Teachers sue LC5 over subjecting them to PLE

A rare incident early this year in which UPE teachers sit Primary Leaving Examinations (PLE) has taken a legal twist.

The Universal Primary Education (UPE) teachers have dragged Nakaseke LC5 chairperson Ignatius Koomu to court over the matter.

Koomu in a rare move that he took in March 2024, made 52 UPE teachers in Nakaseke to sit for 2023 mock PLE papers to test their competence.

Each of the teachers was examined in his/her teaching subject in a move that sparked off anger and attracted criticism from teachers leaders and some government officials.

On marking the scripts by School inspectors, many teachers scored less than 60%, some scoring as low as 27 per cent in their respective papers.

However, there was one who scored 93 per cent.

The teachers and their leaders, who have never forgiven the district boss over his move, this week filed a motion for judicial review contending that Koomu's move was illegal and an act of harassment and intimidation.

In the motion filed through their lawyers, J Byamukama and Company Advocates, four of the teachers who were made to sit the exams are asking the court to issue a permanent injunction restraining Koomu and the district administration from subjecting teachers to similar exams.

The applicants whose document has a supporting affidavit filed by the Uganda National Teachers' Union secretary general Filbert Baguma, are contending that Koomu and the district administration don't have the mandate to examine them.

The applicants also want the court to order Koomu and the district administration to pay them damages for subjecting them to embarrassing and degrading treatment when they made them sit the PLE papers.

According to a notice, signed by the Luweero High Court assistant registrar, Koomu has been directed to appear in the Luweero High Court on January 26, 2025. 

Koomu's move to make the teachers sit the exams followed Nakaseke's poor PLE performance last year, which saw the district ranked 47th countrywide.

According to last year's PLE results, which were released early this year, a staggering 276 candidates, representing 5.6% of the total number of candidates, were ungraded.

Another 138 candidates representing 2.9%, registered for the exams but did not sit due to unknown reasons.

According to Koomu, the poor PLE performance in the district is partly due to the alleged incompetence of teachers in some schools.

Koomu says he has a dream of seeing Nakaseke district moving from its current 47th rank to the top position.

Among those who attacked Koomu for making the teachers sit for the PLE exams, was primary education state minister Dr Joyce Kaducu who early this year commented that the move was illegal, uncalled for and demotivating teachers.

The minister further said it was unfair to hold the teachers wholly responsible for the poor performance of the pupils.

"Poor performance of children is a shared responsibility," she said.

Koomu who has paid a deaf ear to the criticisms, says he had wanted to take his move much earlier but was being blocked by education ministry officials who were acting on protests from teachers leaders.

▪️ Kaducu blasts Lc5 for making teachers sit mock exams