Worry as Mubende teachers abandon classroom for kyeyo

Authorities in  Mubende  District have expressed concern over teachers who abandoned their work stations for jobs abroad but continue receiving monthly salaries.

Investigations by the District Education Department revealed that about 15 teachers in various primary schools had spent four months without reporting for duty and, yet salaries were credited to their accounts.

According to Ms Aisha Ayebale, the district councillor of Kigando Sub-county and the chairperson of the Education and Sports committee, the teachers are leaving at a time when the district is facing staffing gaps in many schools.

“ In our education system, we have a challenge of few teachers and these are the same people abandoning their jobs for more paying jobs abroad,” she said.

A teacher is deemed absent if he or she fails to report for duty for more than one day without permission from the head teacher. Many of the absent teachers, according to district investigations, left the country for greener pastures in the Middle East.

Ms Janet Oliver Namagembe, the head teacher of Mazooba Primary School, said the school has a staffing gap of three teachers.

“The 12 teachers we have are not enough to handle the 652 pupils at the school. Two of our teachers got early retirement last year, another teacher got a transfer to another school and the school never received any replacements,” Ms Namagembe said.

She said the school tried to hire private teachers, but this arrangement didn’t work out because the school didn’t have money to pay their salaries.

 Mr Samuel Kwesiga, the head teacher of St Kizito Catholic Primary School, Madudu, said they need four more teachers, especially for Primary Four, Primary Six and Primary Seven.

“Most importantly, we have failed to get qualified teachers who can teach upper classes,” he said.

Ms Rehemah Kemigisa, the head teacher at Children and Wives Of Disabled Soldiers Association (CAWODISA) Primary School, a government-aided school at Ntungamo Village in Kibalinga Sub-county, Mubende District, said a female Primary Four teacher absconded from duty and went for kyeyo [work abroad ] in one of the Asian countries.

“We were so much affected as a school because she was a good teacher in a transitional class. Learners changing from thematic language to English need   a serious and well-trained teacher and we have not yet got a replacement,” Ms Kemigisa said.

She added that the teacher processed her travel documents without her knowledge, even though they were close friends.

“I only received her resignation letter two days before her flight. I couldn’t do anything at that time to stop her, but I suspect that this is due to the little salary we teachers get,” Ms Kemigisa added.

Mr Asaph Kabunga, the district education officer, confirmed that many teachers who leave for work abroad don’t officially resign from their jobs.

“It takes a long time to get to know that the teacher has left the county since they don’t communicate with us,” he said.

Mr Kabunga said if a teacher spends  30 days without working, the district removes his or her name from the payroll and sends them to the disciplinary district committee.

 “What we have so far done as a district is to stop paying their salaries, and they will soon be deleted from the payroll,” he said.

According to a survey conducted between March and April 2014 by the Ministry of Education in 699 secondary schools across the country, none of the schools visited registered 100 percent attendance of head teachers, classroom teachers, and learners. The report indicates that the number of lessons taught is inadequate compared to set timetables.

A recent survey by the same ministry indicates that 4 percent or about 7,480 teachers in public primary schools quit work annually due to poor remuneration.

The district has a total of 93 government primary schools.