UGANDA TEACHERS STRIKE OVER SALARIES

Teachers are expected to mould the young society into a better tomorrow yet they rank low when it comes to their salaries.
It has been noted that in some affluent homes, a housemaid, who looks after less than three children earns more than a teacher here in Uganda and despite Uganda being a role model in education and a preferred destination for students in the region, its teachers are among the worst paid in the region.

In 2009, Kenyan teachers organised a strike, which saw most of the schools close down. The government promised to increase the teachers’ salaries gradually.

Rwanda has put in place measures to motivate teachers, including building teachers’ quarters for respective schools. There have been cases of teachers moving to Rwanda because their counterparts there are paid better and besides teaching in other countries, some teachers have abandoned the profession in search of greener pastures. For instance there are teachers that have left teaching to go and work as security guards in Iraq because they were unable to sustain their families.

Good remuneration checks teacher absenteeism in schools plus the quality of education being delivered. Teacher absenteeism remains a big challenge, especially in the rural areas. The main cause of absenteeism is the urge by teachers to engage in private work and farming during school time.

In many cases the salaries given to the teachers is not enough given the fact that they have a high number of dependants, forcing teachers to run businesses to supplement their income. Another major cause is sickness and the long distances teachers walk to get to their working stations.

You find that teachers will always be kept in the same position given the current economic trends; the teachers will be still faced with high transportation costs, escalating food prices and expensive accommodation. Teachers can hardly invest in things like houses and businesses, which are supposed to improve their standards of living.

Alternatives:
There has always been need to focus on long-term strategies that would ensure teachers have sustainable income, and make them less dependant only on their meager salaries. For instance invest in entrepreneurship projects that can better the lives of these teachers.
Some teachers have skills and can get involved in activities like writing books, making uniforms for the school and planting crops, which they can sell.

There is need to focus on the issues that are making the teachers demand for more pay. Initiatives like investing in accommodation for teachers, given that the teachers are complaining of high transport and rent, need be sought out. Also if opportunity allows, teacher’s lives could be made better by providing bursaries and scholarships for their children in higher education institutions.

When the teachers are within our schools, they are like our children; we have to devise ways of not failing to look after them.
The school’s budget needs to have provisions for caring for these issues,although in many cases it doesnot

.

We would like to hear your feedback our Dear readers.
Hit the comment button now

THE MOST INTERESTING EVENT IN THE HISTORY OF SPRINGS ALIVE CHILDREN’S CENTRE (SPACC)

This has been the most interesting event in the history of Springs Alive children’s centre(SPACC),when the chief Administrator of SPACC visited the “first world” for an exchange visit, this was so great!!

We very much extend our gratitude to the government of United Kingdom, whitkirk Primary school staff, parents and guardians for enabling us come to this great achievement.

It was a great pleasure to see how our dear fellow pupils answered the questions we set for them and we were so challenged to see their answers, given the geography of different countries.
When Mr. Martin returned from the trip, he told us a lot about Europe and what he saw there and is making a lot of effort to see that somethings apply here at SPACC and Uganda at large.
For example the treatment of children, he said, the way he saw pupils being handled there is so different from the way we handle children here in Uganda. There is a lot that has been done to encourage pupils to learn. Sometimes a parent is in class helping supervise some pupils while they are having a lesson. It’s very hard for a teacher to be absent without giving a reason! Children are persuaded to come to school regardless of the challenges. We have promised our partners that we will be sending them online lessons since their classes are connected to the internet.

There very small children are taught to do things themselves like washing uniforms, making their beds, not wetting the bed, children there are taught to become responsible citizens at a very early age. Morals are inbuilt in their curriculum, in otherwords one grows up knowing that corruption is bad, lying is immoral, and there is need for fairness to enable peaceful living. While in Denmark he was taken to various places and the most notable one was where the last witch of Denmark was hacked!

Government’s involvement there have been tremendous toward support to their citizens to learn about what goes on in the world, for instance in Uganda you can hardly find a free internet café, there are very many accidents that are as a result of walking along high ways but in Britain and Europe generally, people don’t walk on highways but have other roads they use.
Parents are well educated to help their children get the necessary support they may require; in addition most parents have an income and ensure that their children get extra help at home or during holidays in order to compensate for the poor quality of education at school. The type of infrastructure that is available for the pupils there enables them to discover things themselves, let alone the child-centred learning. The time he was there he neither saw a home without electricity nor a black-out. Tap water is well treated and a healthy drink! He saw more vehicles on the roads than the people walking but no traffic jam!

Much attention is put on the way mothers and wives are treated, the local governments there know their jobs. The chief administrator has made attempts to approach some local governments while in Europe so that we can borrow a leaf or two while here in Uganda.

We found out that if you have a project you are pursuing with a partner in Europe, it can easily be supported since it is facilitating learning exchange. We have also noted that given the recession, there are many programmes that are now tailored toward giving support locally and not internationally.

We will be conducting sensitization seminars if time and other necessary resources allow in order to educate our communities and most especially Parents and teachers, some of these finding, so that we can adapt them.

See related links to this story(copy and paste the links in new browser,if link fails to open when clicked):

http://bit.ly/ltYaiS
http://on.fb.me/khhmEz

We welcome your feedback by hitting the comment link below this post