Museveni tells teachers to stop pressuring him over salaries

President Museveni yesterday warned teachers against pressuring him over salary increment for the Arts teachers.
Speaking at the deferred Teachers Day celebration in Kololo, Kampala yesterday, Mr Museveni said money is allocated based on priorities of the government.
“When it comes to expenditure, we must prioritise our spending. So when you come up with useless demands saying we want this tomorrow, then you are the enemy of progress,” the President said.

He added: “I want to tell teachers that money is not obtained from witchcraft. Money is obtained from hard work and sweat. They should stop this indiscipline of putting me under pressure. We shall not agree to anybody making us make a mistake … I will not allow unrealistic threats from you. You cannot say we want our money tomorrow. What if we do not have it? You should be polite and desist from coming here to give me long lectures.” 
Mr Museveni said whereas he acknowledges the importance of all teachers, he started with scientists because of their importance in the development of the country.
The President was reacting to demands made by the Secretary General of the Uganda National Teachers Union (Unatu), Mr Filbert Baguma.

Mr Baguma asked Mr Museveni to effect the increment of salaries of Arts teachers in primary and secondary schools across the country in the 2022/2023 Financial Year.
 “Whereas we support the grand plan government has for scientists, this does not take away the fact that a 300 percent increment for some people and zero increment for the other is unfair,” Mr Baguma said.
Mr Baguma said there is disunity between the Science and Arts teachers of the same schools and this has affected teamwork which is required in the delivery of education.
He urged the government to conduct a survey on how disparities in salary increment has impacted teachers’ performance in schools.

Shs20b pledge
Mr Baguma also reminded Mr Museveni of the Shs20 billion Covid-19 relief pledge he made to teachers in private schools across the country in 2020, saying they have not yet received the money.
He asked the President to intervene in the matter.
He also asked President Museveni to compel the government to come up with a minimum salary structure for teachers in private schools to curb their exploitation. 
The Unatu leader further urged the government to subsidise tuition or come up with study loans to enable teachers upgrade to degrees to meet the requirements as stipulated in the Teachers Policy.

A total of 180,000 teachers across the country do not have bachelor’s degree.
The Minister of Education, Ms Janet Museveni, said the government has given teachers without bachelor’s degrees, 10 years to upgrade and asked the teachers to embrace the move.
 Teachers day was slated to be celebrated on October 5 but it was deferred to yesterday by the government.