The government is in a hurry to find new teachers. About 5,000 teachers and other school staff are getting ready to retire. This news comes after a big check across schools in the country.
Here is what you should know: According to official data, the government employs 365,982 teachers and staff in high schools and colleges. Most of them, around 360,190, work in high schools, says Mr. Denis Mugimba, a spokesperson from the Education ministry.
A big check was done between November 2021 and April 2022 in 1,600 different high schools and colleges. This check looked at 38,787 teachers and staff. Universities were not included.
The check found out that six out of every 10 teachers (which means 22,457 of them) are above 40 years old. Out of these, 4,940 are above 50 and will soon retire.
This means that when these teachers retire, they need to be replaced with experienced ones. According to Prof. Samuel Luboga, the head of the Education Service Commission (ESC), if someone has worked for 32 years and is very experienced, the new teacher should be just as good.
The check also showed that four out of every 10 school jobs were not filled like they should be, says the ESC. But this number got a bit better, now it’s three out of 10, because they filled 10,000 jobs since April 2022.
The secretary of the ESC, Asuman Lukwago, said the check was done to see how many teachers were really working. Before schools reopened, there were rumors that teachers weren’t coming to work.
Prof. Luboga, at a meeting of government officials, said that when teachers retire, they need to be replaced quickly. If not, it can mess up the schools and students’ education.
He also said that the government needs to plan for this and train new teachers. People aren’t born knowing how to teach, so they need training. And to make them stay and do a good job, they need to be paid well and supported.
Fagil Mandy, who used to work for the Education ministry and now helps schools, liked the check. He thinks they should do it more often. He said that they should have seen this coming and checked it earlier.
Replacing the retiring teachers is a process. Mr. Mugimba said that they first tell the Education Service Commission about the open jobs. Then the Commission puts out ads for the jobs. Before all this, they get permission from the Ministry of Public Service and the Local Government.
The Ministry of Finance also needs to make sure they have enough money to pay the new teachers.
The Minister of Public Service, Mr. Wilson Muruli Mukasa, thinks the government can handle this problem. He said they have plenty of workers for most jobs.
The chairperson of the Association of Secondary Schools Head Teachers of Uganda (ASSHU), Mr. Augustine Mugabo, said the problem is that they replace retiring teachers too slowly. This affects how well schools do.
He thinks the government will now act quickly because they know how many teachers are retiring and when.
He said, “As teachers retire, they should be replaced immediately. We have many qualified people, and any delay makes it hard to find new teachers. They need a plan for when many teachers retire at once to avoid a crisis.”
