900 Uneb invigilators threaten to strike over pay

S4 candidates write their exams at the start of Uneb papers recently. File photo

What you need to know:

The warning. The invigilators say they will stop supervising exams if Uneb fails to pay them by the end of this week

Kampala:
Teachers invigilating Senior Four examinations across the country have threatened to boycott supervising the remaining papers unless Uganda National Examinations Board pays them.

Mr Evans Otigo, Fort Portal Uneb area supervisor confirmed the threats yesterday but said he was persuading the teachers to be patient, promising to pay by end of this week.

A chief invigilator is paid Shs18,500 while an invigilator is paid Shs16,500 per day respectively. Uneb contracted 970 scouts to oversee UCE while 400 will monitor the conduct of exams at A’Level.

“It is a countrywide problem but I know Uneb is looking for the money. We will keep talking to teachers to be patriotic because their boycott will disrupt the exams,” Mr Otigo said in an interview.

But a teacher who preferred anonymity to speak freely told Daily Monitor most teachers were using their money to transport themselves to exam centres and warned that if they are not paid by end of this week, they would stop the invigilation. “They normally pay us per week and we are now in the second week. We are continuing to work until end of this week and we will meet as invigilators. We can’t continue to work without pay,” the source said.

However, Mr Hamis Kaheru, Uneb spokesperson yesterday said 80 per cent of the invigilators’ pay had been sent to area supervisors’ accounts on Wednesday.

“Money was sent on the accounts of area supervisors and those in Stanbic Bank should be able to access the money today (yesterday) while other banks might take 24hours,” he said.

While briefing journalists at the beginning of the exams, Mr Mathew Bukenya, Uneb executive secretary, said they didn’t have all the funds needed to run them through this period but was optimistic the government would provide it in due course.

Uneb’s total budget is Shs54b but is currently short of Shs6b.
“The bulk of our funds should be released at this time because we need the money now.

This is when we are printing, briefing staff and sending them to the field. We need to accommodate and feed the examiners and pay invigilators. I don’t have the money now but I know we will get it. We have started getting little,” Mr Bukenya said.

“If I fail to get it, we shall come to you and fundraise. There was the same problem last year. We don’t want to go through it again. Otherwise, we will stop like last time.”

Tit bits
S4 candidates. A total of 310,210 candidates are sitting this year’s S4 exams from 3,020 examination centres.
S6 candidates. At least 108,359 Senior Six students from 1,803 centres are expected to start doing their papers starting on November 10.

Last papers. S4 candidates will do their last exam on November 18 while S6 will do their last paper on December 2.