It’s High Time We Drop This ‘Useless’ Colonialists’ Education System- Gov’t Moves To Scrap Off Current Education System
By Uganda Online Media
Kampala: The government of Uganda through the Ministry of Education and Sports is currently reviewing Uganda’s current education system which was adopted in 1992 following the adoption of Prof. Senteza Kajubi Report.
The Minister of Education and Sports, Janet Museveni constituted the Education Policy Review Commission (EPRC) to review the current system, and the Commission commenced operations on May 7, 2021.
According to Ministry’s spokesperson, Dennis Mugimba, the Commission is mandated to review the entire education system by inquiring into the effectiveness and relevance of Education Policy to the achievement of education needs of users and goals of the Government.
“Its task is to review the entire education and sports sector, and propose to Government, what is it that needs to be done in terms of new things to be implemented, old things to be stopped in order to make our education and sports system one that we desire to drive Uganda’s social-economic transformation agenda,” he said.
According to Mugimba, one of the Commission’s tasks is to gather views from members of the public, but it was affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.
“But with opening up of the economy, that window [to gather views from members of the public] was also open that we can begin engaging. Therefore, today, we are here to make a call for public views, comments, and proposals on what needs to be done to make our education and sports sector the kind that will drive Uganda’s social-economic transformation agenda,” Mugimba noted.
Prior to Cabinet’s approval of the 1992 White Paper, there had been a Commission, the Education Policy Review Commission (EPRC) chaired by Prof Senteza Kajubi, which was established in 1987 to study the issues affecting education, and also make education relevant.
The Commission came up with recommendations in 1989, debated and approved by Cabinet which then came up with a White Paper as a blueprint of education service delivery on to which current Uganda’s education system is implemented.
Brighton Barugahare the EPRC Secretary said that since 1992, Government has realized that many things have changed. They include; technology revolution, population increase, private participation in education among others.
“COVID-19 was the climax because our system was not designed to respond easily to many challenges. When COVID-19 came, our education system came to a standstill. But now that we are learning how to live with COVID-19, we think this is the right time for us to reconsider how education is going to be moving forward. This Commission is seeking views that are going to help us as a country move forward,” he said.
“We will be looking for evidence of what works, and what doesn’t work, and how we can improve/ change what doesn’t work,” Barugahare added.
Barugahare also said that the Commission’s recommendations will aim at addressing unemployment which many people attribute to the current old-fashioned education system.
“We have a problem of unemployment, and every time unemployment comes up, there are people who say we have very many graduates on the streets looking for jobs. Then there is a section of the public that says those graduates are unemployable. Therefore, that asks a big question; whether our education system is giving relevant skills, knowledge, and competencies that can make our graduates attractive to the employer both local and abroad,” he said.
Barugahare called on all stakeholders to participate in the education policy review process by submitting written memoranda of one’s views, comments, and proposals on the necessary Education and Sports Sector Policy and Legal Reforms.
