The government has presented the National Teachers’ Bill, 2024 which seeks to establish the National Teacher’s Council that will be charged with regulation of the teaching profession, registration, licensing and disciplinary procedures for teachers.
The Bill, together with the required certificate of financial implication was tabled for the first reading by the Minister of State for Higher Education, John Chrysostom Muyingo, during a plenary sitting on Tuesday, 06 August 2024.
In establishing the National Teacher’s Council, the Bill also seeks to provide for the management of internship programme for teachers and regulation of the teaching profession.
According to the Bill, over the years, there have been problems of teacher absenteeism, ineffective teaching, low qualifications and lack of standards for teachers, attributed to the defects and gaps identified in the Education (Pre-Primary, Primary and Post-Primary) Act, 2008.
“The objective of the Bill is to establish a professional body responsible for regulating the teaching profession by consolidating the registration and licensing processes,” reads part of the Bill.
The Bill furthers aims at ensuring provision of continuous professional development in the teaching profession.
Another justification for the Bill is hinged on the decision by Cabinet to phase out the position of Directors in all Ministries, arguing that this has an effect on the legal provision for registration and licensing of teachers.
“An independent legislation on the teaching profession is intended to promote, maintain and protect the ethical standards of the teaching profession,” the Bill further reads.
Deputy Speaker, Thomas Tayebwa, referred the Bill to the Committee on Education and Sports for scrutiny.
“Ensure you give [The Bill] enough attention, and consult widely so that we resolve issues in this sector,” said Tayebwa.
Meanwhile, the government fell short of tabling, for their first reading; 15 bills on the Rationalisation of Government Agencies and Public Expenditure (RAPEX).
The Bills, notable among which include; the National Agricultural Advisory Services (Amendment) Bill, 2024, the National Coffee (Amendment) Bill, 2024, the National Forestry and Tree Planting (Amendment) Bill, 2024, the National Information Technology Authority, Uganda (Amendment) Bill, 2024, the Uganda National Roads Authority Act (Repeal) Bill, 2024 and the Uganda Road Fund (Amendment) Bill, 2024.
The Minister of Local Government, Raphael Magyezi, asked for more time, saying that the government is still consulting on the bills.
“I therefore want to request that you permit us as a government to defer these to the next two weeks,” Magyezi said.
RAPEX was adopted by Cabinet on 22 February 2021 in a bid to reduce wasteful public expenditure by government agencies and save more than Shs1 trillion shillings in public expenditure.
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