The Uganda National Teachers’ Union (UNATU) has refuted claims of the planned teachers’ strike in February ahead of schools opening over government’s failure to honor teachers’ request of salary enhancement.
Following a release to the public that there will be no attendence of teachers in schools countrywide effective February 5, 2024, due to government’s failure to increase teachers’ salaries, Filbert Baguma, the General Secretary of UNATU dismissed the claims saying that it is false information, though they are pushing for salary increment for the teachers.
In a public release that went viral on social media over the weekend, it showed that UNATU had asked teachers to stay at home until it makes a pronouncement and parents not to send children to school until the matter was solved. However, Baguma refuted the information saying that the teachers will report to school as earlier planned.
“It is a fake communication although we are following up the matter but that in particular is not right. However, we are pushing for teachers salaries to be increased,” Baguma said.
In June 2023, UNATU threatened not to teach for the entire 2024 if government did not consider salary increment.
‘’We are giving Government a grace period of the forthcoming budgeting cycle for FY2024/2025 to provide funds for the enhancement of salaries for Primary School teachers and those of Arts and Humanities. Failure to do so, there will be no teaching for the entire 2024 School year across all the affected categories of teachers,’’ the statement signed by Baguma revealed.
The government allocated over 300 percent pay increment for science teachers in the budget for the 2022/23 financial year and though the Ugx 95 billion ($25.6 million) allocation did not include arts and humanities teachers.
According to the statement, at the start of the budgeting cycle for FY2023/24, UNATU wrote to the Minister of Public Service reminding him about the enhancement of salaries for Primary School teachers, those of Arts and Humanities in FY 2023/24.
This letter was a critical reminder that proposals to postpone the enhancement of the said categories of teachers to 2026 is very unfair and demotivates them even more.
