Schools paralysed as teachers strike starts

Nationwide

The first school day for this year’s third term yesterday was characterised by padlocks on classroom doors and general inactivity as teachers and learners spent hours doing nothing.

Most schools, majority implementing the government’s universal education, while showing a façade of normalcy in the morning, did not have business as usual as the day progressed; students sat in half-empty classrooms while many others were sent home by frustrated head teachers.

A Senior Three student at Gulu Senior School told the Daily Monitor there were no classes at her school as teachers were “in the staffroom discussing their own things”. Teachers stared down the government when they largely appeared to go through with their intentions to down their tools over failure of the government to increase their pay by 20 per cent.

A survey by the Daily Monitor showed that though several pupils had turned up at Buganda Road, Nakasero, Kitante and East Kololo primary schools in Kampala, there were no teachers to teach them. At East Kololo Primary School, Mr Stanley Mvuyekune, the head teacher, said most of his staff had not turned up for work and his efforts to convince the few who had come to conduct classes were futile.

By noon, he had started calling parents to pick their children. “There was low turn up of both pupils and teachers. Teachers who came are not attending to pupils. I have had a meeting with them but they insist that they are not going to resume work until government meets 20 per cent salary increment,” Mr Mvuyekune said. Asked whether pupils will come to school today, he said: “It is very tricky tomorrow (today) since I am optimistic that the union will strike a balance with government.”

Students return home
Some parents at Nakasero Primary had by 10am started picking their children as there were no signs of studying.
There was no teacher supervising pupils at Gulu Public Primary School. Gulu Resident District Commissioner James Kidega said the district has dispatched a team of 100 officials to speak to the teachers. “We have taken the concerns of the teachers in good faith, but we want to work as a team to achieve what they need,” he said. Lira Chief Administrative Officer Benon Rwanghua warned teachers who failed to report to school that they would face disciplinary action.

West Nile joins the strike
At Moyo Boys Primary School, Mr Remijo Drameri, the headmaster, said his teachers had joined the strike. This was not any different at Awindiri and Arua Public primary schools. Their colleagues in Nebbi, Yumbe, Koboko, Adjumani districts followed suit. However, business was normal at some government-aided secondary schools. At Kibuli Secondary School, the student turn-up was normal.

The administrators, who preferred anonymity to speak freely said much as they also want a salary increment, they could not betray parents who pay about Shs800, 000 per child. Here, on top of government paying teachers’ salaries, the school pays each teacher Shs500, 000 under the Parents Teachers’ Association (PTA).

Ms Margaret Rwabushaija, the Uganda National Teachers Union chairperson, yesterday said many of its members had joined the strike across the country and appealed to teachers to stay home until government fulfilled its promise.
“The only tool we have is chalk. We love Uganda, our profession and learners. But we feel we have been pushed to the all. We also have children to take to school. Teachers are dying because they cant pay medical bill,” Ms Rwabushaija said.

Mr Henry Nickson Ogwal, the acting director Action Aid Uganda, said the country’s future was at stake with government insisting there is no money to pay teachers. The Education minister, Ms Jessica Alupo, was by press time locked up in an NRM caucus meeting with President Museveni. According to Mr Patrick Muinda, the ministry of Education spokesperson, the government was expected to make a statement at the end of the meeting concerning the teachers’ pay.

FDC hits at government
Meanwhile, the Forum for Democratic Change (FDC) yesterday warned that the government’s failure to implement the 20 per cent salary increment it agreed with teachers last year will undermine confidence in democratic governance and institutions in the country.

FDC spokesperson Wafula Oguttu told journalists at the party’s headquarters in Najjanakumbi that the government could have slashed budgetary allocations to State House, districts, government agencies and devised mechanisms to plug the escalating swindling of taxpayers’ cash by public officials in a bid to raise money for teachers.

“It is despicable and unacceptable for the government to renege on its contractual obligations with its employees and this will definitely affect output and undermine the confidence of Ugandans in the institution of government,” Mr Oguttu said.

Teachers’ leaders refuse to meet Museveni
It emerged last evening that teachers refused to meet President Museveni after they were instructed to select only four members for the meeting. Mr James Tweheyo, the Uganda National Teachers’ Union general secretary, told the Daily Monitor that the permanent secretary in the Ministry of Education, Ms Nassali Lukwago, had insisted on a representation of four members yet their executive has 139 members.

Mr Tweheyo said the four identified had been part of the team the President had instituted to find the money from the budget but added that they would not be representative. “Our team got a verbal invitation from the permanent secretary. We haven’t gone because they wanted a smaller team. It’s healthier to meet him when we are a team than when we are a small group to avoid unnecessary suspicion,” Mr Tweheyo said. He added: “We prefer that all the139 Unatu district chairpersons are involved the negotiations.”

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