Probe unearths teachers pay mismatch
A teacher is seen during a class session in Uganda. PHOTO/FILE
What you need to know:
- To be validated, one must present up to 17 documents, including a national Identity Card and originals of academic transcripts.
Officials in the Education Service Commission (ESC) have revealed that they uncovered a number of fraud cases in schools during the ongoing validation of teachers.
The exercise began on Monday last week in Buganda region and intends to weed out imposters in education institutions.
In an interview with Daily Monitor yesterday, the ESC permanent secretary, Dr Asuman Lukwago, said their investigations revealed that some primary school teachers are earning the same salary as secondary school teachers.
“If you are a public servant but earning more than what is in your appointment letter, it is a crime. You are supposed to report yourself to public service and if you keep quiet, it means you are conniving with wrong people to cheat the government,” Dr Lukwago said.
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He said they are compiling a list of the primary teachers and other staff who are earning more than what they are entitled to for further investigations.
He added that if found to be in the wrong, the teachers will be required to refund all the money that was paid to them in error.
The deputy chairperson of ESC, Ms Violet Kajubiri, said they also discovered two teachers, who have not been turning up to their respective schools to teach students but were being paid by the government.
“The two cases were reported at Kalinabiri Secondary School in Ntinda. One of these turned up for verification,” Ms Kajubiri said.
She added that some teachers had payslips without their names, others were found working in a particular school but drawing their salary from a different school while some teachers had payslips bearing posts and salaries different from what appears in their appointment letters.
“[There were] at least two cases [where the] staff [had] payslips without their names printed on them but instead the name of their bank appears in the place of the teacher’s name. These cases were found in tertiary institutions,” Ms Kajubiri said.
She added: “The team also came across cases where some staff are underpaid. An example is a person earning a U7 salary scale instead of the U5 he or she is supposed to earn,” Ms Kajubiri said.
She said the team also reported a case where a teacher in a tertiary institution has not been paid for a year despite being properly appointed.
“Some teachers, especially of science subjects are reported to be teaching for more than 28 hours per week as opposed to the prescribed 24 hours while others were teaching for less time,” Ms Kajubiri said.
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Dr Lukwago said after completing the exercise in Buganda region on March 4, they will compile a report indicating all the anomalies and other key findings they established from the field before proceeding upcountry.
Measures. . .Requirements for validation
To be validated, one must present up to 17 documents, including a national Identity Card and originals of academic transcripts.
Other requirements are copies of the original appointment, posting and confirmation letters as well as all academic documents from Uganda Certificate of Education.
