Fake documents scare teachers away from validation

Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | Teachers in Kwania district failed to validate their academic documents because they are holding fake documents.

In 2019, the Ministry of Education and Sports ordered an online registration of all teachers across the country to streamline their services and help weed out ghost workers.

The move followed reports of ghost teachers on government payroll and undue delays involved in registering the teachers.

The exercise was being undertaken using the Teacher Management Information System- (TMIS) to solve the problem of disjointed teacher records across the various sections of government and the education ministry.

The Kwania Chief Administrative Officer Albina Awor says most of the teachers deliberately refused to take part in the validation exercise because they know they are holding documents illegally.

Awor, however, says that they are yet to establish the number of teachers holding fake documents in the district. She adds that some teachers are in possession of details and identities of another person such as names.

According to Ministry of Education records, as of January, over 15,000 teachers turned up for the validation exercise with fake documents which hindered their validation whereas 52,900 teachers were registered under The Teacher Management Information System-TMIS and issued with certificates. Other teachers who submitted their documents late are still pending approval.

Albina says she has instructed the Office of the DEO to compile names and numbers of retired teachers and those who died to allow the district recruit more manpower to address the teaching gaps.

About 20 teachers in Kwania are confirmed to have retired and some of them still on the payroll.

Andrew Omuno, the District Education Officer said up to 70% of teachers in the district having validated and received the new registration numbers.

Omuno confirmed that there are teachers who have gone into hiding because they know they have fake academic documents.

He says the District is currently having an internal discussion with the affected teachers to see how best the situation can be handled.

TMIS requires all teachers to submit their bio-data and academic documents from Primary, secondary, certificates for those teachers who went to teaching colleges and transcripts as well as certificates for those who went to the university.

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