(This articles was first published in the New Vision on December 14, 2022)
By Patrick Kaboyo
Uganda recently introduced new policies in the education sector. Some of these include the new lower secondary school curriculum, the National Teacher Policy and the Technical Vocational Education and Training Policy. However, while the country’s education policy reform has largely been championed by teachers, many of these instructors have not been fully engaged in the policy discourse.
Teachers should not remain at the periphery of policy discussions. All including classroom instructors and their peers in the top echelons of government and the political space, among others – should participate in the education policy reform conversation. The role of teachers in the drafting of the National Teacher and Technical Vocational Education and Training policies should be celebrated for it has critically supported their implementation.
As we reflect on the theme for this year’s World Teachers’ Day –Transformation of education begins with teachers – key questions should be considered to help the public understand the transformation agenda. We need to interrogate the position of the teachers, family, community and school in this transformative education agenda.
We should also know whether the current education system laden with rhetorical content for cramming prepares learners for exams or life-long learning, if our education system is democratic and whether we have picked any lessons from international schools to achieve the transformation we want. Teachers – as guides and role models in society – will continue to lead the transformation of the education journey as they have always done since the departure of missionaries.
However, there is also a need to consider the issue of teachers moving to other professions such as security, social work, journalism and law. This migration has not only caused brain drain, but rather escalated cases of brain leakage and loss.
It is also important to appreciate that sustainable transformative education will bear fruit if government increases its budgetary allocations to strengthen families, communities and schools as a matter of urgency. Increasing the budget for education is no longer debatable but rather inevitable for it is the guarantor for transformative education. As we celebrate teachers, we ought to recognise their unique role in actualising the Mwalimu Julius Nyerere education philosophy which is embedded in our new lower secondary school curriculum – with teachers at the centre of its implementation geared at producing graduates with employable skills.
The writer is the technical adviser at Education Advocacy Network
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