The Arua Regional Referral Hospital that serves a population of more than 3.5 million people has run out of drugs. Speaking to Daily Monitor, the hospital director, Dr Bernard Odu, said they have not received any stock for this financial year.
Link: http://www.monitor.co.ug/News/National/Drug-shortage-hits-Arua/688334-3348120-1qfvfjz/index.html
Source: Daily Monitor
Education Minister Janet Museveni told parliament last week that she had based her decision on technical reports from her office, indicating that the schools did not respect national standards.
These ranged from concerns about “poor hygiene and sanitation [that] put the life and safety of the school children in danger,” to “material used [which] could not promote teacher pupil interaction”.
Link: http://observer.ug/education/45914-63-bridge-schools-to-close-over-poor-standards
Source: The Observer
The UK government should stop funding low-cost private schools in developing countries, campaigners have urged. The call follows a UN Human Rights Council resolution urging more spending on state education and regulation of low-cost for-profit schools.
Link: http://www.bbc.com/news/education-36706601
Source: BBC
The Ugandan Minister of Education and Sports, Hon Janet Museveni, formally announced on Tuesday during a session of the parliament that the Government will soon close the schools operated by the largest and most controversial chain of commercial private schools worldwide, Bridge International Academies (BIA), which runs 63 nursery and primary schools in Uganda. Hon Museveni indicated having based her decision on technical reports from the Ministry that revealed that the schools did not respect national standards, in particular that “material used could not promote teacher pupil interaction” and that “poor hygiene and sanitation […] put the life and safety of the school children in danger”.
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Kampala. The Ministry of Education will expand teaching using vernacular to improve literacy. According to the ministry, learners comprehend the curriculum better when it is introduced to them in the language most familiar. Read article
Uganda continues to experience low levels of pension coverage as the majority of the labour force remains uncovered by the various schemes in the country.
Link below:
Source: Daily Monitor
The National Social Security Fund (NSSF) has distanced itself from reports that it may be one of the options government can run to to bail out cash-strapped companies.
Link below:
http://www.observer.ug/business/38-business/45580-nssf-against-bailout-funds
Source: The Observer
A new government self-assessment report has revealed that half of pupils in the Universal Primary Education (UPE) schools are illiterate and cannot answer simple questions in mathematics.
Link below:
http://www.monitor.co.ug/News/National/UPE-pupils-read-government/688334-3322152-me5m1y/index.html
Source: Daily Monitor
The Speaker, Rt.Hon. Rebecca Kadaga has demanded that the Ministry of Public Service takes stock of the Persons with Disabilities (PWDS) working in the public service.
Kadaga made the remarks while launching the dissemination of the Annual Report on the State of the Equal Opportunities for the year 2015/2016 at the Royal Suites Hotel in Bugolobi, today, Thursday, 28th July 2016.
The Uganda Human Rights Commission (UHRC) has reported an increase in the number of human rights cases handled in 2015.
Handing over their Annual Report to the Speaker, the Chairperson of UHRC, Med Kaggwa said that the top cases were freedom from torture; inhuman or degrading treatment; detention beyond 48 hours; denial of child maintenance and deprivation of property.
The United Kingdom (UK)’s controversial support for commercial, low-cost private schools in developing countries has been questioned by a UN Committee on children’s rights.(1) The UK Department for International Development’s support for the for-profit primary and pre-primary school chain, Bridge International Academies (BIA) was singled out as a particular concern.
Kampala. Government on Thursday admitted a shortage of 23,000 primary school teachers as district education officers lamented that some schools in their areas had closed for lack of teaching staff.
Mr Michael Kaptekin Cherotich, the Kween district education officer, cited Greek River Primary School, the only primary school in Kiriki Sub-county, which closed after failing to raise teachers’ salaries. About 500 pupils were sent home prematurely. The school was constructed by ActionAid in 2012 with government assurance to take it over and meet the burden of provision of scholastic materials and teachers’ salaries.
“When the school opened in 2012, it had 500 children. But there are no teachers in the school and the community cannot afford to pay them. The children became redundant. They are now looking after cattle, burning charcoal and others gambling in trading centres. We have been forced to close the school,” Mr Cherotich said.
He was speaking at a Global Action Week for Education 2016 on Thursday at Hotel Protea in Kampala under the theme; Financing for Inclusive and Quality Education for All.
Mr Tonny Lusambu, the Ministry of Education assistant commissioner for primary education, admitted the shortage of teachers in many primary schools which he said was affecting quality of education.
However, he said they had sent out a directive to district education officers to replace only those teachers who absconded from duty or died.
But for schools like Green River, Mr Lusambu said the communities must wait a little longer until government takes them up.
“We are in a gap of 23,000 teachers. We have sent out circulars to districts requesting that they replace those who died or absconded so that we at least have a teacher in each class,” he said.
Mr Frederick Kaboya, the ActionAid policy and campaign manager, said they invested Shs400m to construct Green River upon government assurance to take it up.
“Government committed that they would take on the school at that time. But I understand that donors asked them to stop recruiting. And because government depends on donors, they had no [money] to fund its education,” Mr Kaboya said.
World Vision education specialist John Wilson Tereraho asked government to review its priorities if it’s committed to developing the economy.
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