Members of Parliament have urged the Education Ministry to fast track licensing of schools and strengthen supervision.
This followed a revelation by the Minister of State for Primary Education, Hon. Rosemary Seninde that the Ministry will not change its position on unlicensed schools.
“I want to state it categorically that we will not allow any unlicensed school to operate,” Seninde said.
The Minister said this while appearing before the Education Committee, which is considering the National Budget Framework Paper for financial year 2018/2019.
Seninde said that the punitive action is derived from the Education Act of 2008, which gives the ministry the mandate to close schools which do not meet minimum operating standards.
This however, did not go down well with some legislators who faulted the Ministry for failure to supervise schools saying that issues of licensing would have been dealt with.
The MPs added that head teachers in their constituents have complained over unfair treatment of unlicensed schools.
Hon. Nathan Twesigye (Kashari South County) said “this issue is affecting Members of Parliament. In my constituency, some schools have been allowed to operate while processing their licenses yet others have been closed; now people say it is a political issue”.
Hon. Jacob Opolot (Pallisa) said that the ministry needs to ease the registration process before the opening of the new school term.
“Many schools are finding it hard to register, they go to the ministry every day, but they are not getting help,” he added.
Seninde responded that a circular was issued to district officials on 22nd September 2017 requiring registration of all unlicensed schools.
