Born Again finally gets Inter Religious Council acceptance, Faith now recognized as a religious denomination

Born Again finally gets Inter Religious Council acceptance

Faith now recognized as a religious denomination

KAMPALA. The Born Again faith commonly known as Balokole have been accepted as  full  members of the Inter Religious Council of Uganda  after government  officially recognised the group  as one of the distinct faiths in the country .

This means that Born Again Faith (BAF) national leader, Pastor Joseph Sserwadda now becomes one of the council of presidents of IRCU.

Over the years, Born Again churches have been considered as NGOs and have been required to renew their registration with the National NGO Registration  Board annually.

Their admission to IRCU qualifies the Balolole to enjoy the same status like other religious denominations like Muslims, Orthodox Christians, Roman Catholics, Protestants and Seventh Day Adventists. BAF first applied to become IRCU member in 2009 , but they  were given conditions to fulfill  first .One of the constitutional conditions for joining IRCU  is to belong as an observer while implementing several programmes  such as HIV/Aids ,good governance ,peace and reconciliation with them for at least three years.

BAF spokesperson ,Charles Tumwine yesterday described their   recognition by ICRU as a resounding achievement  since their  faith has suffered prejudices due to increasing cases of individuals who masquerade    as pastors.

“We express special thanks to the council of Presidents for deeming us worthy to become a member of the council. We are now a legitimate and officially recognised institutionalized faith body,” Tumwine told journalists at a  press conference in Kampala yesterday

Pastor Sserwadda said getting IRCU’s  acceptance gives them more credence and no one will be allowed to tag the title  “pastor” or start a church without BAF’s  clearance .

“ Many people have been masquerading   as pastors yet they don’t head any church . We are going to sieve them and genuine pastors will be getting a church permit from us,” he said

But Internal Affairs Ministry acting publicist Benjamin Katana said despite the Born Again being recognised as a faith the country, the law still empowers the board to regulate their operations.

“They (Born Again) can do their registration under their umbrella ,but it  is not tenable because they are not a government institution .What I know the  board will have to create a different mechanism in future  of registering churches not as  NGOs ,” he said by telephone

Born Again faith is one of the fastest growing branches of Christianity in the Uganda attracting mostly the youth and women and has overtaken some of the old faiths in numbers . BAF currently boasts of about 5000 registered churches across the country .In February ,2006, while attending a born again conference at Mandela Stadium Namboole ,President Museveni directed that Balokole be recognized like other faiths and their churches  cease to be registered as charities .

Islam was the first foreign religion to get acceptance in Uganda having been brought by an Arab trader Ahmed Bin Ibrahim in 1844,followed by Anglican missionaries  in 1877 and two years later ,French Catholic Fathers arrived .

NCHE orders Kayiwa varsity to close academic programmes ,Varsity has no license to admit students

NCHE orders Kayiwa varsity to close academic programmes

Varsity has no license to admit students

KAMPALA.National Council for Higher Education has ordered Kayiwa International University to suspend all its academic programmes until the council evaluates its capacity to handle such programmes .

According to NCHE executive Director, Prof.John Opuda , the  university  has not yet been cleared to offer academic courses and the land on which it is situated is still under dispute.

“In fact what they are doing is in total violation of the law that governs higher institutions of learning. We are sending another team there because they have failed what we expected them to do ,” he said in an interview  last Friday

Prof.Opuda said Kayiwa International University’s current status(Letter of Interim Authority) only allows it to establish structures. An Interim Letter of Authority is issued to an applicant who, in the opinion of the Council, has a good project proposal for the establishment of a university. The project developer is required to develop the project further and mobilise resources, but is not allowed to admit students. The Letter of Interim Authority is valid for three years. When the institution complies well, it is then issued with a provisional license and later a Charter .But after getting a provisional license, a university can start admitting students and issues degrees, diplomas and certificates.

