SCHOOL REOPENING: Minister Muyingo Reveals Next Steps Education Ministry will Take Before Announcing Reopening Dates

State minister for higher education Dr John Chrysostom Muyingo has spoken out on school reopening, explaining what steps the ministry will take before reaching a decision on reopening and announcing reporting dates.

Days ago, education and sports ministry spokesperson Dr Dennis Mugimba revealed only President Yoweri Museveni would announce school reopening dates.

Mugimba dismissed reports that schools would reopen in just two weeks.

Now, Minister Muyingo has explained the process of reopening schools.

“It is not true that we have come up with dates, not even a formula of opening schools,” Muyingo said in his remarks during the release of the November-December 2020 Uganda Business and Technical Examination Board (Ubteb) examination results on September 03.

“We are still planning and consulting.”

So, what will happen after the consultations and planning?

“After we shall present to Cabinet and a final decision will be taken and communicated officially,” he said.

“The decision [to close education institutions] was taken to protect you Ugandans from dying,” he said.

The Minister also called upon all Ugandans– those with PHDs, doctorates and other academic disciplines to enrol for TVET programs saying that’s where money is.

UBTEB RESULTS

Ubteb executive secretary Onesmus Oyesigye noted that out of the total 16,144 candidates that registered for examinations, 15,019 candidates, representing 93 per cent turned up to sit for their different course units.

A total of 159 candidates sat for advanced craft programs, 10,901 candidates sat for technical national certificates while 2,588 candidates sat for community polytechnics certificate program examinations.

Out of 1,371 of the candidates that sat for both diploma and certificate business programs, 181 candidates did diploma and 1,191 did certificate. There were also fewer cases of examination malpractices.

A total of 36 cases of examination malpractice were registered compared to 68 in 2019.

Of these, 11,334 candidates (3,191 females and 8,143 males) passed while 3,685 failed.

A total of 1,125 candidates missed one or more modules.

Compared to the November/December 2019 performance, Oyesigye noted that there was a three per cent decline in pass rate from 78 per cent in 2019 to 75 per cent in 2020.

Ubteb attributed the poor performance to disruptions occasioned by the Covid19 pandemic on learning.

UBTEB board chairman Dr Silver Mugisha emphasized the need to expedite the formulation of the TVET Bill as a way of streamlining the laws and regulations defining mandates of players in TVET.

Dr Mugisha also noted that the bill would enhance a tripartite TVET assessment by the Training Institution, the industry, and the Assessment Board.

Muyingo read education and sports minister Janet Museveni’s speech. Ms Museveni appealed to staff and students in TVET institutions to embrace Covid19 vaccination.

She also revealed that government has set aside Shs4bn to erect an Assessment Centre that will be fully equipped with item testing workshops, a warehouse, a business incubation and an innovation Centre.