By Charles Jjuuko
The ministry of education and sports in Uganda has introduced an online system to manage teachers’ information and their behavior.
According to a statement from the ministry, The Teacher Management Information System (TMIS) is a simple user-friendly approach to supporting a harmonized and timely access to teacher information at all administrative levels of the Ministry of Education and Sports and associated agencies at national, district and education institution levels.
“Its main objective is to solve the problem of disjointed teacher records across the various sections of government and the education ministry” a statement published on the ministry project website reads in part.
Many of the rural teachers in Uganda however don’t have access to the internet and majority are computer illiterates. An investigation carried out by The Scribe News shows that a number of teachers don’t even have an email while those who have can neither remember it nor its password.
Among the requirements for a teacher to enroll on the TMIS is access to the internet and an email account which the system automatically uses as a username.
The system also requires that a teacher provides serial numbers indicated on their academic credentials during registration. The study carried out by our News Reporters also found out that some Grade 111 teachers who sat for Kyambogo university examinations have their academic certificates lacking a serial number. Grade 111 teacher are sitting for UNEB examinations these days other Kyambogo university as it was then.
In a related incidence, the ministry of public service in 2014 asked all public servants to register with the Uganda Revenue Authority in order to connect their information with the tax body. Many who registered have up to now not filled their income tax annual returns due to lack of internet and ignorance on computers.
According to the Teacher Issues in Sub-Sahara Africa (TISSA) report, Uganda faces challenges in the quantity and quality of teachers at all levels. The study also revealed that Uganda lacks reliable data on teachers with most of the administrative data being manually generated.
The implementation of TMIS module is also an aspect of strengthening the Education Management Information System (EMIS) and broadening teacher data needs across several sections of the ministry. TMIS provides accurate information regarding demand for teachers at primary and secondary level. Therefore, the Ministry will be able to make accurate predictions and plans for training and recruitment of needed teaching resources. This will ensure that pre-service and in-service training needs are evidence-based by removing the guesswork and reliance on outdated census data.
In addition, TMIS will help to speed up document processing and improve the performance of education officers in doing their job by enabling faster issuance of certificates and case follow up. The Teacher Instructor Education and Training (TIET) Department of the ministry will use information from the teachers to perform in-service training and planning hence improving the quality of teachers in Ugandan schools by ensuring that there are sufficient opportunities for upgrading pedagogical skills.
The Pre-primary, Primary and post-primary Act 2008 provides that ‘No person shall teach in any public or private school of any description unless he or she is registered as a teacher or licensed to teach under this Act.’
“As old systems are being phased out, all teachers will be required to register with the TMIS system to receive service as well as follow up on their current and future service requests from the ministry” A statement reads