Interrelaciones de los actores en los conflictos nacionales

was evident that a policy was being developed, that management training had already began for headteachers and Education

Officers/Inspectors, and that this was part of the outcome of the implementation of the radical changes that were being made

following recommendations by the EPRC.

The final section of this chapter outlines the observations made in the Case Study and proposes that these should be

incorporated in a new model for understanding the development of structured management training in a civil service

organisation. The model needs to stress the need for the interpretation of a trigger for change in management terms, the importance of the presence of facilitating factors e.g., in this case, the UNESCO Projects, a conducive micro and macro social, political and economic environment.

9 . 1 THE CHANGING DEVELOPMENT STRATEGIES IN THE UGANDA MINISTRY OF EDUCATION

The Ugandan Ministry of Education, which employs nearly 15,000 teachers, is responsible for the development and

implementation of educational policy. It is also responsible for ensuring the quality of education.

Until the 1987-88 Education Policy Review, the policies of the Uganda Ministry of Education did not change very radically, although the ministry's development strategies shifted from a focus on boosting Africanisation and expansion of secondary education, with a view to producing the high level manpower

needed for economic growth (at the time of independence) in 1962 to rehabilitation and recovery after 1979.

In practice, while the great expansion took place, the planned changes and improvements did not occur, mainly because of the establishment of Idi Amin's military regime (1971-1979), and the subsequent destruction of the economic and other

infrastructures:

"Civil strife coupled with neglect of educational

institutions on the one hand, and the massive expansion of secondary schools, on the other, did not provide the environment to ponder over the kind of education system Uganda should have by the year 2000 and beyond" (EPRC Draft Report 1988 Ch.3, p.7).

Since the overthrow of Idi Amin, in 1979, there has been a policy of rehabilitation and development of the war-ravaged educational system, underlined by the replacement of The Third Five Year Development Plan by an Action Programme, which put emphasis on a crash programme of manpower development,

especially following the manpower shortages which were now a major problem. The situation was aggravated by the 'brain drain', due to the increasing repression of indigenous Ugandans. The 1982 Recovery Programme focused on the

rehabilitation of infrastructures, and, in education, it gave impetus to the opening of hundreds of secondary and technical schools, colleges of commerce and of teacher training.

9.2 MOUNTING CRITICISM DURING THE LATE 70's AND THROUGHOUT THE 80s AND ATTEMPTS TO FIND PROFESSIONAL SOLUTIONS

But the expansion of schools and colleges, however desirable, was not, in itself, to solve the problems related to

education. Rather, the management of an expanded school system without the necessary qualified manpower and the financial resources to facilitate the management of these institutions, and the lack of a well-organised and well-managed supervisory and advisory service only exacerbated the crisis.

This highlights how good plans do not, in themselves, result in improvements, unless there is the combination of total commitment to the process of achieving them, and unless there are available resources, and a conducive macro political and

social economic environment. In other words, the desired

improvements cannot occur unless conditions exist that enable the change process to actually take place.

The late ’70s and the '80s saw mounting public criticism of the product of education, seen as ill-suited, given the

Ugandan political and social economic context. This acted as a strong trigger for change, but did notT result in radical

changes in the organisation and management of education. Nor did the criticism lead to visible efforts to provide

systematic management training for managers in education at ministry, district, or school level.

But It would not be true to say that the absence of a

structured management training programme during this period is, indeed, evidence that a radical change process was not underway or that, if it was, it was not being managed

properly. Findings from the interviews indicate that change was taking place, and that this, indeed, was in response to public criticism which was acting as a trigger for change. It was suggested, however, that this was interpreted as a problem that needed professional solutions, and that, in fact, such solutions were applied, by way of experiments, mainly related to the curriculum, examinations, teacher education and

grading, and provision of opportunities for specialisation and for professional improvement of all non-graduate teachers.

Public pressure for improved service and product had, thus, resulted in the commitment by top management in the Ministry to improvement of the quality of education through the

creation of new types of teacher training colleges to handle the training of already qualified teachers. Special teacher improvement schemes were started, and even a new cadre of teacher tutors was introduced to cater for the move towards improving the quality of teaching.

9 . 3 FAILURE OF THE EARLY STRATEGIES TO PROVIDE