Make the teaching profession attractive

Last week, the Education Policy Review Commission (EPRC) handed the Minister for Education and Sports, Ms Janet Museveni, a report that is expected to form the basis for the development of a new white paper that will guide the formulation of new policies and laws that will guide the education and sports sector.

One of the many recommendations that the commission made was to tighten entry requirements for students who wish to train as teachers.

The commission noted that most of those who are admitted into National Teachers’ Colleges (NTCs) and universities are either those who have not earned enough points to be admitted into universities or those who have not gotten enough points to secure enrolment for other professional courses of their choice.

The commission is now calling for the admission to the teaching profession of only students who will have excelled in national examinations as one of the ways in which education standards can be improved.

The recommendation comes at a time when the number of Ugandans who have been seeking to leave their jobs in the Public Service before clocking the mandatory retirement age has been on the increase, triggering fears of potential future manpower shortages.

The State of Human Resource Report 2023, which was recently released by the Ministry of Public Service, revealed that teachers constituted the biggest number of those who opted for early retirement. At least 690 out of the 919 people who left the Public Service in the Financial Year 2022/2023 were teachers.

This points to a much bigger problem. It suggests that the teaching profession cannot attract the best students. That has a lot to do with the remuneration and working conditions of teachers, especially when compared to other professionals such as engineers and medical doctors.

Matters are not helped by the glaring disparities in the salaries of teachers of arts subjects and their counterparts who teach science subjects. On July 1, 2022, the Ministry of Public Service announced the increment of salaries of health professionals and health tutors; scientists in the mainstream public service and science teachers in post-primary schools. The policy in some cases increased their salaries by as much as 100 per cent or more.

That, coupled with acute shortages of accommodation facilities, scholastic materials and infrastructure and equipment like classrooms, pit-latrines, desks and chairs, all serve to make the teaching profession increasingly unattractive.

The best way to attract the best brains to the teaching profession is by making it attractive. That begins with raising their emoluments and improving their working and living conditions.