Government cheated us on salary raise - teachers

The teachers say instead of the 15 per cent salary raise they were promised, some only got six and eight per cent raise.

Kampala

Teachers under their umbrella organisation, Uganda National Teachers Union (Unatu), have criticised the government for failing to pay allowances to science teachers.

Speaking in a phone interview last week, Mr James Tweheyo, the Unatu executive secretary, said the government had also failed to honour its promise to increase teachers’ salaries by 15 per cent, pay a 30 per cent allowance to science teachers and those in hard-to-reach areas.

He noted that instead, the government has continued to delete teachers’ names from the payroll.
“The government has treated us on a salary hoax. They talked of a payee threshold from Shs130,000 to Shs235,000 in the budget but none has been implemented,” Mr Tweheyo said, noting that some teachers have received six per cent while others got an eight per cent raise. About 86, 000 teachers subscribe to Unatu.

Mr Jonas Tumwine, the Public Service spokesperson, however, said they had written to the Education ministry requesting for details of science teachers but they were submitted late with irregularities. He said the allowances would be rectified with the eight months’ arrears by the end of this month.

pahimbisibwe@ug.nationmdia.com