The Ministry of Education has revealed plans to review the curriculum for nursing and midwives programmes to make it more flexible.
In an interview with Monitor yesterday, the State Minister for Higher Education, Mr John Chrysostom Muyingo, said they would formulate modules that favour nurses and midwives who are working, but wish to undertake further studies.
Mr Muyingo said those at the diploma level have to study full time (from Monday to Sunday). He said the modules would be reduced to enable them study on Friday, Saturday and Sunday and complete the syllabus at the same time as their counterparts on direct entry.
Fresh Senior Six leavers join nursing and midwifery at a diploma level. However, those who did the same course at a certificate level after Senior Four can use these certificates to upgrade to diploma after two years of working in the same field.
“We are going to come up with programmes that enable them to study as well as continue with their work,” Mr Muyingo said.
Some sources in the Ministry of Education said there are proposals to have the health workers attend online studies.
“They will be required to attend physical lessons on some convenient days, most especially when they are off duty and continue with online lessons while at the workplace,” the source said.
The commissioner for Health Education and Training (HET) at the Ministry of Education, Dr Safinah Museene, said the performance of nurses who are already working is lower than those who join the programme directly from A-Level.
“We understand they are not performing well because of the extra load they have at their workplaces and their family. We shall design their curriculum in such a way that it favours them,” Dr Museene said.
Background
The government in April announced that it would increase salaries of health workers, and a number of health workers rushed to upgrade studies to get a huge pay.
According to the revised salaries, the higher the qualifications, the higher the pay. Currently, a certificate holder gets Shs1.4m, diploma holders Shs2.6m while those with bachelors degrees are paid at least Shs4m.
