Govt to recruit over 3,000 secondary teachers

The Education Service Commission (ESC) is set to recruit 3,096 secondary school teachers in 100 seed schools across the country following submission from Ministry of Education and sports.
 Prof Samuel Luboga, the ESC chairperson, yesterday said 82 operational seed secondary schools whose teachers were not being paid by government before, and 18 non-operational seed secondary schools that have been constructed, are the beneficiaries.

 “This category (operational) has been operational since 2019 and have sitting teachers who will be given priority. Each school was allocated 31 staff, giving a total of 2,542. Eighteen non-operational schools construction was completed, which to date have no teachers or students,” Prof Luboga said.

 He added that for the 82 operational schools, there is a total of 2,542 vacancies, whereas in the 18 non-operational schools, there are 554 vacancies 
 According to ESC, interviews for the 82 operational schools will start on February 22 and end on March 13. Vacancies in the 18 non-operational schools will be advertised thereafter.
Some of the beneficiary schools include Agali Seed Secondary School in Lira District, Kakure Seed Secondary School in Kalaki District, Blessed Seed Secondary School in Nakaseke, Amid Seed Secondary School in Kitgum, among others.

 Some of the vacancies available are, head teacher, deputy head teacher, mathematics, English, Swahili, Geography, Agriculture, Local language, Physical Education, Political Education, Chemistry, Biology, Art and Design teachers, among others.
Dr Asuman Lukwago, the permanent secretary in the Ministry of Education, said every recruited teacher will sign a bonding arrangement of being at school for at least three years to encourage retention.

The ESC is planning to conduct a study looking at retention in previous seed schools and their benefit to society.  
 Since the introduction of seed schools in 2010, government has to date recruited 9,612 staff for a total of 356 seed schools.
Dr Lukwago said later this year, recruitment of more than 4,000 teachers will be announcement.
Some of the existing government schools that are currently having staffing gaps will also benefit from that recruitment.