Kampala, Uganda | Education experts have said Uganda’s shift to a competency-based curriculum is steadily aligning learning outcomes with the country’s labour market and national skills demands.
Appearing on UBC Front Bench, officials from the Ministry of Education and Sports, the National Curriculum Development Centre (NCDC), and the Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) sector explained that the reforms are designed to prioritise practical skills, critical thinking, and early career orientation.
Dr. Abaine Kakuri of the TVET Oversight Ministry (TVETOM) said the transition from lower secondary education to technical training has become significantly easier following curriculum alignment.
He explained that 20 per cent of the lower secondary curriculum is now devoted to hands-on learning, while TVET programmes are already 70 per cent practical, creating continuity in skills development.
Dr. Kakuri added that the new curriculum has strengthened TVET training by addressing previous gaps.
He noted that while arithmetic and literacy had been part of earlier programmes, core science and computer literacy were missing, limiting learner preparedness.
He said the revised curriculum now allows learners to identify and pursue their interests at an early stage.
The Permanent Secretary at the Ministry of Education and Sports, Dr. Kedrace R. Turyagyenda said the reforms extend beyond basic education, revealing that the ministry has issued a circular directing universities to adopt competency-based learning approaches.
She said this move is intended to better prepare graduates for the world of work.
Dr. Turyagyenda emphasised that the education sector’s vision is to ensure that every child born in Uganda accesses quality education.
She explained that quality education goes beyond examination performance and instead focuses on the holistic development of the learner.
At the curriculum development level, Ms. Nambi Bernaddati from NCDC said continuous assessment plays a central role in determining whether learners have acquired the expected competencies.
She explained that accumulated scores from Senior One, gathered through ongoing assessment activities, are used to assess mastery rather than reliance on a single examination.
Ms. Nambi further explained that the curriculum shift was informed by findings from studies conducted among employers.
She said the studies revealed that many graduates lacked employable skills and higher-order thinking abilities, prompting the need for a more skills-oriented curriculum.
On teacher preparedness, Dr. Turyagyenda said teachers underwent preliminary training before the rollout of the new curriculum through a train-the-trainer model.
She explained that selected trainers were first trained and later tasked with training other teachers, with each school required to send at least one teacher for the programme.
Ms. Nambi said the curriculum was developed to respond to the evolving needs of society and to ensure learners are better equipped for future challenges.
The discussion aired on UBC Front Bench, hosted by Sandra Kahunde, under the theme Education Quality and Tertiary Readiness: Do learning outcomes match national skills needs?
Education stakeholders say sustained teacher support, adequate infrastructure, and consistent assessment practices will be critical to the long-term success of the reforms.
