The First Lady and Minister of Education and Sports Mrs. Janet Museveni has thanked the Kingdom of Belgium for their support to teacher and tutor education in Uganda. The First Lady was meeting the Ambassador of Belgium to Uganda and South Sudan H.E Rudi Veestraeten and Alexandre Brecx, the First Secretary and Deputy Head of Cooperation at the Embassy of the Kingdom of Belgium, who paid a courtesy call on her last week at State House Nakasero.

Mrs. Museveni noted that starting with the teachers’ training helps a lot in improving what happens in schools and was optimistic that now with the NTCs and teachers at that level invigorated, it will do so much for the schools in turn. “We are very grateful for the trust of the Belgian people and for walking with us on this journey. We value this cooperation”, she said.

Belgium (Enabel) has provided support worth 25.5 million Euros to Teacher Education since 2011 through the Teacher Training and Education project which has enabled the rehabilitation and expansion of a number of Teacher/Tutor, Instructor Education and Training (TIET) Institutions in the country. These include National Teachers’ College Kaliro, Muni, National Instructors’ College Abilonino, Mulago Health Tutors’ College, National Teachers’ College Kabale, National Teachers’ College Mubende, and National Teachers’ College Unyama in Gulu.

The project which introduced the newly digitized ‘Time on Task’ tool has empowered NTCs with the ability to track daily attendance of both teaching and non-teaching staff leading to reduced absenteeism in the colleges. It has also improved accountability and financial management in the institutions and supported pedagogical competence development, continuous school practice, integration of ICT in teaching and learning and cross cutting issues like climate responsiveness and gender- based violence.

Mrs. Museveni pointed out that many Technical and Vocational Institutes in the country still lack tutors with the hands-on expertise to train young people for the job market and requested for the Belgium Government’s support in the training for this caliber.

Ambassador Rudi Veestraeten, said the Belgium Government is willing to continue investing in Uganda’s education sector. He reported that the Belgium Embassy will take over the chairmanship of the Education Development Partners from the American Embassy, which is the current chair, with effect from May this year.
Belgium’s Ambassador made a plea to Government to increase the budget allocation to the education sector in order to meet the Global Partnership for Education (GPE) funding condition and not to underestimate the impact a suspension from accessing the GPE would have on all operations in the education sector.

He commended the infrastructure development including the roads and electricity extension in the country, and however pleaded for a refocus and increase in the budget towards social services, specifically education so as not to lose out on the GPE funding, saying that the future of any country lies in its education system. He said that if Uganda is to be suspended from accessing the Global Partnership for Education funding, it would be losing between US$100-125 million per year, which is a big contribution that could support addressing the growing need for more school buildings, teachers as the population of young people continues to grow, plus developing curricula and integration of ICT in education among others.

He pledged as the future Chair of the Education Development Partners to support the Ministry to lobby government for an increase in the Education sector budget. Ambassador Rudi Veestraeten called for apprenticeship programmes and more practical training oriented towards the job market in the country.

Education Ministry’s Permanent Secretary Alex Kakooza also appreciated the Belgium government for supporting the drafting of the skills development strategy, establishment of the TVET councils and their help to some training centres including Nakapiripirit, Kasese Youth Polytechnic, St Daniels Comboni, St Simon’s Hoima, the Millennium, the Sector Skills Council of Tourism and the Skills Competitions.

Dr. Jane Egau said the Teacher Education Institutions are what they are because of the support of the Belgium Government, not only infrastructure development but also the soft skills. She said the introduction of ‘active teaching and learning’ methodology is really exciting and has changed the face of the NTCs and also lauded the Enabel for supporting continuous teacher practice even in the absence of demonstration schools.