Private school teachers surviving on handouts from parents

Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | A number of private school teachers are surviving on handouts from sympathetic parents as school proprietors are unable to pay them because of the lockdown. Private schools are majorly dependent on tuition paid by learners to finance their operations. The abrupt closure of the schools in March impacted greatly on the finances of private schools. Godlove Baguma, a teacher in one of the city schools told URN that he was waiting for his salary for March when schools closed. According to Baguma, he hasn’t received his salary to date.

He explains that the school proprietor was expecting to get money from parents on the visitation day the following week. The father of two says that he has been struggling to provide for his family to the extent of calling some parents to come to his rescue.

Baguma says some parents have been sending him between Shillings 10,000 and 50,000 which has kept him going with his family. His story is not different from many other teachers in the private sector interviewed by our reporter.

John Jones Alimpa, a teacher in Lyantonde district says he has also been reaching out to parents for help to make ends meet. “You know it is disgusting. But it is the only option that one can resort to. Some give you and others will not because they are also struggling to live. But still I know that time will reach when they can no-longer send you even Shillings 5000,” said Alimpa.

Alimpa said he had hoped to ride his boda boda but he hardly gets customers as motorcycles are limited to deliveries which doesn’t work well upcountry. Rita Nabukenya, teacher in Wakiso district notes that when schools were closed, she knew that it was doom for people like her who have no side income besides teaching.

“Even during the normal days, we are poorly paid. You wait for the salary for three months. Now at this moment we can’t even have any hope,” she said. Josephine Ndagire, a school proprietor in Masaka district told URN despite feeling sorry for what is happening, they don’t have much to do.

Ndagire says that when the schools were told to close, she shared all the money she had collected and paid teachers half of their March salaries.

However, a number of schools are struggling amidst the challenges to pay their teachers. William Ssembiro, the Director Villa Road Primary School in Masaka says they were able to pay teachers full salaries for month of March and April.

“If the situation doesn’t normalise, we will have to pay them half salaries beginning with May. In the worst case scenario, that is to say if the lockdown goes past September, we may stop paying them. However, we have assured them that they will receive their arrears since they have running contracts,” Ssembiro told Uganda Radio Network.

Juma Mwamura, the General Secretary Uganda Private Teachers Union says they understand the situation of their employers but have asked them to provide them some essential items like food which had been stocked but most of them have turned a deaf ear.

“We understand that they don’t have money but schools stock some items, they should give us some items like the maize flour so that we also survive the lockdown and discuss the issues of payment at a later time,” says Mwamura.

He points out while listing the beneficiaries of Covid-19 Task forces, private school teachers were excluded on the list yet they are also in a vulnerable situation. Mwamura further notes that another big challenge of advocating for private teachers is the fact that most of them don’t have formal appointments with schools.

To make matters worse, there is no up to date statistics for this group of people. Uganda Radio Network has learnt that Uganda National Teacher Union-UNATU has started initiatives at the district level to rescue their counterparts in the private sector.

The UNATU Secretary General, Filbert Baguma notes that since public teachers are still receiving salaries, they are mobilizing themselves to provide food donation and some basic needs to those who might be greatly affected.

“The initiative has so far been implemented in Bushenyi and Ibanda districts. Other districts have started mobilising but still we call upon the District Task Forces to consider looking at this category of people as vulnerable,” said Baguma.

In the same development, The Federation of Non-State Education Institutions, Patrick Kaboyo, notes that they are engaging the education sector to see whether they can come up with a plan on how teachers in the private sector can survive during the lockdown.

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URN