What is in a degree?

In setting the bar higher for teachers, the ministry of Education and Sports wanted to admit quality trainees with the ‘ideal profile’ to join the profession. As thus, all grade III certificate and grade V diploma training courses for teachers were phased out this year.

All teachers shall be university graduates but specializing in any one of; pre-primary; primary education, lower secondary or higher secondary education, and tertiary education.

Education officials believe that graduate teachers will have in-depth knowledge on pedagogical skills as well as ably impart higher-level concepts to learners – a missing link in the classrooms to date. The policy indicates that under professionalization is responsible for ineffective teaching, teachers’ unethical behavior, absenteeism, weak institutional leadership, lack of teacher regulation, and limited professional development.

The new policy will provide a framework for professionalizing and standardizing the teaching profession to improve the development and management of teachers generally.

Effective this academic year 2021/22, all students on bachelor of Education programs will study for four years, three of which will be full-time study including school practice. The last year will cover internship and mentorship for students to sharpen their skills before they are issued practicing licenses by the National Teacher Council (NTC).

Under this new arrangement, learning has also been changed to 60 per cent practicum and 40 per cent theory.

According to the policy, “A person with a Bachelor’s degree, shall be eligible to join the teaching profession if such a person has either two teaching subjects or a double main subject including ICT and has completed a Post Graduate Diploma in Education from an institution accredited by Uganda National Institute of Teacher Education.”

WHY NOW?

In 2013, a study dubbed the Teacher Initiative for Sub-Saharan Africa (TISSA) was undertaken to find out issues affecting teachers in 13 countries. According to the education ministry spokesman, Dr Denis Mugimba, the most profound issue in Uganda was inadequate qualifications.

“They found that about 12% of teachers in primary schools did not have the required qualifications. This could mean that they were either not qualified at all or failed but were teaching. In secondary, 16% were unqualified. More 85 per cent of unqualified teachers were in private schools. In technical schools, out of the 5,000 academic staff as of 2010, at least 60 per cent needed upgrading their skills and competencies,” Mugimba said.

He added: “These very glaring issues raised by the report on qualifications needed a solution. The report concluded that we must come up with a policy that sets a vision for the teaching profession and a series of interventions that we need to put in place to rectify the teacher issues.”

The TISSA report did not recommend a degree as a minimum entry into the profession but the decision was taken by the government after benchmarking in countries such as Finland, Singapore, Ghana, South Africa, Kenya, and Rwanda.

The 2015 statistics from the education ministry indicate that there were at least 347,219 teachers employed in public and private schools. With the outbreak of Covid and the subsequent closure of schools for nearly two years, more teachers are likely to leave the profession.

Some have engaged in odd jobs and profiteering businesses. As the government starts implementation of the NTP, more teachers that are not ready to upgrade to degrees within the stipulated timeframe are likely to fall out.  Meanwhile, the policy notes that fresh recruitment and deployment of teachers should target graduate teachers at all levels of education.

Mugimba said in-service teachers without degrees have until August 2029 to upgrade while those who will be 60 years by 2029 will be given leverage not to upgrade. However, if one intends to return to the profession as a contract teacher without a degree, they will not be allowed in a classroom.

IMPLEMENTATION LONG OVERDUE

Whereas there are many sentiments about the policy, educationists insisted that it has been long overdue. A senior lecturer of Education at Kyambogo University, Dr Grace Lubaale, commended the Education ministry for thinking in the right direction.

“To go to school is a good thing. If all teachers in Uganda can have a degree, I support that policy. In any case, these are part of my recommendations that I made many years ago when I was a member of the teacher education department for 12 years and head of the department for six years,” Lubaale said.

He said graduate teachers should be well-grounded in classrooms than grade three and five teachers due to the changing education and market demands.

“If someone studies Mathematics from primary to university, the difference is not comparable to anyone who branched off from primary seven or senior four to do education. Today, some teachers can’t teach science subjects because they failed them, that’s why children are also performing miserably in sciences,” he added.

In 2017, the government reviewed entry requirements for grade three and five teachers from passes in English and Mathematics to credit in both subjects and two science subjects from at least Agriculture, Biology, and Physics or Chemistry obtained at the same sitting of O-level examinations.

While there has been notable performance improvement, admission numbers were also eventually reduced due to the tight requirements. To Lubaale, this was evidence that the profession was being ‘invaded’ by poor performers who plan to study for a short period and seek employment.

“Teaching is a noble job that requires sufficient preparation, mentorship, coaching, instruction, and training of people. It also requires time and four years now are good enough for teachers,” he said.

While head of the department, Lubaale was in charge of the examination and management of primary teacher education in Uganda. He explained that a good student must be good at three levels; cognitive [head], affective [heart], and psychomotor [hands].

However, he admitted that teachers being trained today may be smart at the cognitive level because they pass exams but are still wanting at affective and psychomotor levels. This is because people didn’t enter education courses by choice but rather as a gateway to other fields.

The head teacher of St Joseph’s College Layibi in Gulu, Walter Otti Nyeko, agreed with Lubaale that once one is more educated, one tends to have the mastery of the subject, profession, and able to deliver effectively.

“To be a secondary teacher, one should have even upgraded to a Master’s level. I am happy that the policy insists that all administrators should have at least a Master’s degree because up there, professionalism is highly emphasized. To me, advancing in studies as you teach is very good,” Otti said.

Trophy Atuhairwe, the head teacher of St Leo’s College, Kyegobe in Fort Portal, said a critical mass of graduate teachers will cover low staffing levels in schools. He revealed that more diploma holders were teaching A-level yet, in principle, they don’t qualify to teach those classes.

“When all teachers get degrees, they will be able to teach A-level classes. Most schools have been employing diploma holders because they are cheap to maintain and have no alternative since graduates are few, and ask for huge pay cheques and fringe benefits,” Atuhairwe said.

