Ketty Lamaro, Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Education and Sports (PHOTO/Courtesy).
KAMPALA – The Ministry of Education and Sports has instituted sanctions on schools that will fail to register learners on the government’s Education Management Information system (ÉMIS) by December 9.
According to Ministry’s Permanent Secretary, Ms Ketty Lamaro, government schools will have their capitation grants withheld since funding will be pegged on learners who have been uniquely identified and registered.
She said private schools that fail to provide and account for their learners to the Ministry through EMIS, will have their Licenses and Registration certificates revoked.
“If a school fails to register the P.7, S.4 and S.6 candidates 2022, we shall move to withhold their UNEB results. This also means you will not register any candidate next year who is not seen on EMIS,” Ms Lamaro said during training of district support school teams held on Monday, 21st November 2022.
She explained that the purpose of the exercise is to establish learners’ baseline information for their verification and issuance of NINs by NIRA.
To date, a total of 6.76M learners have been uploaded in the portal against the projected number of at least 17M learners across the entire education system.
Since this exercise started in July 2022, a total of 4.1M learners without NINs have been submitted to NIRA for further management.
There was concern that by some stakeholders that some schools lack computer facilities to provide the required information.
But Ms Lamaro said the Ministry is now utilising call centre facilities to provide required support to EMIS users in schools and LGs. The toll-free number is 0800377771.
She said training Workshops for LG staff (CAO, Town Clerks, DEOs/DISs) on utilization and management of EMIS took place from 31st October – 4th November 2022 while District Support Schools have been identified and are undergoing training to work hand in hand with the LG staff such that they can cascade the training to all head teachers.
Ms Lamaro said the Ministry will continue utilizing the different communication Channels (Circulars, TV, Print Media, social media) to share information on EMIS rollout.
“The Approval process for EMIS number Application has been fully automated and we believe this will eliminate unnecessary delays for the applicants. I encourage the DEOs and MEOs to approve the schools quickly to avoid delays,” the ministry PS said.
Ms Lamaro urged the district support teams to work with the DEO or MEO and organize trainings for ALL the head teachers starting at the subcounty levels.
“This should run from 28th Nov – 2nd Dec. 2022 to allow for those schools that have not started to begin on their work. I am sure this will go along way to improve the registration process,” she said on Monday.
“I implore the Headteachers to inform the parents about the EMIS registration process through the end of term 4 circular and request them to give you all the learner details you need to fast track the completion of this exercise. I wish to reiterate that all secondary schools and LGs that fail to upload their learners will be deliberately frustrating the newly launched lower secondary curriculum. Starting early next year, Headteachers will be transmitting learners’ continuous assessment scores to UNEB using NINs,” she said.
Mrs Vastine Beyendera, the Rukiga District Education Officer, said they are working to ensure full implementation of the ministry’s directives.
She said whereas some schools are yet to comply, they are extending the sensitisation to head teachers to ensure that they come on board before the December 9 deadline.
Ms Beyendera appealed to parents to cooperate with the schools to ensure completion of the exercise.
The Soroti District Education Officer, Mr Patty Emokor, said they are conducting trainings for the head teachers about the exercise to ensure smooth implementation.
He said the training of the headteachers to understand the key principles was of great importance to ensuring the success of the exercise for all schools.
