Anti-corruption monitors have helped address teacher absenteeism in Ntoroko district.
Henry Tinka, the assistant district education officer (DEO) says that in just one year, teacher absenteeism has reduced from 60% to 25%. According to Tinka, some of the culprits have been presented to the district chief administrative (CAO) officer for disciplinary action.
He also explains that absenteeism of teachers is top of the challenges that his office has been grappling with.
“It is true there is absenteeism on the part of teachers and on the part of students especially in the rural areas. With us we do not condone it, we normally take action because the DEO (District Education Officer) first of all calls those who are persistent absentees and if absenteeism exceeds its normal level, we normally forward this to the CAO who has a disciplinary committee”, Tinka says.
Last year, Anti-Corruption Coalition of Uganda (ACCU) appointed monitors following the high rates of absenteeism in primary schools. Under the arrangement, more than 80 monitors were given mobile phones and provided with a code number through which to send messages on gaps they identify in the education sector to the ACCU secretariat in Kampala. ACCU in turn informs the relevant district authorities.
The monitors have so far registered some success with cases of teacher absenteeism down. Milton Kankya, the head of the monitors says the monitors are facilitated to visit schools, identify gaps and report to the authorities concerned.
The idea was introduced after a study which shows that Ntoroko district is one of those grappling with high levels of teacher absenteeism, abscondment from work and late coming. According to Kankya, the monitors carried out a survey which indicated that some teachers spend most of the teaching time in markets, looking for buyers for their milk and cattle.
Faith Mugisa, the monitor in-charge Karugutu sub-county says almost 90% of the schools visited in the area had teachers absent from work for the better part of the week.
Mugisa says this is common with teachers who do not reside near their places of work. He adds that some teachers were in the habit of signing in arrival books even when they have not showed up for work.
“It is really too much. One can spend a week without appearing at the school. Somebody can come to the school, signs in the teachers’ attendance book, then after two hours, she or he disappears”, Mugisa said.
Lawrence Bakahuwa, a parent says that the work of the monitors should be commended. He wants the monitors to also start recording pupil absenteeism.
“We have a problem especially from the parents. They don’t take education as a serious point that they should confront head-on, no attitude about education, they bring out the manpower including children from school, it is really a very bad thing because we get negative results from the children”, Bakahuwa said.
According to figures in Transparency International’s global corruption on education , published in 2013, teachers in Uganda were absent from their classes 27% of the time, the second-highest rate among 21 countries. The study describes the problem as one of the most serious forms of corruption in education.
The report attributed teacher absenteeism to factors such as illness, poor school infrastructure, transport problems, environmental conditions, lack of lunch available at school and even drunkenness.
Source: The Observer
