By KT Reporter
The Minister of State for Higher Education, Chrisostom Muyingo, has reiterated the government’s commitment towards filling staffing gaps in the different secondary schools across the country.
Muyingo was speaking during a meeting with education officials in Jinja city.
The Jinja city education officer, Paul Baliraine, said that several schools were struggling with low staffing levels, which in turn were affecting the general outcomes of the learners.
Baliraine says that some schools are improvising by using PTA funds to hire teachers privately as a means of filling the existing staffing gaps. He says that PTA funds are also used to top up the salaries of arts teachers who are earning less than their counterparts teaching science subjects.
Baliraine also raised the challenge of traditional schools having key structures like some dormitory blocks, kitchens, dining halls, and classrooms still roofed with asbestos.
Baliraine says that, much as the ministry provided iron sheets to fix this problem in the past two financial years, all of this aid was earmarked for primary schools, with all of them now free from asbestos.
Muyingo said that the education ministry has set out to recruit over 3000 teachers, whom they plan to deploy to different schools across the country.
Muyingo also says that the ministry has set out to supply computers to 1300 rural schools across the country, with hopes of bettering their training in ICT.
Muyingo further revealed that they are soon rolling out a World Bank project geared towards the rehabilitation of the country’s traditional schools, and Jinja city will be prioritised-URN. Give us feedback on this story through our email: kamwokyatimes@gmail.com
