Drunk teachers to blame for the poor performance in PLE – officials

Drunk teachers to blame for poor PLE performance, say officials

Officials in Buhweju have blamed the district’s poor performance in the recently released Primary Leaving Examinations (PLE) on drunkard teachers who fail to perform their duties.

The district inspector of schools, Mr George Sabiiti, told media that
a number of teachers in the district are alcoholics, which inhibits their ability to teach and carryout other duties.

“These teachers drink a lot of alcohol during and after classes, which makes them fail to do schemes of work and lesson plans. Others fail to mark pupils’ exercises and report late to their duty stations,” he said.

He added that the department of education in the district is taking procedural steps to reign in such teachers.

“You cannot get up and dismiss such a teacher there and then. There are procedures. For example, head teachers have been making reports about them and as the inspectorate, we shall again make a report and take it to the rewards and sanctions committee.

“When such people go on and persist with their behaviour, then they will automatically be submitted to the district service commission for more action,” Mr Sabiiti said.

He added: “They can either be retired in public interest or they are dismissed. We are very serious on this.

“We shall not accept such kind of teachers to fail our schools.”

Mr Francis Nuwajuna, the district secretary for health, education and CBOs, said that excessive alcohol consumption has become a big challenge in the district, with some parents and pupils also engaging in it.

Mr Nuwajuna also attributed the poor grades to other challenges such as long distances travelled by pupils from homes to schools, reluctant foundation bodies and weak school management committees which collude and drain school resources, low staffing levels, lack of staff accommodation, among others.

He said the district is embarking on strict inspection of schools, recruiting more teachers to fill the staffing gap.

Buhweju District got 167 first grades and got the 64th position in the whole country in the recently released 2020 PLE results.