On Wednesday 23 February 2022, members of Top Management of the Ministry of Education and Sports, together with Development Partners in the Education sector met in Kampala to disseminate and deliberate on the Paris Declaration (2021): Re-imagining the futures of Education. The meeting focused on lobbying for a strong commitment of all stakeholders in the Education sector to prioritize maters of education. The commitment was adopted on 10 November 2021 at the Global Education Meeting (GEM 2021) and Uganda became a signatory to the declaration on 24 February 2022. The declaration among others emphasizes the urgency to tackle the educational crisis and inequalities exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic, which are threatening the hard-gained progress toward the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and pushing marginalized and vulnerable groups and learners further behind, especially those living in poverty, in remote and rural areas, women and girls, those impacted by crises and conflicts, and persons with disabilities.
The Minister of State for Higher Education – Hon. Dr. John Chrysostom Muyingo who delivered the remarks of the First Lady and Minister of Education and Sports stated that “more than ever, urgent long-term action is needed to change humanities course and save the planet from further destruction.” He further advised that, these actions and interventions aimed at redressing the challenges that the education sector faces must be long term and must combined strategic thinking in order to realize the objectives.
It should be noted that at the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic, over 1.6 billion learners worldwide and over 16 million learners in Uganda were greatly affected as a result of intermittent school closure brought about by the pandemic.
“The future of our country, our people and their lives will depend on the robust education systems that can deliver knowledge and skills to enhance production and productivity. It is only through collective and individual actions that we will be able to harness the rich diversity of our people and cultures and realize the future that we want.” – JC Muyingo, Minster of State for Higher Education
UNESCO Regional Director for Eastern African, Prof. Hubert Gijzen who was visiting Uganda on his Regional tour was the Chief Guest at the meeting and he informed the stakeholders that, “education is very important in building a nation because through it, the defenses of peace can be built in the minds of men and women.”
To stress his point, Prof. Hubert quoted an excerpt from message of the UNESCO’s Director General on the occasion of the International Day of Education 2022. He further advised that, “the first step towards reimagining the future of education is to hold an open and honest dialogue and discussion on the past and current state of education in order to decide on the way forward in terms of the kind of education we want and the education we need so as accelerate learning recovery and make schools more efficient, equitable and resilient through building on investments.”
The UN Resident Coordinator in Uganda, Ms. Susan Namondo Ngongi who was present at the dialogue delivered her remarks and advised the stakeholders to focus more on those approaches such as coordination together with the development partners which she stated will enable the education sector to progress in the midst of challenges. Ms. Namondo made a passionate plea to all stakeholders highlighting that, “the challenges affecting the education sector affects all the other sectors too because education is instrumental in producing human resources required by other sectors in the country.”
The Permanent Secretary of Ministry of Education and Sports Ms. Ketty Lamaro while delivering her remarks informed the stakeholders that the education sector in Uganda, just like in any other countries in the world faced tremendous challenges over the last 2 years as a result of the global pandemic caused by Covid-19.
“As a result of the pandemic, we were faced with high dropout rates, increase teenage pregnancies, teacher-student absenteeism, poor internet for basic learning, and inadequate learners reading materials.” – Katty Lamaro, PS. Ministry of Education and Sports, Uganda.
Ms. Lamaro stated that, despite the above challenges, the government of Uganda considers education a basic human right and is therefore committed to providing affordable and inclusive education systems with the major goal of leaving no one behind. She stated clearly the major objective of the meeting as being to discuss the key continuity plans and major challenges to education in the country.
The Secretary General UNATCOM- Ms. Rosie Agoi who presented the Paris Declaration on Education stated that the country is faced with a choice of either to continue on the unsustainable path of destruction or drastically change course for the better.
“We know that education has tremendous power to bring about change and social transformation and the way we have organized our education sector, does not do enough justice, peace and create a healthy planet. We therefore need a new social contract on education that resolve past injustices while transforming the future.” – Rosie Agoi Secretary General, UNATCOM
Ms. Agoi emphasized that there is need for continuous transformation of education for lifelong learning and equity, quality and efficiency is key in post covid-19 recovery interventions. She added that, “multilateral cooperation and multi-stakeholder engagement in advocating for investments in the education sector is paramount.”