ENTEBBE.
President Museveni has promised to raise the pay for striking Arts teachers by 25 percent in a phased manner and also give them free houses .
The incentives are aimed at convincing the teachers call off a sit-down strike that has paralyzed learning in many public secondary schools across the country.
After the presidential pledges made during a meeting between Mr Museveni and leaders of the Arts and Humanities teachers at State House, Entebbe on Monday evening , the teachers agreed to call of off their industrial action resume classes today
The meeting was also attended by Ms Janet Museveni, the First Lady and also the Minister of Education and Sports at State House.
“During the war, we prioritised feeding the soldiers on guard duty to ensure everyone’s safety. This teamwork enabled us to persevere. Upon our return, we explored ways to thrive despite low wages, beginning with a payment of Shs 3.5 million to the Chief Justice, making him the highest earner. We can develop collective solutions for Arts teachers, similar to what we implemented for soldiers.
This includes building homes for teachers and ensuring their children study for free, as well as implementing a phased 25 percent pay increase. I encouraged them to return to work and collaborate with the government for a better future, which they obliged to. They will resume classes and begin marking UNEB assessments tomorrow[Tuesday] ,” Mr Museveni who has been in power since 1986, said in a statement on his X (formerly Twitter) after the Monday, June 30 meeting.
The government teachers announced a sit-down strike on June 6, before threatening days later not to submit students’ coursework to the Uganda National Examinations Board (UNEB) or supervise continuous assessment projects for this term.
The strike by the Arts teachers was triggered by what the teachers described as poor and unfair pay by the government, compared to their Science counterparts.
The government has repeatedly pledged to address the disparities but has yet to commit to a concrete timeline for salary harmonisation.
Salary disparity
An Arts teacher with a degree qualification earns a gross pay of Shs1,078,162 monthly and takes home a net pay of Shs841,931, while his Science counterpart gets Shs4,000,000 and takes home a net pay of Shs2,858,000.
Similarly, an Arts teacher with a Diploma qualification gets a gross pay of Shs784,214 and takes home a net pay of Shs639,108 while their Science counterparts earn 2,200,000 and take home a net pay of Shs1,616,000.