By Mmeeme Leticia Luwenze,
ACADEMIC FEATURE:
As the world becomes increasingly interconnected, so do the the risks we take. The covid-19 pandemic has not stopped at national borders. It has affected people regardless of their nationality, levels of education, income or gender.
The education system in most countries of the world has been badly hit by the pandemic and the major actors in the system – Teachers are the most vulnerable to this crisis.
In Uganda, most of the female teachers have opted for abroad jobs in the Middle East commonly known as “Kyeyo” while their male counterparts have defected the teaching profession for odd jobs such as Brick laying, chapatti frying, Boda Boda riding to earn a living something that seemingly earn extra monies than compared to teaching even in normal situations.
As the world prepares to commemorate the World Teachers Day on October 5, we are conserned with what happens about Uganda’s Education sector especially at the time when teaching institutions are still put on lockdown since March 2020.
The Covid-19 has exposed many inadequacies and inequities in our education systems. Parrots UG reporter Mmeeme Leticia Luwenze caught up with experts to discuss on the Education crisis in the country and the role of teachers at the heart of covi-19 recovery.
According to Filbert Baguma the Secretary General of Uganda National Teachers Union (UNATU), teachers have suffered phycological torture due the COVI-19 lockdown.
“The teachers suffered phycological torture, most of them thought they were to come back after mere weeks . It came worse to private institutions whose income came from the parent’s fees.” Baguma said.
He continued to say that at least the teachers in the public sector were still being paid.
“The society needs to know that among all professions a teacher is a true friend , a teacher solves ignorance.” Filbert Baguma added. He also said the Uganda National Teachers Union has come up with a way of thanking teachers called ” A teacher who made my life ” this involves one sharing with the society that one teacher who changed the life of a student.
Dr. Turyagyenda Kedrance, the Director Education’s Standards Unit at the Ministry of Eeducation and Sports believes that teachers are an education core and without teachers there is no education . She says teaching is the most noble profession because one can see their contribution to the lives of others.
She said the Ministry of Education is encouraging teachers to learn a little bit of ICT and adopt to the new technologies which have seen teaching and learning going online than before.
Dennis Mugiba, the Public Relations Officer at education ministry said the role played by teachers in protecting learners cannot be underestimated by anyone.
“Teachers are like first aid givers, when the life of a teacher is affected it affects many other people, a teacher is a health worker, our defense, our frontline guard teachers are so central without a teacher we can’t do so much,” Mugimba said before adding;
“The safety of teachers is paramount, that’s why the government prioritised the teachers in the priority category to get vaccinated against COVID-19.”
He revealed that at least 54% of teachers have been vaccinated leading to about 300,000 teachers vaccinated against COVID across the country.
On the issue of supporting teachers, the MoES mouthpiece said the government has served out 22 billions to the Private Teachers Association to support teachers in this pandemic. He urged leaders of the association to start serving this money to teachers in October.
Furthermore, Mugimba stated the responsibility of teaching institutions when schools are opened
“When we are opening our teaching institutions , the head of institution will be accountable for the occurrence of SOPs in the institution. ” Said Denis Mugiba the Public Relations Officer (MoEs)
The President of Uganda Yoweri Kaguta Museveni last week on Wednesday reopened education institutions (post secondary institutions) and urged that schools should wait to re-open in January 2022.
