The Ministry of Education has vowed to punish teachers who never turned up for the five-week English proficiency training.

According to the Executive Secretary of the Teacher Service Commission, Emmanuel Muvunyi, the teachers who missed the training are in three categories.

"There are those who were attending the ICT training, those who were in the national examination marking exercise and those who deliberately refused to attend,” said Muvunyi adding that those who evaded the training will have to answer because the government cannot afford to spend money on people who are not serious.

The training which was supposed to be attended by over 50,000 teachers countrywide, concluded on December 24 with about 96 percent reported to have attended.

It aims at equipping teachers with skills in the English language following the resolution by cabinet in 2008 to adopt it as the language of instruction in schools.

"We know them, and we are going to take appropriate measures because the government invested money in improving their skills which would in turn help them offer better services.”

Muvunyi also explained that those who missed with justifiable reasons would get their training during the first term holiday and thereafter, an evaluation exam on the impact of the training will be carried out.

The State Minister for Primary and Secondary Education Dr. Mathias Harebamungu, while commissioning the training late last month had said that teachers who evade the training would be expelled from the profession for undermining government policy.

The main objective of English as a medium of instruction, according to government, is to ensure that the country produces a labour force that is competitive not only within the region, but also beyond.

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