The Ministry of Education and Sports will set up a committee to scrutinize several allegations of marginalization of Muslims in the Education Sector.
Dr. Joyce Moriku Kaducu, the State Minister in charge of Primary Education says the committee that will be led by Hajj Ismael Mulindwa, the Director of Basic Education, will draw different heads of departments and agencies in the education sector. It is expected to interrogate each of the claims made by Muslims under the leadership of the Uganda Muslim Supreme Council-UMSC.
“The Muslims have presented serious issues but we cannot just jump over them. we need to have enough data and information on each issue being raised. If they are right, the ministry will definitely find a solution. If they are not, we will have to explain to our dear brothers so that they understand what the facts are,” the minister said.
Over the years, the Muslim community in Uganda has been claiming that there is structural discrimination in the education system that has been fighting against them as members of the society. The issues regularly pointed out include exclusion of Islamic religious education-IRE teachers from government payrolls, sidelining of Muslim teachers during the appointment and promotion at all levels, and unfavorable terms and conditions of service for Muslim teachers.
Other issues are rotating around the appointment of non-Muslim headteachers in Muslim-founded schools and the development of learning materials that have errors and misleading content.
In face of those decades-long allegations, top ministry officials first held a closed-door meeting with a delegation from Uganda Muslim Supreme Council-UMSC.
According to reliable sources, during the meeting that was held at the ministry headquarters at Embassy House, the UMSC delegation led by Sheikh Juma Bakhit Cucu, the UMSC Education Secretary noted that over time, they tried to engage the ministry to voice their issues but all their efforts have always been in vain.
“We have tried to talk about these issues all the time. unfortunately, in most instances, no tangible response has been received,” the source quoted Sheikh Cucu.
The source notes that ministry officials in the meeting tried to defend the ministry on at least each of the issues raised. “For some time it was a blame and answer game. The ministry officials tried to debunk all of the raised issues. They were saying that the education system is designed for all Ugandan regardless of whether they are Muslims or not. On issues of employment and appointment, they said that slots are given on merit.”
Prior to the meeting, leadership at UMSC had faced off with National Curriculum Development Centre-NCDC over errors that were cited in some of the self-study materials that were distributed to learners during the COVID-19 induced school closures.
Muslim education experts pointed out that several contents that were printed in the IRE and Arabic language section were vague questioning the integrity of the experts hired by the NCDC and also wondered why the agency didn’t ask for help from UMSC given the fact that the latter has a fully-fledged education department.
At the beginning of the year, UMSC through its education department had also started pushing for affirmative action for Muslim teachers in the recruitment and promotion processes by the Education Service Commission-ESC however this call was rejected by Dr. Asuman Lukwago saying that promotions and appointment of teachers are always on merit.
Muslims’ plight is not new in the public domain, expounding on the subject matter in one of their academic paper, Badru Musisi and Muhammad M. Kiggundu noted that circumstances surrounding the current marginalization of Muslims in formal or secular education in Uganda are rooted in the country’s history of formal education. The duo also blamed the current leadership for doing anything to rectify the situation.
Although the Muslims have formally presented their case, at last, some officials at the Ministry of Education who preferred anonymity said that the matters are premised on selfishness and lobbying which is done using blackmail.
“The leadership at UMSC should note what they want but not through blackmail. if you digest each of the issues presented at the back there is a motive relating to these fights (between Kibuli and Old Kampala-based UMSC-Muslim factions),” the official noted.
But, Kaduccu notes that the committee’s report which is expected anytime soon will be based on statistics and facts but not try to defend or justify the Muslim leaders’ claims.
She, however, acknowledges that the ministry’s move to look into allegations by Muslims may end up becoming troublesome as other sects and religions might soon also claim to be marginalized as well.
“To ensure that everyone is not left behind, the ministry is also planning to meet representatives of all religious institutions in the country to have a broad discussion so that we don’t focus only on Muslims. The meeting will be chaired by the education minister,” she says.
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