schools that did not have UNEB centres but they were quickly integrated and the training continued with no problems,” he said.

The training of teachers is one of many activities that were planned by the Education Ministry in the first phase of the implementation of the new lower secondary curriculum.

Dr Grace Birungi Baguma, the executive director of the National Curriculum Development Centre says that reports from the ministry are false because all teachers were invited to take part in the training.

“Teachers were invited though the SESEMAT regional centres. Even teachers in private schools were invited. So, this is not true. All teachers were invited for the training,” Dr Baguma said.

Dr Jane Egau, the Commissioner in Charge of Teacher Instructor, Education and Training, said that it was unfortunate that some teachers missed the training.

 She, however, said that during the second year of implementation of the curriculum, they plan to train them.