Ex-UNATU boss urges equal pay for arts teachers
Former general secretary of national association of teachers union James Tweheyo has asked the government to consider scaling up the salaries of arts teachers if a government program of improving the quality of education is to be achieved .
Tweheyo is an illustrious English language teacher who will not be remembered for just his classroom lessons but also his fight for teachers’ rights in his role as Uganda National Teachers Union (Unatu) secretary general.
During his tenure of office he spearheaded a number of industrial actions which were aimed at advocating for the rights of teachers. In 2011 he tasked the micro finance support center to account for 9.7 billion shillings which the president provided as a pledge to support teachers SACCO which resulted in a country wide teachers demonstration.
Tweheyo who appreciates government program of promoting science however says this cannot sustain the sector independently. He was speaking to salt media after government approving the budget to the education sector.Tweheyo says the this may instead frustrate arts teachers who also play a pivotal role to the sector.
He says on several occasion has engaged the president and public service to have this salary reviewed but this is still in vein.Tweheyo has also warned that this may instead lead to absenteeism in class as science will instead opt to more than one school.
Responding to government program where its intending to introduce a SEED school in each subcounty Tweheyo says this is not practical since the number of sub counties keeps increasing as opposed to the existing budget allocation.
Meanwhile Tweheyo has welcomed the new curriculum which emphasizes practical skills as opposed to theory.He also supported the construction of technical institute as opposed to university education as many parents prefer university education.
Tweheyo, currently serving as one of the NRM commissioners has cited incidents where the majority of Ugandans who do phone repairing have not attained university degrees in mechanics.
He further advises the ministry of education to make sure that all the curriculums should have a component of practical skills.He has however advised Uganda to embrace the universal primary education and avoid misconception about this program.
Tweheyo has however blamed parents who sabotage this program yet it provides opportunity to the less privileged children also to access education .
During the budget speech yesterday at Kololo , the minister for finance Matia Kasaija 9.52 million learners have benefited from UPE education program while 995,11 have benefited from the universal secondary education while 5,192 students have benefited from the higher education students loan scheme. In addition 4000 learners have benefited from government sponsorship joining public universities.
