Uganda makes strides in the implementation of the National Teacher Policy

The Uganda National Teacher Policy (NTP) was approved and launched in October 2019. The aim of the policy is to provide a framework to professionalize and standardize the teaching profession and enhance the development and management of teachers. The government, through the NTP, recognizes teaching as a profession and emphasizes that teachers, school leaders, educators and trainers all play a collective and central role in preparing the future generation. The NTP has prescribed an elaborate implementation strategy, and defined the national entities that are central in the implementation of the policy. One such entity is the Uganda National Institute for Teacher Education (UNITE). A national taskforce has been appointed by the Minster of Education to fast track the establishment of UNITE. Upon formation, UNITE will be a specialized higher education institution in Uganda for Teacher Education and will have the mandate to supervise teacher education programmes in other higher education institutions in the country.

UNESCO, under the Norwegian Teacher Initiative (NTI) Project, supported the MoES and convened a 3-day (10th - 13th June 2021) retreat of the national taskforce to develop the strategic documents for the establishment and governance of UNITE, align UNITE governance policies and programmes to the strategic plan of the MoES, the National Development Plan (NDP), the Uganda vision 2040 and the Global Education 2030 Agenda.

While opening the 3-day retreat, Dr. Jane Egau, Director of the Teacher Education and Training (TET), commended UNESCO for being an important partner in the education sector in Uganda. She urged the taskforce to do an excellent job because the public has picked interest in the establishment of UNITE and expectations are high.

Over the years, UNESCO has supported various critical interventions central to the development of the education sector in general and the teacher subsector in particular in the country.

Dr. Jane Egau, Director of the Teacher Education and Training

The UNESCO Project Officer in-charge of the NTI project in Uganda, Ismail Banduga, noted that as the designated UN Agency to coordinate the Education 2030 Agenda, UNESCO strives to work with Member States in their efforts to realize the aspirations and targets set under Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 4.

Although a lot more remains to be done, the strides made so far, from UNESCO standpoint, are in the right direction.

Mr. Ismail Banduga, UNESCO Project Officer in-charge of the NTI project in Uganda

The retreat ended with drafts of three key strategic documents developed. These are UNITE Strategic Plan, a finance manual and a human resource manual. The Coordinator of the taskforce, Ms. Caroline Kavuma, gave assurance that the taskforce will do all it takes to have UNITE programmes approved by the regulatory body, the National Council of Higher Education (NCHE), by end of 2021.

UNITE seeks to rollout the '21st Century teacher' who is not only pedagogically smart but also subject content smart and ICT smart.

Ms. Caroline Kavuma, Coordinator of the taskforce

Participants in a breakaway group activity © UNESCO

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