Underage students discontinued as nurse training institutions start exams

Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | The Ministry of Education and Sports has discontinued hundreds of trainee nurses who had illegally enrolled in different health courses. Dr. Safinah Musene, the Commissioner in charge of health training education at the ministry of education and sports, says that the majority of these learners didn’t meet the minimum admission age of 18 years.

“We did a verification exercise and some of these issues are currently being handled,” Dr. Musene told Uganda Radio Network. She however hastened to add that she was not yet in a position to tell how many trainees have been discontinued.

With the increasing number of young learners leaving O level, the Ministry of Education and Sports recently warned against enrolling students below 18 years of age into health training institutions.

The ministry emphasizes that beyond academic performance, under the laws of Uganda, a health officer or trainee must be an adult, which means he or she must be at least 18 years and above.

Agnes Wadada, the public relations officer at the Uganda Nurses and Midwives Examination Board (UNMEB), says that prior to the examination for the first semester, the department of health training carried out a verification exercise to root out those who didn’t meet the minimum requirements. Age is a critical requirement.

Wadada notes that those who don’t meet the requirement were ejected and the department passed over the rest to the examinations board so that they are issued with nursing identification numbers and cards that would enable them to sit the examinations.

Several institutions including St. Francis School of Health Sciences, Mukono Diocese School of Nursing and Midwifery, and St. Elizabeth School of Health Professionals, all in Mukono district are said to have been found with underage learners.

At St. Francis for instance, 40 out of the 440 learners admitted to the different certificate courses this year were found to be underage. Although administrators at St. Francis denied our reporter audience, a source at the school who volunteered information on condition of anonymity, said the verification exercise had created chaos at the school.

“The ministry has been questioning them how underage learners ended up in the institution yet the admission requirements are very clear,” the source noted.

To understand how such learners end up being admitted despite the known admission requirement, URN spoke to Halima Mayanja Nanziri, the principal of Kibuli Muslim Hospital Health Training School. Although Nanziri has not experienced this problem in her institution, she explains that there is a possibility that the majority of these learners could have lied about their age during admission.

Nanziri also noted that there is a second group of learners whose age was captured on their UNEB pass lips but doesn’t correspond with data on their birth certificates. The principal narrated that she has once in a while faced this situation and learners are always advised to sort this mess by swearing an affidavit.

However, a source at St Francis claims there is a possibility that the institution knew the learners age but went ahead to enroll them. “There is no way how one can admit learners without understanding whether they meet requirements. Some institutions enrolled 17-year-olds thinking that by the time of verification, they will be 18,” the source noted.

William Kabalega, a parent whose child had been admitted to Mukono diocese, blames the mess on the school administrators. He says that his child has spent over five months at the institution but nothing of this nature had been raised yet on admission the school asked for students birth certificates.

The frustrated parent says that the school administrators informed him that since his child is soon making 18, he can be enrolled in the second semester. However, to calm him down and other parents, the school informed them that the learners will not pay tuition for one semester upon return.

At St Francis, URN understands that the school has decided to keep the would-be discontinued learners at school offering them internal examinations. “Administrators are trying to save their face. They have decided to keep the learners at school. The school will enroll them for UNMEB examinations in the next cycle and they have been assured that they will not be charged,” the source added.

In a recent interview, Rose Nassali, the Chairperson of Principals of Health Training Institutions in Uganda told administrators to stop wasting learners time and always advise parents on the admission requirement.

Nassali noted that young students who want to pursue certificate courses should be advised to wait until when they reach the required age. However, while waiting to come of age, students are advised to enroll in other educational programs given the fact that during enrollment the applicant must have been in school at least 3 years before their application.

Meanwhile, available information indicates that over 20,4430 are eligible for the exams and started writing their first semester examinations on Monday. These students are part of 53,169 learners who have been registered for the June examination series.

Nursing is not the only training field where this problem is being encountered. In other TVET programs such as art and design and mechanical engineering, some learners are able to get certificates before they turn 18 years. Onesmus Oyesigire, the executive director of Uganda Business and Technical Examination Board(UBTEB) in an interview with URN insinuated that the problem was caused by a number of issues.

“Vocational education is being championed as an alternative to secondary school. So when you find parents who appreciate it, you will find that they would rather take their child to vocational school for senior one instead. While this is good, it might create a problem later on when the learners a young. But ideally, this should not be the case. After studying for a certificate, the students are expected to enroll for a diploma and continue. But due to lack of money, some will decide to join the world of work,” he said.

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