Norway awards 20 scholarships to teachers

The Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation (NORAD) has awarded 20 teachers from various training institutions across the country with scholarships to pursue further studies.
Under its Capacity Building for Research-Based Teachers’ Education (CABUTE) initiative, Norway extended opportunities to the teachers to pursue their Master and PhDs in education at Makerere University.

Prof Paul Muyinda, the coordinator of this project, told this publication last week that they invited applicants in December last year, and the process attracted 30 Master’s degrees and 25 PhD applicants. 
“We have been in the process of shortlisting them to the number we wanted, and in October this year, we managed to award only 16 on master’s programme and four on PhD,” Prof Muyinda said.

CABUTE is a six- year research-based capacity-building project (2021-2026) founded by NORAD in Norway and intends to support the implementation of the national teacher policy by providing skills training for university faculties.
Prof Muyinda said the project aims  at supporting the government in building the capacity of teachers in the newly formed National Institute of Teachers’ Education.
“Teachers who are training the teachers in those institutions like NTCs, don’t have masters’ degrees and PhDs. Therefore, CABUTE project is aimed at ensuring that we build the capacity of these teachers to attain a degree and PhDs,” he said.
The 2019 national policy provides that teachers must attain all levels of education and they should have at least a minimum qualification of a bachelor’s degree in education.

The Makerere Vice chancellor, Prof Barnabas Nawangwe, lauded Norway for supporting Uganda’s education.
“Since our vision is to be the most research-based university, we aim at admitting more graduates than undergraduates, I, therefore, want to thank the project founders for enabling Uganda to meet such a strong need and enabling Makerere to achieve her vision,” Prof Nawangwe said.
The principal investigator of the CABUTE project, Prof Steinar Saetre, appreciated Makerere for partnering with them and also urged all teachers to work together to promote quality education.

“Investing in the education of teachers is an essential need to the institutions, we shall always consider promoting quality education in Uganda. I urge all teachers to work together through building collaborations and networks of professionalism and self-relationships,”  Prof Saetre said.  The Ambassador of Norway, Ms Elin Østebø Johansen, pledged to continue supporting the teachers.