But Pastor Simeon Kayiwa, the university  proprietor described  Prof.Opuda’ s  claims as baseless ,insisting that there no academic programmes  conducted at his premises .However ,he admitted that there  are some  students particularly from the nearby Ndejje University Kampala campus who occasionally go there purposely to revise their books.

“ Ever since I started that institution , we have never conducted any lectures .What happens  is that some students from Ndejje University city campus some times  during their exams come to  our campus and may be these are the ones they mistaken to be ours ( students),”  he said by telephone yesterday

On the land that house the institution, Kayiwa said the land is not encumbered   and has since granted the university project a 49-year lease to allow it expand.

“This land is my personal property and has no controversy whosoever. I gave part of it (2.5acres) to the university and the evidence is there for  whoever has doubts on what I am saying  .” he added.

He said ever  since he  attained an Interim Letter of Authority in 2010, he has been putting in place what is required to acquire a license from NCHE.

“Last week, even a team from NCHE was here and we showed them everything. I can now  firmly say that we  have all what it takes to handle all the courses we applied for and only waiting for NCHE’s clearance which seems to have delayed,” Kayiwa said

Kayiwa has since 2010 been battling with NCHE which accuses him of operating an illegal institution.

Two years ago, Kayiwa told this newspaper during an interview   that the students who were studying at his university then belonged to foreign universities, which are dually registered in the US ,but he declined to name the institutions. 

In 2010, about 100 Ugandan and 200 foreign students graduated from the university based at Kayiwa’s Namirembe Christian Church  but their academic qualifications   were questioned by NCHE, saying the institution is neither registered nor accredited. But Kayiwa defended this, saying the academic qualifications were awarded from the US, but since he enjoyed a good working relationship with the institutions there, they agreed that the students  receive their papers from Uganda.

According to section 118(1) of the university and other Tertiary institutions Act, no person shall establish or operate as university or tertiary institution without the relevant provisional license, charter or certificate granted by NCHE.

For a university to get a provisional licence ,it must have at least more than 10 percent of staff with PhD, 40 percent with masters degrees, enough infrastructure and land (at least one square metre per four students in class and three acres of land for urban universities and at least 10 acres for rural universities), science and computer labs (with at least one computer for every 30 students)

Education Ministry accepts teachers’ appeals

February ,8,2014

Education Ministry accepts teachers’ appeals

KAMPALA.The Ministry of Education has accepted appeals by at least 58 head teachers and deputy head teachers who were dissatisfied with the recent transfers. Some teachers had applied to be moved to other schools but were not considered in the December transfers schedule.

Others were transferred to schools where they did not want to go. The Church and Muslim leaders had earlier complained that they were never consulted as the founding bodies of some schools when the initial transfers were made.

Mr Francis Agula, the Commissioner for Secondary Education, said on Thursday that they had resolved the teachers’ grievances and all of them must report to their respective stations not later than this week to avoid lapses in supervision at the schools. “When their (teachers) issues were brought to our attention, we looked at them and took a decision for the purposes of continuity,” Mr Agula said.

He said some teachers were single at the time of deployment but have since married and need to be in schools not far from their families. Out of the 58 transferred teachers, 23 are deputies. Some of the prominent teachers transferred include: Ms Immaculate Aneso, a deputy head teacher at Mt St Mary’s Namagunga who has been posted to PMM Girls School in Jinja as head teacher, while Mr Tom Otim of St Joseph’s College, Layibi, has moved to Atapara SS in Oyam District.

Brother Anthony Lubwama, who has been deputy head teacher at St Mary’s College Kisubi, is now the acting head teacher after the Church rejected Mr Deodata Mukisa from St Edward‘s SS -Bukumi who the ministry had posted there. 
Brother Lubwama replaces Brother Edward Bukenya who has been at the helm of SMACK for 15 years.

Last month, the ministry announced transfer of 1370 secondary school teachers, including head teachers and deputy head teachers in a shake-up that officials said is intended to enhance efficiency and effectiveness in schools. Of the 1370 teachers, 108 were head teachers and 26 deputies. 

