Schools in Greater Masaka grapple with staffing gaps

Many government schools in Greater Masaka will this coming term continue to grapple with staff shortages after the districts failed to achieve full staff ceiling due to low wage bill, Daily Monitor has established.

This crisis has prompted some head teachers in the  sub-region to start hiring private teachers to fill the gaps ahead of the school reopening on May 9.

According to Mr John Bosco Mulindwa, the Masaka District education officer-in-charge of administration and staffing, shortages are mostly affecting public primary schools.

He said the district has only 1,015 primary teachers out of the required 1,120.  Records from the education department show that the district has 78 primary schools, eight government-aided secondary schools, and one tertiary institution. However, Mr Mulindwa said when some parts of the districts were annexed to the city,  it affected their staff ceiling, and they are currently reviewing the number of teachers to establish the actual number.

He said primary schools previously required 846 teachers but they only have 784.
In secondary schools, there were 211 teachers by the close of the first term against the required 246.

“Though we don’t know how many will report back, it is evident that there are staff gaps, and what  I don’t know is whether our counterparts in the city have moved to solve this,” he said.
 The city education officer, Mr Steven Kakeeto, said they have not yet established the staff ceiling.

“The city has no staff ceiling yet, but as the education department, we are liaising with the line ministry to carry out an assessment about the number of teachers to guide us in establishing the ceiling,” he said.

Mr Patrick Zziwa, the Bukomansimbi education officer, said the district has 836 primary teachers and 137 secondary teachers.
“Our teacher-pupil ratio is 1: 35 and the entire district ceiling is short of about 300 teachers although the assessment to revise the ceiling is ongoing to ascertain our new one due to new recruitments,” he said.

Mr Mathias Kigoye, the Kyotera education officer, said the district is supposed to have 2,042 teachers at all levels, but only 1,744 are available, indicating a gap of 298 teachers.

Of the 298, a total of 213 are missing in secondary schools, 45 in tertiary institutions and 40 in primary schools.

“Teacher pupil ratio is important in ensuring service delivery, some subjects are very critical such as English language, and having no teacher of such a subject is disastrous to the future of the children,” he said

“I appeal to government to recruit enough teachers to ensure progress, especially in rural schools,” he said.
Mr Steven Ssemutono, the Rakai District education officer, said the low wage bill has forced many school management committees to hire part-time private teachers.

“As a  district, we are supposed to have at least 25 tutors in tertiary institutions, but only 15 are available ,in secondary schools we need 456 teachers ,but we had 320 by the close of first term,” he said.

In Sembabule , there is a shortage of 300 teachers at all levels, according to Mr Muhammad Kigwe, the district education officer.

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