Govt plans to construct 258 secondary schools
Candidates at Main Street Primary School attend class on November 17. Government also says its trying to develop mechanisms that can ensure continuity of learning amid Covid-19. PHOTO/DENIS EDEMA
What you need to know:
- The government had resolved that all sub-counties across the country should have a government secondary.
- All the sub-counties that were in existence before 2015 have been catered for under the above arrangements.
Government through the Education ministry has announced plans to construct 258 government secondary schools in sub-counties across the country that do not have any schools in the 2020/2021 Financial Year.
Speaking at the closure of the Education Sector Review 2019/2020 in Kampala yesterday, the ministry’s permanent secretary, Mr Alex Kakooza, said of the 258 schools to be constructed, 115 will be financed by the funds Ugandan government received from the World Bank to fund the Intergovernmental Fiscal Transfer (UgIFT).
The PS explained that the remaining 116 schools will be constructed under Uganda Secondary School Expansion project whose funds he said have already been approved by the government. The 116 secondary schools include the 60 schools to be expanded in areas hosting refugees.
“The government had resolved that all sub-counties across the country should have a government secondary. All the sub-counties that were in existence before 2015 have been catered for under the above arrangements. The funds to cater for the remaining 27 schools has also been earmarked and this means that all those sub-counties will be having schools,” Mr Kakooza said.
He, however, said the government has not budgeted for the construction of schools in the new sub-counties that came into existence as a result of creation of new districts since 2015. He said students in the newly created districts will have to share schools with their mother districts.
Meanwhile, the Ministry of Education revealed that it is developing a plan to ensure a continuity of teacher-training during the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic.
The commissioner of teacher training at the Education ministry, Dr Jane Egua, said the training of teachers both in the National Teacher’s Colleges and Primary Teacher Colleges is very critical to avoid gaps in schools in the near future.
“The ministry of education with help from Unesco conducted a survey to establish whether teachers know how to use the online learning facilities and the government is going to base the findings to roll out an online learning,” Dr Egua said.
“Colleges teaching secondary teachers are ready to roll out the online teaching because they have all the necessities except Primary Teacher’s Colleges which are not yet set. This is because the government hub to facilitate teaching in all Primary Teachers’ Colleges had faults but they have been sorted,” she added.
When asked how the ministry is handling Covid-19 cases in schools, Mr Kakooza said the government has set up a committee headed by the Ministry of Health to manage cases in schools and asked the public not to panic in the face of rising infections.
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