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Govt rolls out digital platform to fight teacher absenteeism in Lango
Head teachers react as they are taught to use the digital real-time monitoring system at Lango College in Lira City on April 24, 2023. PHOTO/BILL OKETCH
What you need to know:
- For over two decades, teacher absenteeism has been outlined as one of many other challenges affecting Uganda’s education sector.
Government has rolled out an education initiative purposed to address chronic teacher absenteeism that affects children’s learning.
Under the Teacher Effectiveness and Learner Achievement System (TELA), the Education ministry’s Director of Education Standards (DES) will use a digital real-time monitoring platform to improve accuracy of information captured by the system thereby reducing absenteeism in schools.
The innovation, launched by government in March 2023, also monitors performance by teachers’ attendance rates as well as their adherence to the timetable, according to Ms Joanita Aguti, a DES call centre agent.
A head teacher gestures as his colleagues are taught to use the digital real-time monitoring system at Lango College in Lira City on April 24, 2023. PHOTO/BILL OKETCH
For over two decades, teacher absenteeism has been outlined as one of many other challenges affecting Uganda’s education sector.
In Apac District, for instance, four head teachers of government-aided primary schools were demoted over alleged gross indiscipline, including absenteeism and over consumption of alcohol in 2019.
The former Apac District Education Officer (DEO) Billy Okunyu, told Monitor that the decision was taken to give the affected head teachers a chance to learn and transform under the supervision of other team leaders.
Government believes that if embraced by all education stakeholders, the technology enhanced will be an important and sufficient prerequisite for improving learning in Uganda.
A team of IT specialists from the ministry of Education has already been deployed in parts of the country to equip head teachers on TELA usage.
Speaking from Uganda’s Lango sub region, Aguti said TELA will also address low community engagement and poor curriculum coverage.
“As we are taking the head teachers through the system, we are teaching them on how to supervise the teachers and how to better manage the school,” she said at a workshop in Lira City on April 24.
Aguti further said the education ministry is registering district officials’ credentials so that they can assess the system through their personal computers.
“That means local district leaders can also log onto the system and access the attendance report for a particular school and the entire district at large,” she said.
Ireda Primary School head teacher Daniel Onyanga hailed government for the approach but urged more time before adaptation of the system as had been planned for April 25, 2023.
“In the system, we already have the names of teachers. So, it means we need to first manage the teachers and classes. Apart from that, we are also to manage the timetable for things to begin well,” he observed.
Lira City senior inspector of schools Tom Ronald Omara addresses head teachers during a training on the use of a digital real-time monitoring system at Lango College on April 24, 2023. PHOTO/BILL OKETCH
Lira City senior inspector of schools Tom Ronald Omara said all stakeholders should rise against instructor absenteeism.
“It will be shameful to be noticed as a non-performer because data generated electronically is always hard to reverse,” he told a gathering of head teachers at Lango College on Monday.
