No money for private teachers - government

The Ministry of Education on Wednesday said there is no money to pay salaries of teachers from private schools following pleas from their employers.
According to Dr Chrysostom Muyingo, the State Minister for Higher Education, if there was money, the offer would be extended to several other workers who have been laid off in the hotel and tourism industry.
“I would love it, but is it possible. Our budget had a lot of problems. It has focused on the Covid-19 fight, locusts. I look at these teachers who should be helped and feel the pain. But there are other workers who were laid off. If money was available, they would be supported. But you know how small our resource envelope is. It is not manageable,” Dr Muyingo said.

He was responding to questions from the press during the release of the 2019 Uganda Business and Technical Examinations Board results in Ntinda, Kampala.
Private school owners under their umbrella, the National Private Education Institutions Association (NPEIA), on Monday told Parliament’s committee on economy that they would like government to pay salaries for about 360,000 teachers employed in their institutions for at least a year because institutions are closed and not able to generate income.

“We pray that government pays teachers’ salaries for a year,” Mr Hasadu Kirabira, the NPEIA officer in charge of research, submitted before the committee chaired by Ms Syda Bbumba.
Dr Muyingo said Mr Kirabira’s prayer would not be answered now unless a donor comes in handy to support this budget. According to Mr Kirabira, they pay an average of Shs400, 000 a month to their teachers.

The teachers have not received payment since March after President Museveni abruptly sent all learners home to control coronavirus transmission.
Some sources close to the ministry’s planning committee told Daily Monitor yesterday on condition of anonymity that guidelines for reopening would be out next week. However, the planners and their political leaders are skeptical on whether schools should open with the rising Covid-19 cases. There are 732 reported coronavirus cases with 420 recoveries.