The Ugandan government is urged to come up with an Education Recovery Fund to help private school teachers at risk of losing their jobs.
An Education Recovery Fund
Private teachers in Uganda fear that they might not receive anything through the course of the pandemic if schools don’t reopen. Private school administrators confirm that they might have to terminate teachers and staff if the government does not allow schools to open for this coming school year.
Uganda has more than eight million recorded cases of the COVID-19, with total deaths of more than 450 thousand, and around 1000 deaths per day. The extreme degree of transmission and mortality rate of COVID-19 in Uganda has forced the government to cancel the reopening of establishments and schools in the country indefinitely.
With the closure of schools in the country, many private school administrators are worried about how to get funds to maintain facilities and keep their staff and teachers under payroll. The pandemic will probably push private school administrators to lay-off staff and teachers indefinitely as long as the government says so.
Worried teachers from private schools
As private school closes, teachers expect to lose their job in the process. Teachers’ unions and groups of school administrators are calling on the government to pass a resolution to come up with an education recovery fund for the private school sector.
The National Private Education Institutions Association (NPEIA) represents the private school sector in Uganda. They are eagerly asking for the government to help them provide for teacher’s salaries for at least one year if they push through with the non-reopening of schools till next year.
Teacher’s salaries are coming from tuition fees collected from enrolled students in private schools. Since classes are closed, and students aren’t allowed to enroll for the next school year, private schools will have no funds to pay the teacher’s salary.
An education recovery fund from the government will help provide for the salaries of the teachers while schools are closed. The average monthly wage for a private school teacher in Uganda is around 400,000 Shillings ($107.5).