Uganda - Obtain a Licence to Operate a Private Secondary School

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Procedure

1. Private secondary school permit can be obtained from Ministry of Education and sports as required by Education statute Act 2008.
2. The intending proprietor should collect forms for licensing a private Secondary school from MoES HQ/district/Municipal Education Office and fills them in triplicate following requirements as listed below.
   • An identifiable proprietor; he/she must be a person/organization of good reputation, no criminal record and with the necessary funds to manage the type of institution proposed to be established.
   • An intending proprietor has to get recommendation letters from LCI, LCIII and opinion/religious leader.
   • The planned school/institution must conform to the District/Municipal Education Plan and must be in line with the revised Education Sector Strategic Plan.
   • Written proof of ownership or lease of land on which the school/institution is to be situated or tenancy agreement that is valid for at least (5) five years for a secondary school and 8 years for a primary school (in case of hired buildings)
   • Which must have been designed and constructed for purposes of a school.
   • There must be enough land for expansion, playgrounds, school garden and physical education (urban schools may be considered as special cases).
   • There must be a development plan particularly for the licence period, and proof that 10% of the development plan funds are available.
3. With these in place, the intending proprietor writes to the Permanent Secretary (PS/ES), MoES, explaining his intensions and requesting for guidance.
4. Fill up the application form as prescribed by the Ministry of Education and sports and must be approved by the District Education Officer (DEO)
5. The proprietor seeks inspection of the school/institution by DIS/MIS and D/MHI to assess compliance with the requirements stipulated in Section 31 of the Education – (Pre-Primary, Primary and Post-Primary) Act 2008.
6. The District/Municipal Inspectors of Schools (D/MIS) and District/Municipal Health inspectors (D/MHI) after inspection write detailed inspection reports, and endorse the application forms and forwards to DEO/MEO to endorse application form as well.
7. The District/Municipal Education Officer forwards (3) three copies of the application forms and the relevant supporting documents on (3) three files to the PS/ES (in case of post primary) and CAO/Town Clerk (in case of Primary).
8. The PS/ES (in case of post primary), CAO/Town Clerk (in case of primary), basing on the reports or recommendations from the district or a report following a physical inspection by the inspectors, approves or rejects the application for licensing.
9. The PS/ES/CAO/Town Clerk upon approval awards an operational licence to the school/institution to last for (2) two school years as stipulated in Section 32 of the Education – (Pre - Primary, Primary and Post - Primary) Act 2008, and copies of the licence are also sent to the Director for Directorate of Education Standards, District/Municipal Education Officer, and District /Municipal Inspector of Schools.
10. MoES/DEO/MEO retains one file; the second file is for the DEO (in case of post primary) and the third file is for the school. The proprietor ensures that the school is given a copy.
11. Six months to the expiry of the two - year licence, the proprietor collects from the MoES (Headquarter), District/Municipal Education Offices a form for Registration.
12. In case the school does not qualify for registration, the proprietor must apply for renewal of license within one month of expiry of the license and it is granted once. License renewal is for one year only. If at the end of the year of renewal the proprietor is not ready to register the school, it will be closed summarily by PS/ES.
13. All new schools/institutions should start at the beginning of the academic year as set out in the schools/institutions calendar issued from time to time by the Ministry of Education and Sports. Applications for licensing schools, such as Pre – Primary, Primary and Secondary schools, should therefore be submitted to the PS/ES /CAO/Town Clerk starting from June. Licenses will be issued by the 30th December so that schools can start in January or February of the preceding year.
14. The proprietor must provide copies of the occupancy permit for the school structures.

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Required Documents

The proprietor with intention to operate a Secondary School must have the following:

1. A copy of document showing a trained and qualified Graduate Head teacher registered with the Ministry of Education and Sports and with not less than 5 years of continuous teaching.
2. A copy of document showing that all teachers are registered and / or licensed with Ministry of Education and Sports.
3. Proof document indicate a minimum of 7 teachers working full time, and 3 of which must be science and mathematics teachers in case of post primary.
4. Proof of at least one staff house on, or near the compound.
5. Proof of at least 10 acres of land (urban areas will be given special consideration) but classroom size (floor area) should not be below 5.8 m by 7.8 m (51.04 m 2) Or 5.8 m by 7.8 m (45.24 m2).
6. A copy of document showing minimum enrolment of 45 students per class per teacher, excluding international schools and not more than 60 per class.
7. Proof of a general science room /laboratory.
8. Proof document of a library established at school.
9. Proof of Toilet facilities (squatting/Asian type preferred) for 40 students and sanitary facilities (washing and changing) for girl child.
10. Proof of Proper security arrangement (in accordance with the Basic Requirements and Minimum Standards stipulated in the safety and health guidelines by the Ministry of Education and Sports).
    • Inspector General of Police guidelines.
11. A copy of Document showing First Aid kits.
12. Proof of Operational school Board of Governors.

