Ministry sets age limit for health courses

MOES | AGE LIMIT | HEALTH

For decades, nursing schools have been an option for senior four-leavers who never wanted or failed to take an A’level.

On average, senior four leavers are aged between 16 and 17 years, and they would enroll in certificate programs at nursing and midwifery schools. However, the education ministry has announced that only students aged 18 years and above should enroll in health programs.

According to the ministry, any student below 18 years of age who has been admitted, should go back home and return when they come of age. The development was communicated by Dr. John Chrysostom Muyingo, the state minister for higher education, while presiding over the release of the June 2022 examination results for nurses and midwives at the Office of the Prime Minister Conference Centre.

Muyingo explained that the policy requires that only adults be enrolled in health programs. “I want to ask our nursing and midwifery schools to ensure that only students aged 18 years and above are enrolled,” he said.

Dr. Safina Museene, the commissioner of health education and training at the ministry, explained that health programs are for adults and require a certain age to make decisions.

“Health programs are about preparing you to handle a patient. We believe certain decisions can only be taken by adults. Imagine if these young people saw blood from a patient. It would traumatize them. "Things such as this can only be handled by adults,” she said.

Museene noted that those who are currently enrolled, should get back home and return when they are the right age.

She explained that health training institutions are aware of this rule, but they continue to enroll underage students against government orders.

Big enrolment 

A total of 53,683 candidates from 113 accredited nursing and midwifery training institutions registered for the June 2022 examinations administered by the Uganda Nurses and Midwives Examinations Board (UNMEB).

Of these, 49,227 were continuing students, whereas 4,456 were final semester candidates. Many of these (28,349) were enrolling for a certificate in nursing, followed by a certificate in midwifery with 15,292 candidates.

The other programs with the biggest number of candidates include Certificate in Comprehensive Nursing with 3,452 candidates, Diploma in Nursing Extension with 2,436 candidates, and Diploma in Midwifery Extension with 1,441 candidates.

Statistics shared by UNMEB indicate that a total of 43,851 of the 49,227 continuing candidates passed their examinations. This represents an 89.1% pass rate.

5,051 candidates were ungraded, and 325 others did not turn up for examinations. UNMED says results for those who passed have since been shared with the respective training institutions.

Out of the 4,456 final semester candidates, 2,233 (50.1%) were diploma candidates and 2,223 others pursued certificate programs. 2,141 passed in the diploma category.

There were 85 ungraded diploma candidates and seven who were absent. Helen Mukakarisa Kataratambi, the UNMEB executive secretary, attributed the good performance of diploma candidates to spending more time on practicals and the recent recruitment of more tutors.

This improved the tutor-student ratio, where students had more time with lecturers. She said a majority of the ungraded students were privately sponsored and would sometimes report late to school due to difficulty raising tuition on time.

Ministry commitments

Ketty Lamaro, the ministry's permanent secretary, assured us that the government is committed to supporting the sector's growth. She said the ministry would deliver subvention grants for examinations on time for the schools to execute their mandate.