The Uganda People’s Congress (UPC) party has called upon the government to recruit more teachers in SEED schools in areas around refugee camps.
This follows the government’s announcement about the advance recruitment of 3,500 new teaching staff for the SEED schools that are due to open up in a phased manner, in addition to those in existence awaiting expansion.
According to Muzeyi Faizo, the head of media and communications at the party, the immediate target is the refugee community, which exerts too much pressure on the limited facilities available, and the Ugandan local communities, which recently upgraded to subcounties with no secondary schools.
“UPC calls upon the government, through the Ministry of Education and Sports, to extend the project of SEED schools in such areas across the country,” Muzeyi noted.
Muzeyi said having SEED schools and the recruitment of teachers alone is not enough to guarantee quality education service to children, as evidenced by the continued impasse in the education sector, noting the need for the government to devise means to improve the education sector.
“The Party urges the government to fully engage teachers with their unions and work out reasonable conditions of service that will go a long way in retaining the manpower and its subsequent development through in-service training as well as ensuring the availability of necessary instructional materials in schools,” Muzeyi said.
He also noted that the recent negative experience of COVID-19 lockdowns proved the extent to which the teaching fraternity is very vulnerable and that education is very key to the growth and development of any given economy globally.
As UPC, he therefore called for a holistic approach to shape the Ugandan education system that will provide quality and equitable education services to people in the country.
In the same press statement, the UPC party also called on the government to call for alertness following the bomb scares within Kampala city suburbs of Kabalagala and Nansana Municipality over the weekend,picking up leaf from USA and UK terror alerts.
