By Godwin Abedican

Arua

Following a memorandum of understanding signed in 2022 between Muni University and Aga Khan University, The Aga Khan University’s Institute for Educational Development East Africa (AKU- IED, EA) in partnership with Muni University through the Foundations for Learning project (F4L) on Friday May 26^th 2023 launched a new education program at Muni University.

Diploma in Educational Leadership and Management (DELM) is a program that runs for two years, creatively designed to develop school leaders who are highly skilled, driven and responsive to the uncertainties in education in the 21st century and aims at improving management at school levels especially in primary schools.

Officiating as the chief guest during the launch of the program, Raymond Ombere, Arua city Education Officer appealed for trust in the implementation of this partnership in order to give a new face to education in West Nile. “From a reliable partner you need to develop trust and here you develop trust you need to develop what you are doing” he said.

Ombere, however noted that, West Nile sub region continues to face challenges in getting opportunities for growth in the education sector especially at national level. “I sit on a number of advisory boards in the ministry, and sometimes when it comes to making decisions, on where partners like The Aga Khan should go, people always brig out sentiments. Why always West Nile, and Aga Khan has always stood out in those places and said we are meant to be in West Nile. And I think as the people of West Nile we need to appreciate this and make sure we don’t only embrace the opportunities which Aga Khan through its agencies bring to us but also make sure that whenever we benefit out of these opportunities, we put it to the maximum use at the service of our people. We would like to see that in all our schools, in West Nile region, the head teachers and deputies take this course and make use of this university and this program which has been brought here” Ombere explained.  


Raymond Ombere, Arua City Education Officer Presiding over the Launch of the Program
  
In her speech read by Dr. Samuel Andema, the assistant professor in the language and literacy unit at Aga Khan University, Dr. Jane Rarieya, Dean AKU-IED, EA emphasized that as the government of Uganda continues to institute changes in the education curriculum, no attention is being paid to the aspect of capacity building for effective implementation of the changes in the curriculum. “We are turning a new page and a new chapter in the development of school leaders in Uganda. While many leadership programs focus on developing leaders’ administrative skills, this particular program that we are launching aims to develop school leaders as leaders of learning. This is especially important as we continue to entrench the competence based curriculum in Uganda and East Africa. We have observed that part of the hindrances to successful implementation of the competence based curriculum in schools is that our school leaders sometimes feel lost about how to appropriately support their teachers and learners in this new curriculum,” her speech read in part.


Dr. Sammuel Andema, the Assistant Professor at Aga Khan University speaking during the launch

Associate professor Clement Okia, the deputy director research and innovation at the university who represented the acting vice chancellor assistant Prof. Katrini Anguma during the launch of the program says as a university, they are ready to work within the terms of the memorandum signed between the two universities. “When this program was being presented to senate and council, one of the questions was how will it be sustained beyond the project funding? I can assure you that we reflected on this and the first cohort of students can be our ambassadors, where this program can transition in different ways and we shall be able to train many more people.

He adds that as a university there is a lot for them to learn from Aga Khan apart from being a university adding that many of the universities especially public universities suffer from funding challenges and this partnership gives them something to learn from.  
      
According to Dr. Mweru Mwingi Aga Khan University, IED-EA, this partnership in running the program will have very positive results since its centered on seeing that school leaders gain practical skills. “This private public partnership is envisioned to yield a lot of synergy and at the same time, we expect that there will be important outcomes not just in leadership training but also in research and publication that will mutually come from the two universities” Mwingi noted. 
   
According to Rev. Fr. Prof. Epiphany Odubuker Picho the Deputy Vice Chancellor Finance and Administration, Muni University, the new program will help to address the gaps in management of schools in the region. “When Aga Khan University comes to Muni University, they bring with them a wealth of knowledge and experience that is good to benefit from. The head teachers in the West Nile region need help in the line of improving their leadership and management knowledge skills, attitude and values of better discharge of responsibilities. Findings reveal that they need to be helped such that they can manage their schools better,” Picho explained.  
   
Muni university currently has 13 programs at the university with the latest being this new addition the Diploma in Educational Leadership and Management (DELM). This diploma which will be blended in its approach, aims to develop leaders who can support curriculum implementation as well as foster learning by learners, teachers and themselves through being reflective, adopting an inquiry approach to leading and are gender sensitive and inclusive in their practices.

This program is also offered in Kenya in partnership with the Education Management Institute (KEMI) and the Agency for the Development of Education Management (ADEM) in Tanzania.

Muni University is a Public university established by the Uganda Government by Statutory Instrument, 2013 No. 31, in accordance with the Universities & Other Tertiary Institutions Act 2006 as amended. Muni University campus is located in Arua City (Formerly Arua district), 3Km South of Arua town in North-Western Uganda. Other programs at the university include Bachelor of Information Systems, Bachelor of Information Technology, Bachelor of Nursing Science, Master of Educ. (Plg & Mgt),  Master of Public Health,  MBA, Master of Tourism & Hote-Mgt,  MSc. Artificial-Intelligence, MSc. Biodiversity Conservation,  MSc. Chemistry, MSc. Climate Ch. & Dis. Risk-Mgt,  MSc. Computer Science, MSc. Mathematics.

COVER PHOTO: Officials from Aga Khan and Muni Universities in a group Photo after the Launch By Godwin Abedican