Additional Required documents:
The proprietors must attach the following documents to the application forms for licensing:-

1. Photographs showing the general school plant; such as
   • Classrooms with furniture
   • A four classroom block
   • Laboratory/science room with basic equipment for post primary schools/institutions
   • Separate toilets/pit latrines for male and female students
   • Administration block, etc.
   • The school sign post must be visible in at least one of the photographs.
2. Either a land Title or Sales agreement(s)
3. In case of rented premises, provide the tenants Agreements, and the period should not be less than 4 years
4. Building plan technically drawn and clearly indicating school name and building specifications.
5. Location plan clearly showing site
6. Partnership Deeds and Articles of Association in case of partnerships.
7. Authentic certified copies of teacher’s academic and professional documents
8. Proprietor’s CV’s and recent photograph(s)
9. Head teacher’s CV’s and recent photograph
10. Bank Statement as proof and liquidity of the school (sufficient to pay staff for 3 months)
11. Copy of the document showing terms and conditions of service for the different categories of staff to be employed in the school.
12. School rules/Code of conduct approved by the BOG’s and/or Management Committee
13. Detailed District School Inspector’s Report
14. Detailed District Health Inspector’s Report
15. 3 Referees: LC.1 chairperson, LC 1 secretary for Education and a local religious/opinion leader
16. L.C III Chairperson’s letter confirming that the school is within the sub-county plan
17. Evidence of existence of facilities for co-curricular activities: playground
18. Signed Appointment letters and acceptance letters (contracts) lasting at least one year with all teaching and non-teaching staff.

All the above applied to a request for licensing of a school.

Office Locations & Contacts

Ministry of Education & Sports - Head Office,
Physical Address:Legacy Towers, Nakasero
Kyadondo Road
Block A And B
Postal address:P. O. BOX 7063 Kampala,
Uganda King George VI Way,
Embassy House,
Uganda
Tel: 0417 893 600 (General)
Tel: 0417 893 615 (P.R.O)
Email: [email protected]
Website:Link

Eligibility

• Any person,who wants to set up a secondary school,can apply.
• The person or chairman of the school should be aware of the fact that the schools registered independently must operate in terms of the constraints set by the Constitution and National as well as District legislation.

Fees

Please approach the department office for any other fees details BUT license and registration of schools is free of charge.

Validity

Valid for 2 years.

Documents to Use

• Guidelines for establishing,licensing,registering and classification of private schools/institutions in Uganda

Sample Documents

Please attach sample completed documents that would help other people.

Processing Time

Maximum Processing Time: 6 Weeks.

Related Videos

Videos explaining the procedure or to fill the applications. 
Attach videos using the following tag <&video type='website'>video ID|width|height<&/video&> from external websites. 	
Please remove the '&' inside the tags during implementation.
Website = allocine, blip, dailymotion, facebook, gametrailers, googlevideo, html5, metacafe, myspace, revver, 
sevenload, viddler, vimeo, youku, youtube
width = 560, height = 340, Video ID = Can be obtained from the URL of webpage where the video is displayed.
e.g In the following url 'http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y0US7oR_t3M' Video ID is 'Y0US7oR_t3M'.

Instructions

• Any school that is established must ensure that there will be no discriminations of students on any grounds in offering admissions or in providing quality education after admission.
• The school should provide the students a space to grow as well as be sure about making its students eligible in the social, academic and employment environment.
• Where a school has more than one site under one name, each site shall have at all times a responsible person in charge of it.

Required Information

• Particulars of the applicant
• Particulars of the school
• Capital costs
• Business information
• Particulars of staff composition

Need for the Document

• It is mandatory that the Government should be informed and requested to authorize any new establishment of an Education environment. This should be done in a prescribed format as specified by the Municipal/District Educational Department.

Information which might help

The following actions are taken by the Director for Basic and Secondary Education:-

1. Section 31:Ensures that the requirements for establishing a Private school/institution are fulfilled.
2. Section 32:Gives permission (licence) to operate a Private school/institution.
3. Section 33:Awards classification to different categories of Private schools/institutions.
4. Section 34:Registers Private schools/institutions.
5. Section 35:Keeps a register of all registered and classified Private Schools/institutions.
6. Section 36:Cancels classification and registration of any Private school/institution already registered by the Ministry of Education and Sports and ordering closure of such a school which:
   • No longer fulfils the requirements of Section 31 of the Act;
   • Is being conducted or managed in contravention of the Act;
   • Ceases to function as a school/institution;
   • Whose owner has failed to comply with requirement of a notice served upon him/her under the provisions of Section 45 of the Act.
7. Section 37:Closes any school/institution whose ownership has been changed without prior approval of the Director of Education.The owner of such a school/institution commits an offence and is liable to a fine on conviction.
8. Section 38:Rejects or approves any proposed extension to an existing registered school/institution (on grounds that the school/institution extension in question cannot properly be administered as part of the existing registered school/institution)and require the owner to apply for the registration and classification of the proposed extension as a new school/institution.
9. Section 39:An Appeals Tribunal, established by the Minister, reviews cases for school/institution owners aggrieved by a decision taken by the Director of Education.
10. Section 40:Takes to court for conviction any person who:
    • Illegally establishes or maintains a school/institution (i.e. which is not licensed/classified and registered in accordance with the Act);
    • Conducts or permits to be conducted any school/institution which has been ordered to close
    • Conducts or permits to be conducted any school/institution, the Classification and registration of which has been cancelled;
    • Administers or permits to be administered any extension as part of an existing registered school/institution in contravention of Section 38 of the Act.
11. Section 41:Permits a Private school/institution which has been closed under Section 36 or 37of the Act to be reopened and entered again in the register.

Other uses of the Document/Certificate

Please explain what are other uses of obtaining this document/certificate.
e.g. Birth Certificate can be used as proof of identity.

External Links

• External Link

Others

More information which might help people.