Iganga schools split on arts teachers strike over salary enhancement

Education

The best performing schools in Iganga have defied a directive by their umbrella body UNATU to go on a sit down strike and instead continued to conduct lessons.

A survey conducted by our reporter indicates that the best traditional schools like Iganga Boys Boarding School, Buckley High School continue to conduct lessons while other schools heed the call to industrial action.

The two schools, started in the early 1970s, have for the past few years led the district in the academic performance producing best pupils at the Primary Leaving Examinations (PLE).

A teacher at Iganga Boys school who preferred anonymity to speak freely said though they support the arts teachers strike, they cannot stop teaching because their school is a purely boarding school.

He explained the logic, “It will look bad if we send all these children back home just because other teachers are on strike."

Buckley High School

The deputy head teacher Buckley High School Godfrey Ben Waiswa said teachers voted to continue working because they did not want to betray an agreement they had with the pupils' parents.

However,  other government owned schools like Wagodo Primary School and Kawete Primary School have opted to heed the on-going strike. The two schools have never had a first grade in PLE.

The Resident District Commissioner Iganga Sadala Wandera said he was aware that some schools had not gone on strike while others were observing it across the district.

Wandera said they had instituted the governments directive of registering all teachers and those not found on duty by the time of inspection to be recommended for dismissal.

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