Gulu University takes over Kotido PTC

Gulu, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | Gulu University has taken over the administration of Kotido Primary Teachers College (PTC) in Kotido district. This is in compliance with a February 9, 2023 letter from the Ministry of Education and Sports directing the University management to take over the former teacher’s training institution and turn it into a public degree-awarding institution.

Kotido PTC is among the 23 non-core PTCs across the country that were phased out by the Ministry of Education and Sports in a bid to implement the 2019 National Teacher Policy Resolution requiring all teachers to have degrees. James Ojok Onono, the Gulu University Communications officer said on Wednesday that a team comprising of senior management staff from the University was dispatched last week to start transitioning the PTC.

The team was led by Christopher Obalim, the Deputy University Secretary. Onono says the University is already preparing the relevant courses and submitting them to the National Council of Higher Education for accreditation. He says all the courses at the training institution will be upgraded adding that by next month, they’re hopeful they would have submitted.

Onono also noted that the Gulu University management has started processes of upgrading the infrastructure of the institution as they wait for a tentative first intake period. “We want all the courses to be officially accredited to avoid future problems. Our plan is that we want all the Gulu University campuses to have their own accredited courses, and when we open it for admission, students find that everything is ok,” Onono told Uganda Radio network in an interview.

Gulu University Vice Chancellor Prof. George Openjuru Ladaah told URN in an interview that the Kotido campus will open its doors to students in August next year. He says the University will start by offering a Bachelor of Education in Primary education targeting the more than 3,000 grade three teachers in need of upgrading from the area before introducing Bachelor of Public Administration.

According to Prof. Openjuru, the campus will accommodate about 1,000 students when it opens its door in the financial year 2024/25. He boasts that the new campus in Kotido will see Gulu University reaching a student population of 7,000 and encouraged students from all over the country to embrace the new institution once it opens its doors for admission.

“Once the center starts, we want to admit students from all over Uganda, let people travel to Kotido, and study from there and overcome some of the tribal stereotypes. Let people know about different parts of Uganda. Like in those days, when we were students, you don’t study in your region, you go to Nyakasura if you are coming from Northern Uganda and those from Kabale study in Sir Samuel Baker,” he said.

The University will however retain the former Kotido PTC Principal and his Bursar who have been recommended by the Ministry of Education and Sports according to Prof. Openjuru. Gulu University is also currently in the process of kicking off the construction of a constituent Agriculture College in Moroto district. The institution management recently completed paying out 6.5 billion shillings in compensation to 294 landowners who provided 794 acres of land for the development of the constituent college.

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URN