The Belgium Development Agency (BTC) on Friday handed over a newly-renovated and furnished pedagogy block at Mulago Tutors College to the school administration.
The renovation that started in 2014 has seen facelifting and equipping of all lecture rooms, library, ICT department, kitchen and laboratories. The college also received a 32-seater bus as part of the project to enhance the mobility of students during the field works around the country.
During the commissioning of the new building, the state minister for higher education, Dr John Chrysostom Muyingo, commended the Belgian aid agency for their continued partnership with Uganda and promised that government will take up the remaining issues.
These issues, raised by the students, included lack of accommodation at the institute, few lecturers, and absence of a bigger bus to facilitate upcountry field work studies.
“When the guild president said they need a big bus, I said, why not? The government is planning to address these issues like increasing the number of teachers here. We also want to construct residential halls but the only problem we are facing is land availability,” Muyingo said.
The renovation project cost Shs 2.3 billion and it is under the wider BTC project of enhancing the capacity of the National Teachers’ Colleges (NTCs). Kaliro and Muni NTCs have also been rehabilitated.
The Belgian ambassador to Uganda, Mr Hugo Verbist, told The Observer at the function that they chose the education sector because it is key to national development.
“For about eight years, we have been working together with the Ugandan government in education because they asked us for support. Uganda has a very young population and, therefore, education is very vital for the development of the country,” Verbist said.
He added that other projects run by the agency, still in the education sector, have either kicked off or are still in the pipeline. The Mulago-based college trains health tutors who mostly teach in nursing and midwifery institutions. It is affiliated to Makerere University through the college of Education and External Studies (CEES).
The college started in the 1960s with only 14 students mainly offering diploma in health tutorship in nursing. It has since expanded to include midwifery and other allied health professionals.
Since 2010, the college also offers bachelor’s degree courses. With about 200 students today, the college offers three programmes: bachelor’s in medical education, postgraduate diploma in medical education and higher diploma in clinical instruction.