Govt rolls out e-inspection of schools in Masaka City

The government has rolled out the electronic inspection (e-inspection) of schools to monitor whatever happens at schools as well as curb absenteeism among teachers.

While handing over five Galaxy tablets with an in-built monitoring tools to the inspectors of schools, Mr Ronald Katende, the Masaka Resident City Commissioner, said this will elevate the performance of teachers and learners.

The digitised inspection is being carried out using tablets which have been installed with two tools; a teaching or learning observation and head teacher’s management tools.

“We understand there are some teachers who are always absent in some of our government schools, but with this tool, the problem will be eliminated,” he said during the official release of the 2022 Primary Leaving Examinations (PLE) for Masaka City schools on Tuesday.

The new e-inspection system, also known as Integrated Inspection System (IIS), was first piloted in 1,000 government schools spread in 46 districts across the country in 2016.

The tools were installed in the electronic gadgets and once the inspector reaches a certain school and enters the code of that school, everything happening at the moment is known and can be seen by top officials at the Ministry of Education and Sports.

“We are delighted for the government initiative because it is the first of its kind in Masaka,” Mr Katende said. 

Under the old system, inspectors would send hard copies of reports to the district and later the Directorate of Education Standards to compile national school inspection reports. 

Mr Steven Kakeeto, the Masaka City Education Officer, said this practice has been cumbersome, with reports being delayed, while other reports were being concocted in education offices because inspectors did not reach the schools.

“This new innovation is going to help us analyse data consistently and generate reports as well as disseminate information on time,” he said, adding, “Some teachers have been giving us false information that they are present at schools yet in actual sense they were not there and there was no teaching taking place.”

He said with the new tracking system, teachers who will absent themselves without valid reasons will be punished.

“When government is paying teachers and they receive their full salaries. Why then not complete the syllabus?” he asked.

Mr Kakeeto applauded a section of teachers who he said value their work, which has improved academic performance of some schools in the area.

“We have maintained our third position but we hope with this new inspection initiative, we will be the overall best in the whole country next year,” he added. 

Ms Florence Namayanja, the Masaka City mayor, encouraged head teachers not to relent until Masaka tops the list of best performing schools in Uganda.

“This is not the first time to receive good news in regard to academic performance. Let us keep the candle burning and we shall reach there,” she said. 

Threats 

In the recently released 2022 PLE results, of the 7,382 candidates who sat the exams in Masaka City, a total of 3, 111 (42.1 percent) obtained Division One. Also, 95 percent of the candidate were graded and are eligible to join post primary institutions. 

Masaka City has a total of 380 schools, 55 of them are government-aided primary schools, 200 are private primary schools and 125 are nursery schools. The secondary schools are 52 and eight of them are government-aided.