Hon. Peter Ogwang, the State Minister of Sports has vowed to fight Mafias who are grabbing land in government schools, in the name of giving to the so-called investors.
“But aren’t these people ashamed? Today its you, tomorrow and everywhere, don’t you get ashamed?” he asked
His remarks followed shortly after the Headteacher of Kololo SS, Mr. Kanonya informed him that a certain group of people had grabbed the land that was the school pitch, limiting physical education.
Angry Ogwang said, “I will start with this particular case, these people should be arrested and jailed, do whatever you are doing but know that the future is looking at you, we shall meet,” he said
“This should be a warning to all other districts out there, I am coming for you, I will not allow you to grab land belonging to government schools in the so-called investors’ names,” he said
Ogwang made these remarks on Thursday at Kololo SS, while closing a two-day Primary National Boot Camp for the Teacher Changemaker development Program (TCMDP), organized by STIR Education and Uganda and the Ministry of Education and Sports.
He called upon the heads of schools to promote co-curricular activities especially sports in schools.
Ogwanga believes that sports can transform Uganda’s economy, by employing the majority of the population both nationally and internationally.
“We are only concentrating in classrooms yet sports are the medium through which we must invest to promote young talents who will, in turn, become formidable employees,” he said
He revealed that the government is currently releasing Shs40m per district for sports activities, “but it’s a pity that we don’t see some schools participating in National Championship,”
“Personally, I even think strikes in schools are because of lack of pitches where learners can do their Physical Exercises and relieve some energy,” he said
“The biggest employer today is the sports sector because the world over, the highest paying jobs are sportsmen and sportswomen. For us in Uganda here is just to put up focus in terms of infrastructure development which will help us to harness the talents we have in the country,” he said
Speaking about the program, Ogwang called upon headteachers to employ professionals, not careerists.
“Re-define professionals who are committed to their profession than careerists who are looking for jobs. Because careerists who are looking for jobs cannot be committed to their jobs,” he said
Speaking at the event, Modern Karema Musiimenta, the STIR Education Uganda Country Representative said that the project works toward seeing a world where teachers love teaching, and students love learning.
“We believe that Education Systems today, must prepare every child everywhere to thrive in an increasingly complex world. We do this through providing teacher continuous professional development (CPD) training which put re-igniting Intrinsic motivation at the Centre so that every education official, teacher, and the learner is motivated to learn and improve,” he said adding,
“We currently operate in 32 districts and 8 municipalities for primary, and 78 districts of Uganda for secondary, spread across all the regions of Uganda. We believe that the only way to change the education system is to improve both what is taught and how it is taught,”
STIR Education Uganda, he said believes that the purpose of education is the creation of a holistic learner with the requisite skills, knowledge, values, and attitudes to survive and thrive in the world after school.
“The teacher, being the person that interacts with the learners on a daily basis is therefore very key in the achievement of this grand plan for education. However, you cannot give what you don’t have. We, therefore, endeavor to empower the teacher with the requisite skills, knowledge, values, and attitudes that they use to change their classroom practice and hence pass on 21″ century skills to the learner,”
