THE TWO OPTIONS THE NRM GOVERNMENT GAVE THE TEACHERS GIVEN THEIR INDUSTRIAL ACTION WERE NOT ONLY UNGODLY, BUT MORALLY WRONG.

 THE TWO OPTIONS THE NRM GOVERNMENT GAVE THE TEACHERS GIVEN THEIR INDUSTRIAL ACTION WERE NOT ONLY UNGODLY BUT MORALLY WRONG.

The meeting that the UNATU leadership and leaders of the teachers attended on Monday, July 4, 2022 does not seem to have been conducted in a parental spirit by the leaders from the Government side. Given the options that the teachers had to choose from, it is clear that Government came with the objective of silencing the teachers, “After all, what can they do?”.

Government maintained their earlier position that they did not have money to meet increased pay for the striking teachers. Yet, the teachers’ representatives stood for “no increased pay, no going back to class”.

In the circumstances, the Government gave the teachers two options: “If the teachers continued with the industrial action, Government was to close the negotiations!” Alternatively, “If they resumed teaching, Government was ready to continue discussions”.

This is sad. The issues are such that Government was ill advised in increasing the salaries for Science teachers by multiplying what they were previously getting by almost factor 5. How could Government justifiably do this and then leave Arts teachers at same salary? What people in Government got wrong was comparing Science teachers to Doctors. True, they all read Science subjects. But today we have technology that can deliver better than some of the teachers more so, those of Sciences. An example is what Cyber School Technology produces, where a student can listen to a recorded lesson and he or she learns well. In the case of a Doctor, many times the Doctor attends to a case by case as they arise, and at times needs further study of cases in order to get the proper diagnosis. 

We are aware that many teachers have good free time, some are able to teach in more than one school and on most occasions what they taught two years ago, is the same they teach now. So, no serious stress.

In the circumstances, Government needed to make a possible increment to both the Arts and Science teachers more so that they are known to be in the same salary scale.

The Government side should have had the concern about the increasing prices of nearly everything in the economy which makes money paid as of 2019 far more valuable with higher purchasing power than a similar amount of money today which may not buy even half the basket of goods and services as in 2019.

Given that situation, Government would at least promise an increase of shs 100,000 to the primary teachers and say shs 300,000 as negotiations go on.

The Government of Uganda is in control of the fiscal and monetary policies that are partly responsible for the high cost of goods and services. Reducing some tax rates like VAT, among others can improve the purchasing power of what is paid to Government workers.

Government workers would be better paid in Uganda if politics did not play a big role in increasing the bill which Government of Uganda spends in that direction. It is also possible reviewing the budget and identify funding areas that can be put on hold until the climate improves.

Given the resolution of Government to have negotiations on - going with no increased pay, secondary schools with PTA Funds may have one option: To increase what they pay to Art teachers, yet get Science teachers off the list of beneficiaries. 

Given the harmony among teachers which some of us saw during our secondary school time, increasing pay for Science teachers alone is simply one of the NRM bad policies of our time.

The increasing prices of nearly everything are going to induce increased suicide as people get to resign with life. At the same time, accidents are going to increase as people move in a lot of unsettled minds. Lastly, with no morale teachers who were for the industrial action are not going to deliver as would be expected.

https://youtu.be/wLQ49MR1qQg

https://fb.watch/e3IiibxXq8/