Stop abusing promotion, posting and transfer process of teachers

Transfers are a normal practice in all organisations and should be encouraged for the growth and sustainability of any organisation. However, this has always been abused in many schools.
I am happy that the ministry of Education unlike other ministries has new faces right from the permanent secretary. I will therefore use this opportunity to warn them against abusing the promotion, posting and transfer of teachers.

These processes are abused for one reason or another. Some people for example have accelerated promotions because of their connections.

There is evidence that some transfers are not on merit. Some teachers ‘buy’ their promotions and eventual transfer or posting to particular schools. This is unfortunately a public secret. Many good teachers without ‘connections’ will never be promoted or if they are eventually promoted, will never serve in ‘good schools’.

Some members of the school foundation bodies are often compromised with money and other gifts during interviews and eventual posting of head teachers or their deputies. Many teachers head schools that they wouldn’t have headed if due process was taken. Such teachers do not have their loyalty to the schools or communities where they are serving.

There is a school in Butambala district which once had a population of about 2,000 students but once the leadership changed to appease a powerful head teacher whose brother was to manage the school despite having had wanting managerial skills, the school population dropped to less than 500 students.

That community school is now dead and it will take a miracle to resurrect. The foundation body in such a case could not help for conflict of interest. In my own area, a certain school was destroyed by the greed of former officials in the ministry who were in charge.

The head teacher then at the peak of the school was transferred and replaced with a more ‘friendly’ figure who knew how to financially appease his bosses. The school which had more than 1,500 students currently has a handful.

It is said that you might not get a good posting if you have not or are unwilling to grease your way through. Most of the ‘big’ schools are given to the best bidders or relatives to particular ‘big people’.

This partly explains why some head teachers are treated like ‘gods’. These ‘gods’ move with the ‘good’ teachers to their new schools and those found at the ‘new’ schools including the support staff lose their jobs or roles to the newcomers.
We cannot nurture good citizens under this kind of mess. We cannot allow institutions to be run like family businesses. We need to find out reasons why particular schools were constructed, otherwise schools are currently run like pure profit making organisations.

I request the people concerned in the ministry of Education or officials in the Inspectorate of Government to institute a probe into the transfer and management of many of the Universal Secondary Education schools.

In the quest to appease their ‘god fathers’ some head teachers overcharge the students to the incontinence of the parents. I have not known for example why some government school should charge more money than equally good private schools.

Mr Lukwago Ntegana is a limnologist and Lecturer, internship and graduation projects coordinator, International University of East Africa.