Schools to lose licences over failure to register learners

The Ministry of Education and Sports has vowed to revoke licences of private schools that will fail to register all their learners on the government’s Education Management Information System (ÉMIS) by December 9.

In the same regard, the government has threatened to suspend capitation grants for government schools that will also fail to beat the last deadline set by the government.

According to the November 3 circular from the Ministry’s Permanent Secretary, Ms Kerry Lamaro, registration of learners was supposed to end on October 30.

She said they have decided to extend the deadline to December 9, after learning that some institutions have not yet submitted data for their learners.

“Despite the extension of this deadline, it has come to my attention that many education institutions are yet to upload their learners’ data in the portal. This is negating the ministry’s efforts to ensure that all learners are registered,” Ms Lamaro said in the circular.

Ms Lamaro said the ministry will suspend capitation grants for government schools and revoke licence registration certificates for Private Education Institutions.

She, however, reiterated that all information relating to the learners and their respective parents and guardians uploaded will be kept confidential in line with the existing Data Privacy and Protection Act, 2019.

This is the third time the Ministry of Education is extending the registration of learners since the exercise kicked off in June. The data collected by schools is supposed to serve as the baseline information for learner verification and issuance of National Identifcation Numbers (NINs) by National Identification and Registration Authority (Nira).

In addition, Ms Lamaro said under the new lower secondary curriculum, secondary school head teachers will use unique NINs to transmit learner’s school-based assessment scores to Uganda National Examinations Board (Uneb). 

Prior to the expiry of the second deadline of registration on September 19, a number of schools across the country asked the ministry to extend it, citing network challenges with the system.

In her communication, Ms Lamaro said all those experiencing challenges in data capture and upload should contact the support team at EMIS.

Some parents have been complaining that schools have been asking them to pay a fee of between Shs5,000 and Shs10,000 before their learners are registered. However,  the ministry spokesperson, Dr Denis Mugimba, said the exercise is free.

The chairperson of the National Private Education Institutions, Mr Hasadu Kirabira, yesterday asked the ministry to extend the exercise until next year to enable schools facing challenges with technology complete the exercise. 

“The exercise is being conducted online and you know we have a challenge with rural schools and people’s understanding to operate online. Some schools are not yet on online system,”  Mr Kirabira said.

“Some schools have not understood the essence of this data. Extend the exercise because the process is very hectic, we need some time,” he added.