Education Committee reviews Education Act to affect non-teaching/ Support staff

𝐄𝐃𝐔𝐂𝐀𝐓𝐈𝐎𝐍 𝐂𝐎𝐌𝐌𝐈𝐓𝐓𝐄𝐄 𝐑𝐄𝐕𝐈𝐄𝐖𝐒 𝐋𝐄𝐆𝐈𝐒𝐋𝐀𝐓𝐈𝐕𝐄 𝐏𝐑𝐎𝐏𝐎𝐒𝐀𝐋 𝐓𝐎 𝐀𝐌𝐄𝐍𝐃 𝐁𝐀𝐒𝐈𝐂 𝐄𝐃𝐔𝐂𝐀𝐓𝐈𝐎𝐍 𝐀𝐂𝐓

𝐏𝐚𝐫𝐥𝐢𝐚𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐁𝐮𝐢𝐥𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐬
𝐓𝐮𝐞𝐬𝐝𝐚𝐲, 𝟐𝟑𝐫𝐝 𝐒𝐞𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐦𝐛𝐞𝐫 𝟐𝟎𝟐𝟓

A legislative proposal seeking to amend the Basic Education Act, 2013 is undergoing pre-publication scrutiny by the National Assembly Committee on Education.

The proposed Basic Education (Amendment) Bill, 2025, sponsored by Hon. John Waluke, seeks to enhance transparency by requiring non-teaching staff to declare their wealth and by aligning school audits with the Public Audit Act.

One proposed amendment would require non-teaching staff to declare their income, assets, and liabilities, as well as those of their spouses and dependents.

The Committee Members noted the misuse of funds particularly infrastructure funds in public schools. Hon. Nabii Nabwera advocated for a clear separation of financial and academic roles within schools.

“Let the teacher be the teacher, teach and manage the academics and we have a professional manager and a qualified administrator actually dealing with issues of money with schools, resources and procurement,” Hon. Nabwera stated.

The Committee questioned why a ministry allocates money to public schools that would be entrusted to individuals who may lack proper qualifications and are not held accountable by any regulations.

Hon. Eve Obara and Hon. Mary Emaase called on the Ministry to develop a mechanism to ensure accountability from bursars and other non teaching staff.

The Bill also seeks to mandate that school audits align with the Public Audit Act.

However, committee analysis pointed out that the Basic Education Act and the Public Finance Management Act already provide comprehensive frameworks for the audit and management of public funds, including penalties for non-compliance.

In the meeting, chaired by Hon. Julius Melly, the Committee also engaged representatives from the Office of the Auditor General on Performance Audit Reports for the Ministry of Education on Management of Development Funds for Technical Institutions, March 2018; the Implementation of the National School Upgrading Program, March 2018 and Expansion, Improvement and Maintenance of Infrastructure in Public Primary Schools by the Ministry of Education, November 2021.