UMSC pushing for affirmative action for Muslim teachers

Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | Uganda Muslim Supreme Council-UMSC through its education department has started pushing for affirmative action for Muslim teachers in the recruitment and promotion processes by the Education Service Commission-ESC. Over the years, Muslims have been complaining about the alleged sidelining of Muslim teachers during the appointment and promotion of teachers at all levels.

The debate came to the fore recently when no single Muslim teacher was included on the list of education officers appointed to teach Islamic Religious Education-IRE. This prompted the UMSC Education Secretary, Sheikh Bakhit Juma Cucu to seek an audience with Dr. Asuman Lukwago, the Secretary to the Education Service Commission to discuss the matter of IRE teachers among other issues.

URN has since learnt that during the meeting, Lukwago informed the UMSC officials that the recruitment of IRE teachers at the graduate level had been called off due to failure to attract applicants. Dr Lukwago confirmed the development to URN, saying the Ministry would re-advertise the positions.

“We didn’t attract applicants and the slots of that subject are available. So when we advertise we hope that Muslim teachers apply. But they must meet the requirements,” he noted. However, Sheikh Bakhit says that besides the issues concerning IRE teachers, UMSC is inviting the Ministry of education to initiate an affirmative action for Muslim teachers across the board.

To him, affirmative action will be the first step towards solving the longtime complaints of bias against Muslims to an extent that non-Muslims are appointed head teachers in Muslim founded schools. However, UMSC is yet to provide statistical proof of qualified Muslim teachers who have allegedly been left out from the recruitment and promotion process.

Dr. Lukwago notes that the recruitment and promotion system is blind to religious biases. “These complaints have been raised over time. But we recruit education officers basing on merit and one’s religion is not part of the criteria we consider. A teacher is a teacher regardless of his or her religion. We are looking at competencies,” he said.

According to Lukwago, some Muslim teachers have been recruited and promoted using the existing systems, which is an indication that the system is fair enough. In 2018, Badru Musisi and Dr. Muhammad M. Kiggundu, both lecturers at Makerere University published a study in the interdisciplinary journal of education indicating that the circumstances surrounding the current ‘perceived ‘marginalization of Muslims in formal education in Uganda are structural.

The duo noted that there has been a structural problem with roots from the country’s history of formal education that places Muslims at a disadvantage when it comes to accessing quality formal education and government employment compared to their Christian compatriots. However, Abubakar Obilan, an educationist and PhD student at Islamic University in Uganda disagrees with the call for affirmative action noting that the problem at hand is not systematic.

Just like Lukwago, Obilan thinks if several Muslims have passed through the same system then the problem lies somewhere else. He asked the officials in the UMSC education secretariat to first familiarize themselves with how the Education Service Commission works to understand why some people that apply for teaching jobs are not shorted listed.

“UMSC needs to consider tactics like lobbying, continuous engagement of the Commission so that they have up to date information when recruitment processes are rolled out. They should desist from being docile and passive but rather use proactive means,” he noted.

Besides the desired affirmative action, UMSC education officials also want the National Curriculum Development Center to consult them while designing the curriculum and syllabi for Arabic language and Islamic Religious Education-IRE. Cucu notes that some of the content that at times is included in IRE contradicts the authentic teachings of Islam.

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URN