AG Kiwanuka defends Bachelor's Degree requirement for all teachers

The Attorney General, Kiwanuka Kiryowa, has defended the new policy mandating that all teachers in Uganda possess at least a Bachelor's degree.

Kiryowa said that teachers who do not acquire this qualification within ten years of the policy's implementation will be removed from their positions and replaced by those who meet the necessary educational standards.

He made the remarks while appearing before the Parliament’s Education Committee, as he addressed concerns raised by various stakeholders regarding the National Teachers Bill 2024.

It should be remembered that in 2019, the government introduced a significant teacher policy that, among other changes, raised the qualification standards for educators in Uganda.

This policy provided a ten-year grace period for all teachers, from those working in nursery schools to those in primary education, to upgrade their qualifications to a Bachelor's degree in order to comply with the new minimum requirements, or else they would have to leave the profession.

However, many education experts have questioned the necessity of requiring nursery teachers to hold degrees, especially considering that this sector is primarily dominated by private institutions with minimal government investment.

In response to the concerns, Kiwanuka said, “And I think from the assessment that has been given and done by Government, we aren’t lacking in this qualification.

When this law was made, we didn’t have qualifications of teachers with degrees, now we have them. So people who are in Government now, must work to transition themselves and they have been given a period of 10 years to transition,"

He added, "But obviously, if they don’t transition in 10 years and the law remains as it is, they will be dropped because then the people who have degrees will come in,”

The Attorney General's comments were in response to concerns from Irene Linda Mugisha, the Woman MP for Fort Portal City regarding the new policy.

She questioned why the government, which has not invested in or owns pre-primary schools and has left this sector to private entities, is insisting that nursery school teachers must have a Bachelor's degree as their minimum qualification.

Mugisha also raised the issue of why the government does not consider implementing a professional pay structure to encourage teachers to enhance their qualifications.

For instance , she suggested that if a teacher earns a Bachelor's degree, they should automatically receive a higher salary, allowing them to gradually improve their qualifications instead of being pressured to do so.

“We are setting a standard of a Bachelor’s degree, so how much money are these private institutions going to pay? This means, we are going to shift the cost on the parents because as Government, first of all we have failed to pay our teachers. When you look at Primary Schools, we have failed to pay all teachers, up to now parents are paying teachers so now we are saying, even for Pre-primary, they should have a Bachelor’s degree and yet as Government, we have failed to own these Pre-primary schools, they are being owned by private institutions. So don’t you think we are going a little bit so hard?” Mugisha remarked.

Kiwanuka believes that the new requirement will enhance the quality of education in the country.

"And what we long to see is an education system which is actually vibrant and takes care of the needs of the learners as well as the teachers. But our aspiration is to have people from Pre-primary being taught with people with degrees and requisite qualifications as will be set from time to time by the Council in consultation with Government,” explained Kiryowa.