(This article was first published in the New Vision on January 27, 2023)
This weekend, all roads lead to Uganda Institute of Information and Communications Technology in Nakawa, Kampala, where the world of education and employment will meet as Vision Group holds the first Education Expo. The three-day expo, which starts today and ends on Sunday, brings a lot of opportunities, including training workshops and access to a wide range of educational products. Titus Kakembo brings you the profiles of the people who will facilitate the training workshops
Dr Patrick Byakatonda
Byakatonda is the director of industrial training at Lugogo Vocational Training Institute (LVTI), a government agency responsible for developing policies and implementing strategies for skills training, upgrading and testing of workers in industries and apprentices in workplaces and other persons training for the world of work.
In his current capacity, Byakatonda, who is a seasoned educationist, played a key role in the development of the lower secondary school competence-based curriculum and a new framework for awarding Senior Three students with a vocational training certificate.
The director of industrial training at LVTI who studied in Uganda, South Korea and Italy, has been engaged in skills-based training through DIT for the last 18 years. He says Vision Group’s Education Expo will have opportunities for everyone. Byakatonda will facilitate the training workshop on opportunities in vocational education.
Dr Fredrick Kitoogo
Kitoogo is the principal of the Uganda Institute of Information and Communications Technology. He has a PhD in computer science from Makerere University.
Kitoogo has over the years built partnerships to facilitate ITC projects at the institute. He has more than 20 years of experience in consulting, management, governance, project management and research as well as regulation for the ICT sector.
He previously served as the director for planning, research, and development at the National Information Technology Authority.
He was also the first head of the ICT department of the Judiciary.
Kitoogo is a member of the taskforce for the development of the digital agenda for the education sector.
He says the expo will allow his team an opportunity to showcase the latest ICT innovations at UICT. He will discuss opportunities in ICT and how we can advantage of the power of communications technology to facilitate development.
Stephen Langa
He is the director at Family Life Network, a not-for-profit organisation that promotes values and morals in families. Langa went to King’s College Budo and Makerere University. He worked in Kenya and the US of before returning to Uganda where he encourages parents to inculcate values and morals in children in families. He will lead the training workshop on parenting.
Ruth Senyonyi
Senyonyi was formerly the provincial president of the Mother’s Union of the Anglican Church of Uganda.
“In that position, I was able to support and bring hope to families by providing psycho-social counselling, mentorship, and training,” Senyonyi says.
She also previously served as deputy director of the human resource department at the Bank of Uganda. Senyonyi is the director of Bethel Counselling and Consultancy Centre in Kampala. She has a doctorate in philosophy from Regent University in the United States of America.
In 2009, Senyonyi was appointed a canon of All Saints Cathedral, Nakasero. She will lead the training session on career guidance and counselling.
Dr Sabrina Kitaka
She is a senior lecturer of paediatrics and child health in the School of Public Health at Makerere University. Kitaka is a specialist in paediatrics infectious diseases and adolescent medicine.
She has championed several healthcare interventions in her area of specialisation.
Kitaka has published over 30 research papers in respected international journals. She has supervised and mentored both national and international students at the graduate and postgraduate levels. Kitaka has previously worked with the health ministry and the World Health Organisation. She will facilitate the training workshop on early childhood development education.
Simon Peter Tukei
Tukei is the assistant commissioner in charge of the instructional materials unit at the Ministry of Education and Sports.
Tukei has a master’s in business administration from the Eastern and Southern African Management Institute in Tanzania, a postgraduate diploma in curriculum design and development from the Tanzania Institute of Education and a bachelor’s degree in education from Makerere University.
Tukei is a textbook and curriculum quality improvement fellow at Chinju University in South Korea. He will facilitate the training workshop on the lower secondary competence-based curriculum.