Work to improve our image –Mitala tells permanent secretaries

Work to  improve our image –Mitala tells Permanent secretaries

KALANGALA .The Head of Public Service Mr John Mitala has said his department has continued to get bad publicity and endless political criticism yet a lot has been done to deem the image of the institution.

Speaking at the opening of   a three-day-retreat of permanent secretaries at Ssese Islands Beach Hotel in Kalangala District last Thursday, Mr Mitala said government has undertaken a number of
reforms such as adopting ICT, establishment of systems such as Integrated Financial management System, decentralised payroll system, but due to negative public, they are still viewed as a corruption infested institution. 

“In such situation, everyone feels free to offer helpful and sometimes not-so-helpful advice about how to manage the public service. Each is an instant expert without the necessary background knowledge,” he said

The retreat was under the theme: “Creating the urgency for transformative leadership.”
He said the image of Public Service has partly failed to improve because some individuals join it with a sole aim of amassing quick wealth  by whatever means possible. He challenged the permanent secretaries to take up the challenge and work towards changing the institution’s image.

“The attitude of those being recruited into the public service is that there is quick money not knowing that on the whole, public service is not a place where that quick money is made.” He said

All permanent secretaries who included; Keith Muhakanizi (Secretary to
the treasury) James Mugume (Foreign Affairs) Kabagambe Kaliisa (Energy) Steven Kagoda (Internal Affairs) Rose Nassali (Education
Ministry) among others concurred with Mr Mitala ,saying  despite the steps taken by government to address the question of delays in salary payments, nothing has been done to improve many civil servants’ pay to boost their morale at work.

“A lot needs to be done about the pay of public servants if we are to continue attracting and retaining the best,” Mitala said.

He also said that there is need to harmonize  the salaries of civil servants and to remove the big disparities between the salary scales in the different government departments. “There is no justification why a driver in one government department earns much more than  a driver in another government department yet they are all drivers.” Mr Mitala added
He also emphasised the need for regular training opportunities for civil servants to avoid potential knowledge gaps.

Public service is one of the government departments that have in the last two years been shrouded in corruption scandals   after several staff were implicated in embezzling over than Shs300b meant for pensioners .According to Police investigations, the staff had reportedly created a racket which swindled the money using ‘ghosts’ (non-existent) claimants and bank accounts .Implicated staff are still on trial for alleged disappearance of the pension funds .

Teachers to serve five years in one school as govt moves to implement new policy

Teachers to serve   five years in one school

as govt moves to implement new policy

KAMPALA. The Ministry of Education has announced a new policy shift bars all teachers from serving in one school for more than five years.

According to the new policy, already communicated to the district chief accountant officers and education officers, any teacher who has been at one school for 10 years is  considered to have over stayed.

“In order to rationalise management of teachers deployment,…it is therefore directed that all serving teachers ,deputy head teachers and head teachers should have their placement posting reviewed every five years,” a circular issued by Education Permanent Secretary Rose Nassali reads in part .

Government usually transfer teachers to other schools but some decline to relocate where they are posted because the founding bodies like the Church and Uganda Muslim Education Association still want them to there.

To observe quality teaching and learning, Ms Nassali said appointments of school heads’ are also  going to be re-validated and re-designated starting this month, using a criteria yet to be announced by the education service commission.

According to the PS , the re-validation exercise is aimed  at ascertaining the current bulk of head teachers and their deputies who possess proper qualifications and their current performance levels .

“All head teachers and deputy head teachers of both primary and secondary schools are expected to be lead teachers ,” says a circular dated October 15.

“Head teachers of secondary schools are required to have a teaching load of six periods per week while their deputies teach a minimum of 12 periods per week,” Nassali adds in her circular .

