By Obbo yusuf
KALIRO -BUSOGA
Ministry of Education and sports has embarked on training school heads country wide on Teachers Effectiveness and Learner Achievement [TELA] a system launched to monitor attendance of teachers in government schools.
“It’s now time for government to get teachers who dodge duty yet they are paid in time using this digital system that the ministry has provided to all government aided schools.
We hope for improved performance since teachers will endeavor to teacher without missing as it has been the case.” Said Nabigwale primary school head teacher Nabwire silivia
TELA is a time on task Performance Management System that uses a smartphone with Global Positioning System (GPS) and Biometric features designed to monitor real-time Teacher and Head Teacher attendance and time table implementation.
The TELA system was developed to help the Ministry of Education address systematic challenges of high absenteeism of Learners, Teachers, Head Teachers and inadequate supervision by Head teachers and School Management Committees which has negatively impacted learning outcomes over years.
The head teachers who participated in the training in kaliro district at Musana primary school thanked the ministry of education for introducing the digital monitoring system which they say will help them improve the performance of many government aided schools.
It should be noted that Universal Primary Education (UPE) schools have been performing poorly due to the less attention teachers give to pupils yet government does its role of paying them in time.
“Those who desire to put aside the given phones which uses TELA shall be penalized by the ministry of Education and districts Education offices.
It’s a must for all government teachers to fulfill their duties of not only attending class but also teach the pupils and students.” Ngobi Godfrey Deputy head teacher St.Gonzaga primary school kaliro.
TELA was first tested in Primary schools across ten (10) districts and then scaled up in FY 2019/2020 to 920 primary schools and again in FY 2020/21 to 920 primary schools located within the same Local Governments and kaliro district is among the first 10 districts where the system was piloted.
According to Barbra Masika an official from mistry of edication, the system was initially designed to monitor Teacher, Head Teacher and Learner’s daily attendance for primary schools. As part of the rollout, it is being upgraded to encompass Secondary Schools and Certificate Awarding Institutions both private and government.
The Ministry has now embarked on the rollout of the TELA system throughout the country and has begun with Eastern Uganda where mobile phones have been distributed to all government aided schools.
Masika says the system has been designed with face identification of teachers on a daily basis.
The system shall help the government on accountability purpose since payment shall vary on attendance which means ghost teachers will be eliminated.
In order to ensure that all users are able to operate the TELA system once it is deployed, the Ministry of Education through the Directorate of Education Standards is conducting training for recipients of the gadgets in the Eastern region