EVOLUTION OF TEACHERS

When Uganda got its independence in 1962, there was a shortage of qualified manpower in the education sector after the departure of European and Asian civil servants. Before the new policy, there were at least six recognized entry levels in education; Grade I, II, III, IV, V, and undergraduates.

Grade one teachers taught generally in local languages under trees or community gatherings to read, write, and do simple arithmetic. Lubaale said most of the grade one teachers were primary dropouts in the 1950s. For grade two, they had studied up to primary seven and sat exams.

“Those who passed were taken for training for four years to become primary school teachers. They would teach all the subjects including English. They would have junior certificates in Education,” he recalled.

Grade three teachers completed senior four, trained for two years, and became primary teachers. They were followed by grade four who were junior secondary school teachers.

Originally, before 1965, there was junior secondary school and at this stage, there was no primary seven. People studied from P1 to P6 and sat final exams, then joined junior secondary one and junior secondary school two. Later, one would proceed to senior secondary one to four, five, and six and join university.

Lubaale explained that when former president Apollo Milton Obote added P7, he abolished junior secondary school in 1966.

As a result, all grade four teachers lost their jobs with certificates in education. Grade five was introduced for people to train for two years and get diplomas in Education to teach in either primary, secondary, or teacher’s college.

The last entry to date is graduate teachers that join as direct S6 entrants or one has to go through the old system to upgrade. With the various entry levels, Lubaale said the government needed to implement the policy in chronological order instead of moving haphazardly.

“In phasing out grade one then, they first equipped people at grade two. By the time they phased out grade one, there were sufficient grade two and three teachers. So, no one regretted the phase-out. Later, grade two was also phased out and we stayed with grade grades three, five, diploma and degree levels,” he said.

He cited the 1997 incident when President Museveni introduced UPE but there were no teachers to kick start the program.

“Government was forced to recall retired teachers to start UPE. It was very embarrassing because at that time, P1 classes had huge numbers of learners but there were no teachers. It is on record that they called some secondary school dropouts to teach the learners.”

When asked how best the policy can be implemented, he had this to say.

“In my opinion, the government needed to start a bachelor of education and allow people to join using their diplomas in education or direct from S6. So, as people join and graduate, you are slowly phasing out the grade three and five but not waking up and radically phase out everything.”

The head teacher of Mackay Memorial School, Mary Kalyango, is also concerned about the failed gradual phase-out, yet putting the yardstick higher for teachers to join the profession.

“A degree for a teacher would be okay but the process in which it is being implemented is a challenge. We have grade three teachers that have upgraded to a diploma within their teaching area with static salaries. Of course, teachers will upgrade within the system but sometimes it may be strenuous,” Kalyango said.  

She added: “A person who has been working for about 30 years and planning for retirement. It may not have been in someone’s plan to get a degree but teachers have nothing to do. The policy looks like a rushed decision that would have been done in a phased manner. The old transition was good because whoever failed to upgrade then, the system automatically kicked them out.”

While Lubaale agreed with degrees, he called for a review in the policy on grounds that Uganda is a developing country with very few educated people, yet A-level numbers in schools keep dwindling. This eventually affects the admissions of would-be teachers at university. In 2020, only 97,490 candidates sat UACE exams compared to 103,429 in 2019. In 2018, some 98,524 candidates appeared for the exams and 100,066 in 2017.

He concluded that the policy may be forced onto people but its practicability and success will be blocked by; its philosophy, current economy, political and social systems if not thoroughly addressed.

REMUNERATION

To minimize the negative perceptions on the teaching profession concerning salaries, the policy advocates for a competitive remuneration but is subject to the availability of resources.

“The salary scales for teachers in respective career paths, that is, leadership, specialist and teaching pathways will be comparable. This implies that a classroom-based teacher and an education manager (for example, a head teacher or DEO/MEO) can earn the same salary if they possess comparable experience and qualifications,” the policy indicates.

Currently, the lowest-paid teacher [grade III] earns Shs 499,684 while the highest, a head teacher in secondary, gets Shs 2,270,984. At university, a vice chancellor earns highest at Shs 20m while the lowest position of a teaching assistant is at Shs 4.7m.

Juliet Muzoora, the head teacher of Bweranyangi Girls SS, urged the government to encourage private owners to pay staff commensurate to their qualifications. This is the only way teachers will appreciate the rationale to upgrade their qualifications. For now, she said the policy is politicized and not yet understood by the stakeholders.

Atuhairwe said private schools will be torn between paying teachers handsomely and charging exorbitant fees to run their schools. He is afraid that if Covid continues to disrupt the education sector, private schools will close, and thus, lack of jobs for graduate teachers.

“The other trouble is about the new curriculum that requires teaching aids because we have been gambling. The government is providing materials to its schools but not giving a thing to private schools. In the new curriculum, each student must have at least a textbook or a group of four students. If these books cost about Shs 25000 to Shs 30,000, private schools may have it rough in addition to paying graduate teachers,” Atuhairwe said.

On private teachers’ salaries, Lubaale had no kind words to the proprietors.

“Private proprietors who can’t pay teachers well should not open. I have no kind words for them. These people pay teachers as low as Shs 100,000 monthly. If the government can pay teachers like Shs 400,000, you can’t pay a teacher below Shs 300,000. That’s an exploitation of teachers and needs to be banned by law.”

Meanwhile, Mugimba is satisfied that in the long run, the reforms will restore pride in the teaching profession.

“You must have done extremely well at senior six to join education. Universities will up the points to limit people. The vision is to make Uganda the education hub in the region,” he said.

For 2020 senior six leavers, there may be some leeway to allow them to enter education but in subsequent years, there will be tightening in entry points.

nangonzi@observer.ug