Latest news with #MinistryofEducationandSports
Zawya
07-03-2025
- Business
- Zawya
'Open Uganda National Examinations Board (UNEB) exam centre in Burundi'
Government is urged to engage the Burundi Government in order to establish a centre for the Uganda National Examinations Board (UNEB) there. This recommendation is contained in a report of the Committee on Foreign Affairs which stated that, Uganda's education curriculum is being taught in schools in Burundi, with learners expected to sit for UNEB exams within Uganda. The report presented by Hon. Gabriel Okumu (NRM, Okoro County) during the plenary sitting on Wednesday, 05 March 2025 observed that the requirement for these learners to travel to Uganda is costly and caused psychological strain on students. 'The Ministry of Education and Sports in collaboration with Ministry of Foreign Affairs, should engage the Government of Burundi through diplomatic channels to negotiate and formalise the establishment of a UNEB examination centre in Burundi. This will reduce the financial burden and psychological strain on learners traveling to Uganda for exams and encourage more schools in Burundi to adopt and promote the Ugandan curriculum,' said Okumu. He also urged the Ministry of Education and Sports to work closely with schools teaching the Ugandan curriculum in Burundi to ensure they meet the necessary requirements for establishing a UNEB centre. 'The ministry informed the committee that it was feasible to grant a UNEB centre, provided the schools met specific requirements including recruiting qualified head teachers in accordance with the Ugandan standards and employing at least six qualified teachers who also meet Ugandan standards,' Okumu added. He also noted that the Minister for Education and Sports will be required to issue a statutory instrument to legalise the operations of the UNEB centre. The report on the committee's oversight visit to the Embassy of Uganda in Bujumbura, Burundi also highlighted key areas of concern in the sectors of tourism, trade and investment. To improve trade and investment, the committee recommended that Uganda's mission in Burundi should be adequately funded to enable it conduct aggressive export promotion strategies and initiate bilateral agreements to strengthen cooperation in the industrial sector. The committee also recommended that Uganda's Embassy in Burundi should strengthen partnerships with Burundian tour operators and media outlets to promote Uganda's key tourist attractions. In a related development, Okumu also presented a report of the committee's oversight visit to the Uganda High Commission in Kigali, Rwanda, which noted a decrease in trade volumes and emergence of new competitors owing to the closure of the Uganda-Rwanda border between March 2019 and January 2022. The report indicates that before the border closure, Rwanda was Uganda's fifth largest export market with trade volumes valued at Shs124.4 billion in 2019. 'Rwanda sought alternative markets, allowing other competitors to establish a presence in sectors previously dominated by Ugandan products. Rwanda also accelerated development of its domestic industries to manufacture goods that were previously imported from Uganda, thereby reducing reliance on Ugandan exports,' reads the report in part. The committee recommended that Uganda's Minister for Foreign Affairs urgently schedules a consultative meeting with their Rwandese counterpart as agreed during the Joint Permanent Commission (JPC) held in March 2023. Okumu noted that the move will ensure smooth implementation of the decisions of the JPC and strengthen bilateral relations between Uganda and Rwanda. Distributed by APO Group on behalf of Parliament of the Republic of Uganda.
Zawya
11-02-2025
- Politics
- Zawya
Uganda: Let ministry consider education review report
Speaker Anita Among has asked legislators to allow the Ministry of Education and Sports to consider the Education Policy Review Commission Report before it is presented to Parliament. The report was presented to the Minister for Education, Hon. Janet Kataaha Museveni by former minister Hon. Amanya Mushega who the review commission. The Education Policy Review Commission was tasked with looking into the state of Uganda's education sector with the aim of proposing reforms to synchronise it with current global and national needs. During the plenary sitting on Tuesday, 11 February 2025, Kalungu West County MP, Hon. Joseph Ssewungu was concerned that the report has not been disseminated to the public. 'The report gives new changes to the education system, but we have not got a single copy as the Committee of Education. The Ministry of Education should provide Members of Parliament with the report because it is an open document,' Ssewungu said. Ssewungu also urged the Ministry of Education and Sports to correct misleading narratives on the details of the report which he said have disoriented public opinion on the matter. 'You must keep your document confidential until it is the government leading paper that is giving information to the public,' Ssewungu added. The Speaker however, guided that the report, in its current form being from a commission of inquiry requires the Ministry of Education and Sports to review it and prepare a White Paper. 'And it is this White Paper that translates into a policy which is then brought to Parliament for consideration. This is provided for under the Commission of Inquiry Act,' said Among. Section 6 of the Commission of Inquiry Act, Chapter 166 states ,in part that, 'The commissioners shall, after taking the a full, faithful and impartial inquiry into the matter specified in the commission…report to the minister, in writing, the result of the inquiry…' The State Minister for Higher Education, Hon. John Chrysostom Muyingo reiterated that the ministry is studying the report before it is rolled out to the public. 'Right now we have established a technical committee that will advise government concerning the issues that have been raised by this report,' Muyingo said. The report among others calls for expansion of the name of the Ministry of Education and Sports, to Ministry of Education, Sports and Training to enable the ministry offer more effective leadership for the evolving sector. The report also proposes a merger of the functions of the National Council for Higher Education, the Directorate of Educational Standards, and the TVET Council into a National Education Standards and Quality Assurance body. Distributed by APO Group on behalf of Parliament of the Republic of Uganda.