On the other hand, all secondary school teachers are supposed to have a minimum teaching load of 24 periods irrespective of whether they are teaching in O’Level or A’Level. Ms Nassali said teachers without   minimum teaching loads will definitely be transferred to other schools. She said starting this December ,transfer of secondary school teachers and non teaching staff  shall only be effected after confirmation from the districts that there is enough funds to cater for their salaries .

Recently, the director basic  and secondary education Yusuf Nsubuga said by knowing the number of years a  teacher  has served and  qualification ,the ministry will be able to know those who have furthered their education and qualify for promotions.

Government has since 2010 been planning to introduce the teachers  scheme of service to enable classroom teachers who have served for long  and acquired higher qualification get promotions but the scheme has always been delayed due to limited resources .

Teachers who have invested in upgrading have always complained that their salaries are pegged to the levels at which they teach and not their qualifications.

This comes after government raised teachers pay with the least paid primary teacher now bagging Shs279,145 per month , up from the old salary of Shs227,240.  All Head teachers in Primary schools are now paid under the salary scale U4 lower (Shs799,323) ,but the entry point is Shs 611,984 ,while their deputies are under the scale U5 upper, earning Shs608,822.

Secondary   school head teachers are under U1E (Shs 1,690,688) and the entry point is  1, 624,934 while their deputies get Shs 1,291,880.

Giving uniform salary to teachers  was effected recently following the abolition of the school grading system where head teachers in 1^st grade schools like those in urban centres were earning higher pay than their counterparties in lower grade schools which are  mostly located  in villages .

Currently, Uganda has only 160,000 teachers on the government payroll of which 135,000 are in primary schools.

Lack of career advancement opportunities has been one of the major complaints among Ugandan teachers for several decades. The scheme of service was drafted in 2005 by the Education Service Commission but it currently being implemented only in primary schools. If it is fully implemented, even promotions in secondary schools   will depend on the number of years one has worked as well as their academic qualifications. 

At the secondary level, seniority will push one to the rank of Senior Education Assistant (SEA), and later to Principle Education Assistant (PEA). 

Grade Five teachers would be designated as Assistant Education Officers (AEO) while graduate teachers will be   Education Officers (EO), earning the same salary as a primary head teacher.  

Experience and a Master’s degree will push one to the rank of Senior Education Officer (SEO), then Principal Education Officer (PEO), putting one at the same salary scale as a deputy or head teacher. 

UACE exams kickoff with no major hitches

UACE exams kickoff with no major hitches

KAMPALA. The Uganda Advanced Certificate of Education examinations, which began yesterday, got off to a flying start across the country. 

By press, no school had reported any ugly incidents as all the candidates arrived in their respective schools on time.
However, there was a slight delay of between 10 to 20 minutes in the distribution of examination materials in some schools in Kampala, which was partly attributed to the menacing traffic jams in the city .

Mr Boniface Sserunkuma, a chief invigilator at St Peters SS, Nsambya, said absence of a female on the invigilating team delayed the start of the first paper as they couldn’t check female candidates.

“The slight delay was caused by a combination of unforeseen problems like not having a woman on our team –something that forced us to look for one who was not a supervisor to help us check the female candidates,” he said

In Mbale district, at least five candidates missed the first exams after they were reported to be sick.

 Mr Bernard Nakisa, the chief invigilator at Mbale SS said the candidates’ students did not show up for examinations because they were reportedly very ill.

“The reports from school indicate that the students are ill and  that is why they have not shown up but they were registered to sit for the examinations, “said Mr Nakisa.

Uganda Examinations Board executive secretary Matthew Bukenya said no cases of malpractices were reported on Day one.

“ Even in Ntoroko District where we expected floods to disturb our people ,the situation has been okay at the two examination centres we  have ,” he said

He allayed fears of invigilators and supervisors about their delayed allowances, saying the process has been finalized and all be paid by Friday .

At Nkoma SS, the Chief Invigilator, Mr William Okotel said the examinations started well without any anomalies and students reported in time and none of them absconded.

