INDUSTRIAL ACTION BY HUMANITY TEACHERS CONTINUES

By Sunday Amandi
Arua city

The over 10,000 humanities teachers across the country still continue with their industrial action that started on the June 6, over what they call unequal and unfair salary treatment compared to the science teachers, awaiting for a positive response from the government, and this has majorly left schools in the hands of the science teachers.

The dispute between the Arts teachers and the government traces back in 2022, when the government increased the salary of science teachers by 300% without any corresponding increment for Arts teachers in secondary schools and primary school teachers, and this makes a degree holder in sciences to earn four millions per month compared to the 900,000 Ugandan shillings their counterparts earn monthly.

At Michu secondary school where all the government Arts teachers remained at home expecting a positive response from the government over their demand, their services are being missed by the learners as Arts subjects are not taught.

Taziano Alionzi, the head teacher of the school explained the situation at the school and observed that; his teachers are not exceptional. “This is a National industrial action, my teachers are not exceptional, a good number of them have remained at home waiting for a response from the secretariat, in terms of the Arts, we cannot do much, but for the case of sciences, lessons are ongoing and the students are in class” Taziano said.

The Constitution of Uganda, 1995, makes equal pay compulsory for any kind of work performed by an employee.

According to section 6 of the Employment Act, all workers must receive equal pay for the work they do, regardless of age, gender, or ethnicity.

Topista Akello, the president of Uganda professional humanity teachers union assures that, the current situation will not change unless they receive a positive response from the government.

“They have not yet communicated so we are still also waiting from home, they also need to go on ground and see the impact, what we are doing is a constitutional right and industrial action is also a constitutional right, and what we are demanding is our constitutional right, ”Topista said.

The Ugandan government is planning to increase salaries for arts teachers, but there are conflicting reports about the timing and implementation.

While some sources indicate a potential increase in the next financial year, others suggest that salary enhancements may be delayed due to budgetary constraints.