National Instructor's College Abilonino Struggling with Staffing Gap

The national instructor's college Abilonino is struggling with inadequate staff.

Found in Kole district, the government opened Abilonino College together with 10 other polytechnics in 2001 to address the scarcity of Instructors in the Business, Technical, Vocational and Education Training (BTVET) sub-sector. 

Although the government later closed other polytechnics, the government elevated Abilonino to a National Instructors College in 2014 making it the only government institution of this kind in the entire country.

However, the institution has only 23 out of the 48 required instructors, 36 support staff and 16 non-teaching staff against the required 28. The institute with 520 learners requires 127 employees. 

Julius Abigaba Baguma, the Principal of the college attributed the staffing gap to the lack of a clear management structure, which bares them from conducting recruitment and the promotion of most staff to higher positions without being replaced.

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He also highlighted the problem of inadequate funding, training materials, tools and equipment as other challenges affecting the operation of the college.

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Ford Frey Abaca, the newly installed Governing Council Chairperson believes that the staffing challenges will be addressed and their hope of upgrading the college into a university will be achieved.

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Patrick Apita, a member of the governing council representing the alumni, says that the institution has grown compared to the time when they were there and deserves better structures and instructors.

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In line with skills training responsive to market needs, the college has a number of projects in its backyard. The enterprises that include mushroom growing, dairy, piggery, poultry and horticulture among others are to help students grasp hands-on skills.

Seated on 41 acres of land in Kole district, 40km away from Lira town, Abilonino National Instructors College has been providing pedagogical skills in Technical and Vocational Education Training (TVET) Instructors’ courses for over two decades now.