The Education Service Commission (ESC) has told Parliament that only five of its seven commissioners are currently active, after the contracts of two members expired in June 2026. The disclosure was made by the Permanent Secretary and Secretary to the Education Service Commission, Dr Asuman Lukwago, while appearing before the Committee on Commissions, Statutory Authorities and State Enterprises (COSASE), chaired by the Kyadondo East MP Muwada Nkunyingi, to respond to queries raised in the Auditor General’s report for the 2024/25 financial year.
Lukwago told the committee that the contracts of commissioners Violet Kajubi and Johnson Malinga expired in June, leaving the Commission with five active members. Malinga, he said, has since reapplied for renewal of his contract. The staffing situation came under scrutiny as MPs examined the Commission’s performance against its 2020-2025 strategic plan, with the Auditor General’s report showing significant shortfalls in several planned outputs.
COSASE also questioned the Commission over its recruitment and confirmation of education personnel, particularly the failure to confirm 3,626 teachers during the period under review. According to the audit figures presented to the committee, the Commission had targeted to confirm 16,200 qualified education personnel but achieved 13,611, representing 84 percent of the target.
The Commission, however, said it had recruited 17,233 personnel against a target of 16,200, with Lukwago attributing the high recruitment figures to the disruption caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. He explained that recruitment and confirmation activities were severely affected between 2020 and 2023 when schools were closed and the normal education administration processes were disrupted.
He said the Commission later had to undertake accelerated recruitment after a validation exercise established that some teachers had failed to return to schools following the COVID-19 disruptions. He said some teachers had turned to alternative activities, including boda boda riding, during the pandemic and did not return to teaching when schools reopened.
The government’s construction and opening of new seed secondary schools also created additional demand for teachers, prompting the Commission to accelerate recruitment. However, MPs questioned why more than 4,000 teachers who had been recruited were not confirmed during the strategic-plan period.
Lukwago explained that confirmation does not happen immediately after recruitment. A teacher is expected to serve for six months before applying for confirmation through the headteacher, who submits the application to the Ministry of Education and Sports. The Ministry then forwards the applications to the Education Service Commission for verification and confirmation.
He said the Commission normally takes between two weeks and one month to process confirmation submissions once they are received from the Ministry.
Lukwago said some applications were delayed because they had not been submitted to the Commission, while others were affected by the timing of recruitment, with many teachers recruited towards the end of the strategic-plan period.
The Commission also told MPs that confirmation requires verification because some applicants have previously presented forged appointment documents or other fraudulent records. The Commission noted that in the last validation of teachers, more than 500 were found with forged documents and other irregularities that saw them out of the payroll.
COSASE members, however, demanded documentary evidence showing the teachers who applied for confirmation, those who were confirmed and those who were not, together with reasons for the failure to confirm them.
The committee said it was particularly concerned about the implications of delayed confirmation on teachers’ careers and welfare. MPs also raised concerns about complaints that some headteachers allegedly sit on teachers’ applications for confirmation or demand money before forwarding their applications.
Lukwago acknowledged that the Commission had received complaints of headteachers demanding money from teachers seeking confirmation, transfers or other services.
Gerald Nangoli, the Elgon North MP questioned why the commission had not prioritised recruitment of teachers within their areas to reduce absenteeism and unexplained disappearances from duty.
The Secretary to the Commission said the challenges point to a wider weakness in human resource management within the education sector, particularly at the lower levels where thousands of teachers are managed through district structures.
Lukwago said the Commission had observed cases where teachers waited for years before being confirmed, while others remained in service and continued receiving salaries despite not having been formally confirmed. He said the lack of adequate human resource personnel dedicated to supporting teachers has made it difficult to effectively address complaints and administrative challenges.
Meanwhile, COSASE raised broader concerns over the Commission’s failure to meet several targets in its strategic plan. The committee noted that the Commission had targeted to support and enhance the capacity of 438 District Service Commissions but had achieved only 69, representing 16 percent.
The Commission had also targeted to review, print, disseminate and implement schemes of service for 10,000 education personnel but achieved only 1,500, representing a mere 17 percent of the target. MPs further questioned the failure to discipline education service personnel as envisaged in the plan.
COSASE Chairperson Muwanga Kivumbi said the committee would not limit its oversight to the written responses submitted by the Commission. He said the audit findings contained several revelations that warranted further scrutiny, including through spot checks and field inspections to establish whether the Commission is delivering on its mandate.
The committee is expected to use the information obtained from the Education Service Commission, together with evidence from the Auditor General and possible field inspections, to assess the Commission’s performance and determine whether corrective measures are required.
The MPs said they would also consider engaging the Ministry of Education and Sports over the confirmation process and staffing gaps affecting the management of teachers across the country-URN. Give us feedback on this story through our email: kamwokyatimes@gmail.com
