More than half of the primary school head teachers in Lira have been summoned to the district headquarters to account for their absence from duty in the past year.
Quinto Okello, the Lira District Education Officer, says that during a tour by officials of the Northern Uganda Social Action Fund (NUSAF) it was discovered that many head teachers have abandoned houses constructed for them at their duty stations, opting to live several miles away in towns. He says the problem is most endemic in the areas of Otuke, Moroto and Erute.
Okello wants the head teachers to explain why they have neglected their responsibility to stay within the school campus in order to keep a close tab on activities at the institution at which they are in charge.
Last week the LC5 chairperson of Lira, Franco Ojur, was besieged by an angry group of parents from Abolet Primary School in Barr sub-county, who demanded that the head teacher of the school be sacked or transferred. They said the head teacher had turned his home and compound at the school into a cattle shed and his lax performance was bringing down standards at the school.
The District Education Officer says this is the first time that head teachers are being held to account for their duty of staying at their work stations. He explains that it is intended to make the head teachers more responsible for their work and to closely monitor the activities of their staff and students.
