The Nakaseke LCV Chairman Ignatius Koomu has been summoned by Luwero High Court to defend himself for arbitrarily administering surprise competence examinations to teachers.
In March, Koomu and education officials administered the mock examinations to 52 teachers to test their competency to enable teacher candidates to pass Primary Leaving Examinations.
The results released by Koomu indicated that the poorest performing teacher scored 27 marks whereas the highest got 92 marks in their subjects.
But the action angered the leaders of the Uganda National Teachers Union (UNATU) and teachers.
Through their lawyers, JByamukama and Company advocates, four teachers and UNATU have filed a motion for judicial review at Luwero High Court saying that Koomu and district action to administer the competence tests were illegal and could be used in subsequent proceedings to remove them from the service.
The four teachers include Mathias Mulumba a primary seven teacher at Timuna Primary School, Adam Kuvuna a teacher at St Kizito Kijjaguzo Primary School, Phanel Mugisha Godfrey a teacher at Nabiika Primary School and John Ssemakula a teacher of Nabiika Primary School.
Mulumba scored 45%, Semakula scored 85%, Musana obtained 79% and Kununa received 91% in the mock exams.
The teachers petitioned the court seeking a declaration that the actions of Koomu and Nakaseke district local governments to administer mock examinations to test their competence amounted to harassment and degrading treatment.
They also asked for the court to declare that the decision of Koomu to conduct the tests on the applicants and other teachers was null and void, invalid and illegal since it was not within his mandate.
The teachers and UNATU also want an order issued prohibiting Koomu and his staff from intimidating, harassing and implementing any action that affects teachers.
They also asked the court to issue a permanent injunction restraining Koomu and other officials from subjecting teachers to further competence tests.
They also asked the court to order Koomu and the district to pay general damages to the applicants for the embarrassment and degrading treatment occasioned to them.
The teachers appended the result lists of mock examinations and affidavits supporting their motion.
Filbert Baguma the Secretary General of UNATU also filed an affidavit supporting the motion saying that the ambush of teachers to sit examinations was illegal and asked the court to declare it as so.
He also noted that Koomu didn’t have a mandate to test the competence of teachers or carry out quality control functions.
As a result, the High Court in Luwero has issued a summons to Koomu, Nakaseke district and ordered them to file a defence in the case.
According to the notice issued by Kenneth Tumwebaze the Assistant Registrar of Luwero High Court, Koomu has been directed to appear in court on 26th February 2025 at 9; 00 am to defend himself in the case.
Koomu acknowledged receipt of the notice and is ready to do so because his actions were within his mandate as the chairman of the district and supervisor of government staff.
Koomu welcomed the case saying once he wins it, he will exert more pressure on teachers to deliver to the expectations but even if he loses it no parent will blame him over the poor performance of their children.
He said that the purpose of the competency tests was to find out why the teachers were not performing to the expectations leaving candidates to fail and interest School Management Committees to work with headteachers to supervise them.
Koomu said that the results indicated that some tests were competent and excelled in the examinations but they were not passing the knowledge to learners.
He also noted that others were incompetent and needed refresher courses.
Koomu’s decision stemmed from Primary Leaving Examination results for 2023 which indicated that 276 candidates (5.6%) out of 4813 candidates that sat examinations failed.
The PLE results indicated that 59% of candidates who sat examinations at Kagango Mixed Primary School failed, 50% of candidates at Kikamulo C/U failed, 33% of candidates of Butiikwa Primary School 33% and 16% of candidates of Magoma Orthodoxy Primary School failed among others.
Nakaseke district demoted four headteachers to classroom teachers over the poor performance of their candidates and 52 teachers of most poorly done subjects were ordered to sit competency tests.
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