Teachers under their umbrella association of the Uganda National Teachers Union (UNATU) are expected to meet President Museveni today, July 4, 2022 over the ongoing industrial action.
The meeting, scheduled to take place at Kololo Independence Grounds as confirmed by the Senior Presidential Press Secretary Linda Nabusayi.
The UNATU general secretary Filbert Baguma said they are ready for the meeting.
"All we expect is feedback on our issue of salary enhancement in the 2022/2023 financial year," Baguma told journalists on Sunday.
Arts teachers announced their industrial action on June 15, 2022 over what they called discriminatory salary rise.
These, under their umbrella association of UNATU, want the government to enhance their pay in this financial year to be equal with that of their science counterparts.
Government enhanced the salary of a degree-holder science teacher from Shs 1.2 million to Shs 4 million. A diploma-holder science teacher’s salary was also enhanced to Shs 3m.
All this while the salary of an Arts teacher was set to remain at Shs 1.08 million for a degree-holder while diploma-holder arts teacher at secondary school level will continue getting Shs 795,000.
Since announcing their strike, the teachers have since held several meetings with stakeholders although these are yet to yield any fruits.
In a June 22, 2022 letter to the UNATU General Secretary, Ministry of Public Service Permanent Secretary Catherine Bitarakwate said that whereas the government is committed to ensuring salary enhancement for all teachers, irrespective of the disciplines, this can not be met currently because of the scarce resources.
“The current enhancement for science teachers was informed by the available resources, the number of teachers involved and the impact that can be made by the scientists to the development of the country. We have no doubt that you agree that we need an educated workforce in all aspects of life but more in sciences. This in our view will attract and retain the crucial skill that is needed at this time,”Bitarakwate said in her letter.
The teachers however insisted, saying that they will not resign and will also not return to class until their issues are resolved.