President Yoweri Museveni Kaguta. PPU PHOTO.
Kitgum – The Church of Uganda has reiterated its calls to the government to reverse its decision on closing Canon Lawrence Primary Teacher College in Boroboro Lira district.
In 2021, the Ministry of Education and Sport announced plans to phase out at least 23 Primary Teachers College across the country as part of the strategy to phase out Grade III and Grade and Grade V teaching qualification in favor of a bachelor’s degree in Education.
Among those to be closed is the Canon Lawrence Primary Teachers College in Borobora Lira district where St. Janani Jakaliya Luwum, the former Archbishop of the Church of Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, and Boga-Zaire (Eastern Congo) studied.
The Most Rev. Stephen Samuel Kazimba Mugalu, the bishop of the church of Uganda says the intended closing of the college will have a negative impact as far as the legacy of St. Janani Luwum is concerned is the school where the late Luwum studied his teaching profession from.
“Instead of closing the college, the government should find a way of maintaining and uplifting it to international standard as one of the iconic teaching institutions not only in Northern Uganda but in the entire Uganda”. He says
Canon Lawrence Primary Teachers College –PTC was founded in 1926 in Northern by the church missionary, the college has since trained many people among St. Janani Luwum, the former Archbishop of the Church of Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, and Boga-Zaire who was brutally murdered in the order the late President Idi Amin Dada in 1977.
Last year (2022), the Greater Northern Anglican Bishops Fellowship led by Bishop Prof Alfred Olwa, the Team Leader of the fellowship who doubles as the Bishop of the diocese of Lango urged the government to reconsider the decision and retain the Primary Teachers College since it is extremely important for the future of the children and the nation.
The fellowship believes that Canon Lawrence is an icon of international recognition and it shouldn’t be closed.
In response as the guest of honor during the St. Janani Luwum day at Wii-gweng in Mucwini Sub-county Kitgum district, President Yoweri Museveni Kaguta concurs with the church of Uganda that Canon Lawrence PTC should be an iconic college in Uganda.
However, he says he has to sit down with the ministry of education and Sport to find a way of reversing the decision to close the college. In November 2022, Thomas Tayebwa, the Deputy Speaker of Parliament tasked the education committee to probe the closure of PTC after several MPs warned that if the move of the closure of some of these PTCs is upheld, it would impact the quality of primary Education in Uganda.
