Head Teachers turned away from senior one and five selection exercise

Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | A section of head teachers who had turned up for the selection and placement exercise at Kololo ceremonial grounds have been turned away due to the lack of Covid-19 test results.

The Ministry of Education and Sports scheduled the senior one and five selection process for the entire week running from October 26 to 29.

According to the arrangement from the selection and placement committee, to prevent crowding at the venue, they opted to have a maximum of 500 schools to conduct selection eachday, with each of the pre-selected schools sending only one representative.

Besides limiting numbers, those who will take part in the exercise must undergo a mandatory Covid-19 test which will be carried out at Kololo secondary school, two days before their predetermined shift.

However on Tuesday, more than 20 headteachers were denied access to the venue by security officers who told them that they were not cleared because they did not undergo the Covid-19 test.

“You are not cleared. We don’t see your Covid-19 test results. Did you carry out a test? ” a security officer asked one of the teachers.

Some of the teachers who were denied access were told to leave the main entrance.

An official from the ministry who preferred anonymity said that some of the teachers could have tested positive.

Benson Kule Babitazare, the chairperson selection committee says he was not aware of the situation. He says that the committee will look into the issue and ensure that the schools whose representatives were denied access don’t lose out on the process.

The selection comes at a time when many private schools had resorted to receiving applications for both S1 and S5 students online, using what they termed as the compassionate admission window.

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