The nationwide teachers’ strike has taken a new twist, with teachers vowing not to supervise or invigilate this year’s national examinations unless the government provides a concrete response to their demands.
Senior Four candidates are scheduled to begin their Uganda Certificate of Education (UCE) examinations this Friday, October 10, with the briefing of candidates. The first written paper, Biology Theory, is slated for Monday morning, followed by Physics Paper One in the afternoon.
However, striking teachers under the Uganda National Teachers’ Union (Unatu) said they will not participate in any examination activities unless the government addresses their grievances.
Traditionally, teachers have been engaged by the Uganda National Examinations Board (UNEB) as invigilators, supervisors, examiners, and scouts. But this year, they insist they are not ready to compromise their industrial action. In the past, teachers often suspended strikes to allow national examinations to proceed, but this time, they have chosen to stand firm.
Filbert Baguma, the Unatu chairperson, told Daily Monitor in an interview yesterday that the teachers’ patience has run out.
“How do we conduct examinations when we are home? We are not going to get involved in any activity when we are home,” Baguma said. “The government should answer, because this issue has been there for a long time.
Instead of intimidating us, they should know that teachers have been tortured for too long,” he added. He revealed that Unatu had been invited for a dialogue with the National Negotiating and Consultative Council under the Ministry of Public Service, but expressed doubt that the meeting would yield meaningful results.
When contacted, the Uneb Executive Director, Daniel Odongo, said he was not aware that secondary school teachers were also on strike, noting that he had previously thought the industrial action involved only primary school teachers.
Odongo said Uneb was ready to make alternative arrangements if the teachers failed to turn up for examination duties.
“Our teams are in the field today and tomorrow to brief teachers and heads of schools. If they tell us that the teachers are not on ground, we shall hire our field teams to supervise the examinations,” he said.
He added that before taking such a measure, Uneb would first consult the teachers’ union leadership to see if a compromise could be reached, allowing teachers to participate in supervision.
Odongo assured the public that the UNEB is fully prepared for this year’s examination cycle. He said materials have been printed, packed, and are awaiting dispatch to various examination centres across the country.
“All security arrangements are in place to ensure a smooth and incident-free exercise,” he added.
Efforts to reach the minister for Higher Education were unsuccessful as he was reportedly attending a Cabinet meeting. Calls to the Ministry of Education spokesperson also went unanswered.
Meanwhile, the Public Service Minister, Muruli Mukasa, last week issued a seven-day ultimatum to teachers to return to class or face disciplinary action for absenteeism.
The deadline expires this Thursday, but teachers have remained unmoved. Teachers began their sit-down strike on September 15, disrupting learning barely a month into the third term. The industrial action stems from long-standing salary disparities between science and arts teachers.
In July 2022, the government increased salaries for science teachers by up to 300 percent, raising graduate science teachers’ pay from Shs1.1m to Shs4m and Grade V science teachers’ pay from Shs796,000 to Shs2.5m.
Currently, a degree-holding arts teacher earns a gross monthly salary of Shs1,078,162 (net Shs841,931), while a diploma-holding arts teacher earns Shs784,214 gross (net Shs639,108).
According to Uneb, this year’s total candidature stands at 1,416,307, up from 1,319,139 last year. Of these, 817,998 are registered for Primary Leaving Examinations (PLE), 431,856 for UCE, and 166,464 for the Uganda Advanced Certificate of Education (UACE). The PLE and UACE candidates are expected to sit their examinations next month.