In Uganda, we enjoy a number of educational levels, which include pre-primary, primary, secondary and tertiary levels. All of the stated levels employ teachers but I focus on primary and secondary school teachers. The Ugandan teacher faces a number of challenges and pains as highlighted below.
Fresh from higher institutions of learning, with a degree, diploma or certificate in education, the teacher embarks on the task of looking for employment. He or she writes a million applications for teaching jobs, but the probability of one of his applications being considered remains one half. So many other colleagues are also looking at that one vacancy. Chance may be on your side and your name is short listed in one of the schools. However, technical know-who precedes technical know-how, and yet some desperate, good-looking, professionals may be lured into unprofessional acts in the name of securing the vacancy. This is a very challenging situation especially to people who embrace a mentality that under the sun, they have to pursue only the jobs they trained for. Such people are also abundantly blessed with the spirit of overlooking some jobs, yet in the meantime, they can pursue the same for a fairly handsome living.
Apart from the difficulty to secure employment, teachers in Uganda continue to face a problem of underpayment for their service. This is especially true in private schools in which this form of exploitation continues to enjoy the dance floor. However, such a challenge can be overcome by complementing teaching with other forms of gainful employment like farming and the government embracing its responsibility of setting a minimum wage for country teachers.
Working for a small pay would not be much of a problem if the payment were accessible in time. However, in many schools, teachers take ages to receive payment for their services, and that’s if they ever receive it. Hence, one wonders how a less creative teacher meets personal and family needs during this time of exaggerated hell.
Yet delays in payments can help a teacher accumulate some capital, which can be injected in a new venture. However, the teacher’s salary is subjected to a number of deductions in the form of taxes and forced savings. Taxes include pay as you earn, local service tax among others. Forced savings go to the National Social Security Fund and one may completely fail to access his or her accumulated savings. Apart from taxation, the frequency of functions for which a teacher has to pledge something monetary and the extensive inflation the country is currently facing push the teacher to a level at which he or she can hardly save anything and many to survive on bank loans. Many superglue onto their profession hoping for a retirement package, but the majority of teachers do meet their creator before the retirement age and many ‘flex muscles’ in order to secure a portion.
More so, overworking teachers is a reality in most Ugandan primary and secondary schools. In most schools, a teacher is not only expected to teach a good number of classes with a village of students, but also to cater for individual differences amongst students. The above is coupled with making constant research and revision, marking a million scripts plus a number of other school duties after school. A teacher is also expected to perfectly fulfill the marital obligations. It’s the whites that say that work without play makes Ssendagire a dull boy and I also strongly question the effectiveness of a teacher engulfed in such a demanding routine.
Added to the above, the students’ discipline in many schools contributes to the pile of stress the Ugandan teacher faces. Imagine yourself baptized an abusive nickname by the students! Some students not only nickname teachers but also participate in drug abuse, theft, constant use of vulgar language, burning schools and the beating up of teachers. This therefore calls for creative approaches geared towards making the school environment more comfortable for teachers, which may include constant counselling among others.
Some effective approaches to managing students and useful notes may be accessed by Ugandan teachers from the internet. However, it’s a fact that the majority of Ugandan teachers can hardly access or use the computer. This has greatly limited up-to-date research amongst teachers and calls for urgent refresher courses to help teachers cope with technological advancements. Modernizing the classroom to overcome the monotony of talk and chalk through complementing our lessons with audiovisuals is very urgent, but lack of capital greatly subjects this plan to impotence. Imagine a school in which lessons are conducted in nature-provided classrooms (under tree shade) and where earth and sticks substitute for books and pens. How can they have even the slightest appetite to use technology-enhanced teaching?
In many Ugandan schools, it’s a reality that administrators do under look some subjects, henceforth giving them less or no facilitation at all. Subjects like Fine Art, Music, and Agriculture among others are basically the victims of the situation, yet Physics, Biology, Chemistry and other ‘science’ subjects enjoy the limelight.
Under looking some subjects would not have been an issue if there was job security. However, job security remains a dream never come true to many Ugandan teachers, especially those employed by private schools. Many private schools do not provide their staff with appointment letters and things like sickness, demanding for arrears, raising alarm about small pay, and refusing to play ‘love music’ with the headmaster, amongst others, can lead to loss of job in no time. Therefore a teacher can lose his or her job very easily, yet securing employment in some other schools is as difficult as convincing goats to use family planning options.
The lack of job security coupled with a small pay, along with other factors such as tempting dressing amongst students, have forced a number of misbehaved teachers to sexually abuse their flock as a compensation. However, even in some schools where teachers are well paid, some members do participate in this shameful act. Continence and respect for the students must be observed by all teachers and tough punishments issued to those who sexually abuse students.
However, despite the thorny grounds upon which the Ugandan teacher has trodden for a number of years, a few schools in Uganda have seen the urgency of embarking on the path towards a more comfortable life for teachers. A countable number of schools like Lubiri Secondary school, Mengo senior school, among others, has managed to introduce school loans, booster programs, free housing for teachers, computer training for teachers among other programs aimed at uplifting the teacher’s welfare.
In addition, the Ugandan teacher is no small person. He is abundantly blessed with respect from almost the entire general public. It’s this respect that has earned trust to the Ugandan teacher to even enjoy big leaps in other sectors or areas of life. Many have been elected to parliament, and others have served as cabinet ministers in the government of the Republic of Uganda.
In conclusion, to leave the Ugandan teacher wretched is like condemning our nation into continuous suffering. The teacher’s cries must be heard and remedies sought. A motivated teacher leads to motivated students, hence good performance. However, motivating teachers must be complemented with the formulation of a more relevant school syllabus that pays special emphasis to relevant research, ideas that bring about self-sustenance after school and useful individuals who can engineer social development.
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