By Joseph Kiggundu
The Wakiso District education department has raised concern over a significant shortage of teachers, revealing that the district currently lacks 277 teachers, a situation that is affecting the quality of education in many schools.
According to Ritah Nanyanzi, the shortage has forced several schools to operate with limited staff, which has negatively impacted learning outcomes among pupils and students.
She explained that when schools operate with fewer teachers than required, it becomes difficult to adequately cover all subjects and classes, ultimately affecting learners’ academic performance.
Nanyanzi said the district urgently needs various categories of staff, including head teachers, deputy head teachers, senior education officers, assistant education officers, and classroom teachers.
However, the district education office is unable to recruit the required personnel due to the absence of a functional District Service Commission, the body mandated to oversee public service recruitment at the district level.
“Our hands are tied because recruitment must go through the District Service Commission, which is currently not in place,” Nanyanzi explained.
The issue was recently raised during a council meeting held on Thursday, where Faruk Lubuulwa urged fellow council members to expedite the establishment of the commission so that teacher recruitment can begin. Despite the concerns, the council did not reach a resolution on the matter.
Meanwhile, the Speaker of the council, Nasifu Najja, attributed the delay to the outgoing commission’s failure to submit its final report.
According to Najja, the council had previously recommended that in case of urgent recruitment needs, the district could temporarily rely on the Mityana District and Mpigi District service commissions to handle Wakiso’s recruitment processes.
However, it has since emerged that the two districts are facing their own administrative challenges, making it difficult for them to take on Wakiso’s responsibilities.
Efforts to obtain comments from key district leaders, including Jude Bukenya and outgoing Matia Lwanga Bwanika, were unsuccessful as both officials declined to speak on the matter.
Education stakeholders in the district have warned that unless the recruitment issue is resolved soon, the shortage could continue to strain schools and affect academic performance across the district.
