Education department- Namayingo district

The education department started with two senior officers in 2010. Presently, it has five officers and substantively appointed.

The department currently has two sectors each headed and run by one officer.

These are:-

• Education- headed by the District Education Officer.
• Inspectorate:-Headed by Senior Inspector of Schools

The department has four (4) co-coordinating centers namely; Buswale CC, SyanyonjaCC, Sigulu CC and Banda

Mission:

To provide a rational system of setting, defining and viewing standards and equality of education and sports and to monitor achievements or such standards and equality to ensure continually improved education and sports in Uganda

VISION

Formal Education is a powerful tool for the transformation of any given society as people are empowered, with knowledge skills positive attitudes to explore and utilize the available resources.

Objectives

• Deliver quality education through improved teaching and learning in all institutions.
• Improve access, equity and relation of different categories of learners in all institutions. 
• Equip learners with practical and functional knowledge and skills for sustainable development.
• Improve the welfare of learners and teachers in all institutions to achieve quality education.
• Mobilize all stake holders to champion delivery of quality education services for sustainable development.
• Construct new infrastructure and improve on the existing educational facilities.
• Improve on the literacy and numeracy levels among learners, through the co-operative leaving and multi-grade approaches.
• Equip school managers with managerial skills for improved performance, school administration, and management.
• Ensure proper utilization of funds, and teaching and learning materials.

The district currently has 84 government-aided primary schools with a total enrollment of 50611 pupils. There are 101 privately owned primary schools. There are five (5) government grant-aided secondary schools with a total enrollment of 3971students.  The district also has 11 private secondary schools of which 3 of them are partnering with the Government under USE/UPOLET. There are 91 Early Child Development centers. The district has 3 private technical schools.

On infrastructure, the district has 538 permanent classrooms for primary schools and 32teachers’houses (for both government and community). The district has got 10,117 desks and 754 pit latrine stances.

Staffing

The district has got 764 teachers in primary schools (government aided) and 64 teachers for secondary schools 

Special needs education (SNE)

The district has no unit and specialized facilities to handle SNE children with specific cases of learning disabilities i.e. audiometers, screening, Braille machines, hearing aids, white canes e.t.c. There are also few teachers that can handle special needs education and therefore cannot be distributed to all schools and this has left children with special needs unattended to.

Below is a summary detail of the education sector.

Challenge                   

• The negative attitude of parents towards the education of their children, which results in a failure to provide lunch, necessary learning equipment like exercise books, pens, mathematical sets, uniforms, and other requirements.

• Low literacy rate resultant of which is low educational levels of the population, enshrining belief that education is not a priority, thus a negative attitude towards education.

• Failure of different stakeholders at various levels to play their obligatory roles to avert the poor academic standards.

• Failure of schools to come up with proper guiding school mission statements

• Poor staffing in some schools due to inadequate or no accommodation at all for both learners and teachers and being hard to reach areas due to unbearable topography.

• The negative attitude of both teachers and parents towards the thematic curriculum let alone the inadequacy of the required materials.
• Inadequate financial support to the department to effect the implementation of other Government policies on education like sensitization Delayed release and fluctuating UPE capitation grants which resultantly fail implementation of school and district plans.
• Failure and contradicting political statements of different stakeholders on UPE/USE related issues of co-funding at all levels