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Tutors aggrieved about pay vow to down tools
Some of the tutors display placards expressing their concern and calling on the government to intervene. This was during a press conference held at the Uganda Professional Science Teachers Union offices in Kampala on Thursday. Photo | JANE NAFULA
What you need to know:
- Mr Tabu said he has not been able to check on his families in Karamoja and Arua, also failed to return three of his dependents to school yet they were expected to join Senior Five this term. He said he has bank loans to clear.
More than 400 science tutors from various Primary Teachers’ Colleges (PTCs) have resolved to lay down their tools if the Public Service ministry does not reinstate them on the approved science salary scale.
The Uganda Professional Science Teachers’ Union (UPSTU) on March 14 revealed that 450 tutors were struck off the science payroll in September 2023. The tutors had previously been included on the new salary scale for scientists that the government approved in 2022.
“This is to notify you that if the matter is not resolved, science tutors will lay down their tools effective April 3, 2024,” UPSTU’s Aron Mugaiga said, adding that the removal of tutors from the approved pay scale was done without formal communication and contradicts the presidential directive on salary enhancement.
After weeks of strikes spearheaded by a section of science teachers over pay, President Museveni ordered a pay enhancement for all scientists. This included science teachers and tutors, with the President reasoning that the aforesaid play a pivotal role in the country’s socio-economic transformation.
Since then, a section of officials from the Public Service ministry reportedly demanded some kind of clarification as to whether some professionals—such as science tutors—should be categorised as scientists. Mr Mugaiga, however, revealed this past week that the Education and Sports ministry gave the greenlight to classify science tutors as scientists. He also revealed that the vast bulk of affected tutors are from Mityana, Ibanda, Hoima City and Bushenyi Municipal Council.
“I’m a diploma holder, my gross salary is Shs2.2m and when it is taxed, it comes to about Shs1.6m. In the last six months, I have been getting between Shs800,000 and Shs850,000,” Mr Godfrey Tabu, a science tutor from Bulera Core PTC in Hoima City, said, adding: “The money has been chopped and it is never stable. I have a colleague, who is a degree holder, who said he earned Shs750,000 yet according to the new scale, they are supposed to earn a gross salary of Shs4.3m.”
Mr Tabu said he has not been able to check on his families in Karamoja and Arua, also failed to return three of his dependents to school yet they were expected to join Senior Five this term. He said he has bank loans to clear.
Mr Mabonga Geoffrey, a mathematics tutor at Busuubizi Core PTC (Primary Teachers Colleges) in Mityana District, told Saturday Monitor thus: “I have spent eight months without earning as a science tutor. Life is hard. My children have been studying from Mityana, but I took them back to the village. Feeding and transport are a challenge . We want to work as the issue is resolved but getting transport to my workplace is like squeezing water out of a hard rock.”
Mr Mugaiga revealed that during the November 23, 2023 meeting that was held in the Ministry of Public Service’s boardroom, the Education ministry was tasked with providing a clarification on the status of the tutors in one week. Along with officials from the science teachers’ union and representatives of PTCs.
In a November 24, 2023 letter, addressed to Ms Ketty Lamaro, the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Education and Sports, Mr Godfrey Kaima, the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Public Service, demanded to know whether there were scientists in PTCs.
He also tasked Ms Lamaro to specify them if indeed they existed. Mr Kaima was also desirous of ascertaining the specific subjects the tutors teach in relation to the guidance that science subjects are Mathematics, Physics, Biology,Chemistry Information Communication Technology (ICT), and Agriculture.
“It is true there are scientists in Primary Teachers Colleges. The science subjects taught in PTCs are highlighted in the Establishment Notice No.2 of 2015 namely, Mathematics, Home Economics, Integrated Science (Physics, Chemistry and Biology),” Ms Lamaro explained in a February 23 letter addressed to Mr Kaima.
He added that a person becomes a scientist through the upgrading at diploma level where tutors specialise in either Arts or Science.
The tutors that specialise in sciences teach integrated science (Physics, Chemistry, and Biology).
