Over 50 schools in Teso face closure over registration

A sample of an on-line report from Uganda Schools Guide of 2018 indicates that Serere has 27 schools that are not registered while Ngora district has 24.

The report shows that Soroti Municipality and Katakwi district have nine unregistered schools each while Kalaki district has three.

Some of the listed schools have operated for more than ten years. Patrick Emokor, the Soroti Municipal Education Officer, says a number of unregistered schools have issues with their premises and quality of teachers.

He observes that a number of business people ventured into school business without analyzing the risks andenergy required to have them operate smoothly.

Ambrose Onoria, the Ngora Resident District Commissioner, says that all unlicensed schools will not be allowed to open for the first term come February 3rd, 2020.

Onoria revealed that they have issued notices to all the schools that have not met the requirements to release children they have admitted.

Government liberalized the education sector in 1993, opening doors to Private Schools and Institutions.

Currently Uganda has over 15,000 private primary schools against 12,042 government aided schools by 2018.

Paul Etyang, a proprietor and chairman of Soroti Municipal Head Teachers’ Association, says regulation of private schools requires honest and dedicated officers.

“Some of our supervisors are easily persuaded when they go for monitoring and supervision of these schools. In some cases, they are either bribed by proprietors or given empty promises”, he said.

In 2017, Ministry of Education and Sports cracked a whip on substandard and unlicensed schools that saw hundreds of schools across the country closed.

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