I have taught for 31 years without a promotion

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I finished college in 1984 and went for my last teaching practice at Kigezi High School which later on in 1985 ended up being my first job posting. I worked there for a year and was transferred to Kololo High School where I have worked up-to-date as an English language teacher.

Teaching would have been an enjoyable experience but we never got in-service courses. This is training given to employees during their course of employment that helps them learn teaching techniques from experienced teachers or add more to what they already have. We needed empowerment through those courses.

A degree course was later on introduced in Kyambogo University, then Teachers College Institute which would take teachers on further training. I enrolled in 1993. But at that level I did not study English language; instead I pursued psychology and administration, finished in 1995 and resumed working as a graduate teacher at Kololo High School. However, our appointments from government as teachers were not done until 2003. All those years, you work and you are not remunerated for the level you are at.

We only remained to work as class teachers and that is where the problem comes in. The only promotion one could get was a class teacher position. As Kololo was a day school, there were not many departments one could really get to.

As a class teacher, I get negligible facilitation because students no longer pay fees meaning that there is not much money to pay us and as of now I am a class teacher and I am given Shs5,000 a term for it. The pay is so little in comparison to the heavy work you are tasked with like report making, attending to students’ problems and guiding them.

It being a double session school, we did not have many things to do since we would just go for the session you were assigned to teach and it was all. However, we got a lot of time to ourselves, time which we could have used to make better of what we were but some of us realised it too late.

Those who had gone in for a Masters’ programme were not given remuneration according to their level. They were told that if they went for Masters, it was up to them since secondary school did not require a Masters for one to teach so this discouraged many of us from enrolling for the programme.

I am still in the field because when I look at how much time I have put in this service, letting go is hard after so many years. I am getting to 31 years in the teaching field which means I am remaining with only five years to retire, since at 60 years, a teacher is required to retire then you are given your gratuity and pension.

What reason would there be for me to fail to get to the end and get my pension though I will have left a displeased person? That is why I must hold on to the end; otherwise I would have left to do other things.

Also, the fact that it is a civil servant job means it comes with job security. There was a time I was bedridden for three years where doctors diagnosed me with HIV, which I later learnt was passed on to me by late husband.

If it was any other job, I would have been dismissed for wasting a lot of time on my getting well but this profession enabled me to continue earning even when I was bedridden. Such a favour is hard to come by nowadays so I can only be grateful and just overlook the underpayment or promotion issues.

There is also the fact that the school holidays are like a total leave. Although the children are stubborn and some give me headaches, they do keep me active and I never get to realise that I am getting older.

As told to Racheal Irene Nalubega

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