In Jinja ,a  power outage at  Lords Meade Vocational College interfered  candidates who  where doing their  Biology Practical  Paper  ,forcing management  to use a generate to sufficient light in the laboratory .

Reports across the districts of Mbale, Sironko, Manafwa, Bududa, Bulambuli, Tororo, Bukedea, Soroti, Kumi and Soroti revealed there were no major disruptions.

Early last month the Ministry of Education in a circular warned all school heads not to refuse candidates from siting exams on account of nonpayment of school fees provided they registered for the examinations .

A total of 108,359 candidates are sitting for the exams at 1,803 centres, down from 115,780 who sat the exams last year.

Candidates are today (Tuesday) writing their History Paper One, Two, Three   and Mathematics paper One and Two.

39 percent of schools in Kla, Wakiso operate illegally –Survey

39 percent of schools in Kla, Wakiso operate illegally  –Survey

KAMPALA. A new school survey in Kampala and Wakiso districts by Agile Learning Company (ALC) has revealed that total of 1567 schools; representing 39 percent of the existing schools are not captured in the Ministry of Education database.

This implies that such schools are operating illegally.

The ministry of education commissioned the ALC, a pre- eminent  provider of ICT solutions  to carry out the survey in July as part of the a pilot project to map all schools using global positioning system (GPS) technology embedded in smart phones. The project is being by the ministry to address the phenomenon of ghost schools, pupils and teachers.

According to the survey, out of the 1567 schools, 1,246 are in Wakiso(56 percent) while 321 in Kampala.

“ In Wakiso District ,results indicate that a total of 1,246(i.e 712 pre-primary ,439 primary and 95 secondary schools are operational but not yet captured in the EMIS database. Out of the 439 schools, 17 are government aided ,” the 71-page report reads in part.

Enumerators from ALC had anticipated to find 2,753  schools as captured in the existing Ministry of Education Information Management System database 2013 ,but were shocked to find an additional 1694 schools ,bringing the total number of educational institutions in both areas  to 4330 . Paradoxically, out of the official schools (2753) ,a total of 92 schools ,69 of which in Kampala, were not found on the ground .

“The exercise failed to obtain information from the district and local officials as to whether these schools were once in existence, closed or relocated.” adds the report

Of these (4330)  ,127 private schools refused to be mapped  administrators  were not available to provide the requisite data while others were closed.

The school mapping exercise also discovered inconstancies in the naming of schools, with some school names slightly different from those they submitted to government. Another 118 schools had changed their administrative locations –making it hard to be traced.

Mr Arnold Dhatumwa , the commissioner Education Planning and Policy Analysis said the problem has been exacerbated   by mushrooming private schools that want to operate  before fulfilling the necessary procedures  set by government .He said by revealing the survey findings, the ministry had done her part and it is now the local authorities in Kampala and Wakiso to play their part.

“Most of these  are private schools .They are really hostile, they don’t want to be monitored because they know they are giving a raw deal to the public,” he said ,adding “The onus is now on the authorities in Kampala and Wakiso to crack the whip and address this problem internally,” he said

Currently, there are at least 20,000 private schools across the country. Despite charging high fees, most parents prefer taking their children to private schools ostensibly because they offer high quality services as compared to government-aided schools.

Mr Asadu Kirabira, the in charge of Research at National Private Education Institutions Association blamed the existence of illegal schools on the bureaucracy involved in licensing and registration of private schools.

“No one wants to operate illegally but they are just forced by the prevailing circumstances, “he said by telephone yesterday

“One can apply for a license and takes a year or two to get it .What do you expect that person to do?” he asked

On schools that shunned the mapping exercise, Kirabira said government failed to involve them in the exercise yet they have a complete register of all private schools in the country and their locations.

In 2011,the Auditor General’s office unearthed about 500 non-existent schools which were being planted in the Ministry of Education’s data base and were receiving money ,causing losses to government .In Amuru District alone, it was discovered that  government was losing  at least Shs71.4million per term to 15,539 ghost UPE pupils .