MOE sets a psycho-social support program for teachers.

By; Charles Katabalwa

17^th Sept. 2020

The Ministry of Education and Sports has set up a call center to offer psycho-social support to teachers.

Since March when the government closed all educational institutions following the outbreak of Covid-19, teachers have silently been going through several psychosocial challenges ranging from anxiety about the future and economic uncertainty. There have been reports of teachers in Kamuli, Rukingiri, and Bududa districts who have committed suicide.

Peace Busingye, the Principal Education Officer in the department of guidance and counselling in the Ministry of Education, says that the program is under the USAID-funded Uganda Literacy Achievement and Retention Activity-LARA project. She explains that they have so far recruited ten call assistants who are also practicing counsellors and psychologists to man the center.

The 10 call assistants will each handle at least 10 teachers daily. This means on a day, the call sector will be offering services to at least 100 teachers both private and those on the government payroll.

Ashley Barigye, the program coordinator, says they will be randomly calling teachers using the telephone numbers that were submitted during the online teacher registration.

Juma Mwamulu, the General Secretary of Uganda National Private Teacher’s Union, welcomes the idea but questions whether private teachers will be responding to the calls from the Ministry which has nearly abandoned them for the last six months.