KABALE – Education stakeholders in the Kigezi sub-region have raised an urgent alarm over the growing shortage of nursery and primary school teachers across Uganda, appealing to the government for immediate action.
Thank you for reading this post, don't forget to subscribe!The call was made during a dialogue involving education stakeholders, security officials, and political leaders from Kigezi, hosted by the Uganda National Institute for Teacher Education (UNITE) at Kabale Campus in Kabale Municipality.
School administrators highlighted that the number of teachers entering the nursery and primary education sectors is declining, which could negatively impact early childhood education and the development of learners during this critical stage.
Immaculate Agaba, Managing Director and Founder of Tendo Children’s Center for Early Childhood and Development in Kabale Municipality, observed that nursery teaching is no longer widely regarded as a professional career. As a result, students are losing interest in pursuing careers in nursery education.
Ms. Agaba emphasized the need for greater recognition of nursery teachers as professionals and urged both the government and other education stakeholders to invest more in early childhood education.
CUE IN: IMMACULATE
Boaz Gumoshabe, a student at Bubare Secondary School in Rubanda District, and Sonia Namanya, a student at Hornby High School in Kabale, expressed concern that nursery teachers earn very low salaries compared to their counterparts at other education levels.
CUE IN: BOAZ AND SONIA
The Kabale District Education Officer (DEO), Moses Bwengye Tumwijukye, explained that the primary teacher shortage had been largely caused by the dissolution of Primary Teachers’ Colleges (PTCs).
He revealed that recent advertisements for primary school teaching positions attracted few applicants, and the number of successful candidates who returned for interview was even lower after shortlisting.
“Primary Teachers’ Colleges have not been admitting new students since 2022, following the implementation of the new teacher policy. This has created a significant gap in the supply of qualified teachers,” said Bwengye.
CUE IN… BWENGYE
UNITE Secretary Levi Kabagambe urged teachers to look beyond salaries, reminding them that government pay hikes won’t keep pace with rising personal challenges each financial year.
He encouraged educators to vocationalize their skills, agriculture teachers can grow seedlings in their backyards, while physics and other instructors can similarly turn their expertise into independent income streams.
CUE IN… KABAGAMBE
UNITE was established in July 2024 to professionalize the teaching sector, upgrade teacher qualifications to bachelor’s degrees, and centralize teacher training standards under the Ministry of Education and Sports.
Rooted in the National Teacher Policy (NTP) 2019 and approved by the Cabinet on April 1, 2019, UNITE’s headquarters are located in Kiira Municipality at the former Shimoni Core Primary Teachers’ College.
The institution operates as a multi-campus setup, with branches in Kabale, Kaliro, Mubende, Muni, and Unyama.
Following UNITE’s first graduation, the Government plans to standardize the salary scale for teachers holding bachelor’s degrees across all education sectors, whether in primary or secondary education, arts, or sciences.
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