Dr. Asuman Lukwago Defends Nakaseke P7 Teachers Who Failed Mock Exams-They Were Ambushed

Dr. Asuman Lukwago, the Secretary of the Education Service Commission has castigated Ignatius Koomu, the Nakaseke district chairperson for ambushing P7 Teachers & subjecting them to an irregular assessment test following poor performance in the 2023 PLE results.

Dr. Lukwago said that the rules of any exam require candidates to be alerted, which could explain why some teachers scored as low as 27% in the test.

He made the remarks while appearing before the COSASE Parliamentary Committee, where Martin Muzaale, the Member of Parliament for Buzaaya County challenged him to explain what lessons the Commission learnt from the Nakaseke debacle.

Muzaale said that the Commission is mandated with appointing, developing, maintaining & improving the quality of all personnel in the education service, the responsibility which they must have abandoned.

Koomu maintains the pressure on teachers

Despite all the castigations and calls to stop the practice from different people from the Ministry of Education, teachers’ national unions, and others, Koomu has maintained the pressure on teachers and headteachers over the poor performance of learners.

He recently demoted four headteachers to classroom teachers over the poor performance of their candidates in the Primary Leaving Examinations (PLE) in 2023.

The affected primary headteachers were from Kagango Mixed Primary School where 59 percent of the candidates failed, Kikamulo Church of Uganda Primary School where 50 percent of the candidates failed, Butiikwa Primary School where 33 percent failed and Magoma Orthodoxy Primary School where 16 percent of the candidates registered at the school failed.

Koomu, in the aftermath, administered mock exams to 52 classroom teachers from the worst performing schools to test their competency to teach candidates to pass PLE. The worst performing teacher scored 27 percent while the best scored 92 in their respective subjects.

However, Koomu has come under fire from the Ministry of Education and Sports, Parliament and Uganda National Teachers’ Union (UNATU) among other leaders accusing him of overstepping his powers and disrespecting teachers. The Institutions have asked him to stop the measures while UNATU issued him with an intention to sue if he continued with the practice.

While speaking at the commissioning of a newly constructed classroom block at Kiwoko Church of Uganda Primary School last month, Koomu insisted that he would maintain the pressure on the headteachers and teachers until they end failures in the district.

Koomu added that while Nakaseke district ranked 47th in PLE performance last year, the target is to ensure that it shifts to among the 10 best-performing districts. He added that some candidates’ failure was due to rampant absenteeism and incompetent headteachers and teachers.

According to Koomu, the demoted headteachers will be reinstated after serving as classroom teachers for three years and demonstrating that they have improved. He added that the poor-performing teachers who sat mock exams have also been cautioned and put under close supervision to improve or face disciplinary measures next year if their candidates fail again.

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