The State Minister for Higher Education, Dr Chrysostom Muyingo, has announced that the government has no money to bail out teachers from private schools who have not received salaries since schools were closed to stop the spread of Corona virus.
Dr Muyingo said if the government had such money to offer bail outs, the offer would be extended to several other workers who have been laid off in the hotel and tourism industry.
“I would love it, but is it possible. Our budget had a lot of problems. It has focused on the #Covid-19 fight, locusts. I look at these teachers who should be helped and feel the pain,”Dr Muyingo said.
He added: “But there are other workers who were laid off. If money was available, they would be supported. But you know how small our resource envelope is. It is not manageable.”
Dr Muyingo’s position followed pleas by the National Private Education Institutions Association (NPEIA), which cried out to the government to pay salaries of about 360,000 teachers employed in their institutions for at least a year because they have been closed for the past 4 months.
Private schools have come under criticism for not paying teachers salaries during the lockdown.
However, Kampala Parents School (KPS), owned by businessman Sudhir Ruparelia, has been lauded for honouring the contractual obligations of their teachers and paying them their full emoluments during the #Covid-19 lockdown.
During the lockdown, KPS embraced Online teaching, setting the pace of how education institutions should respond to the disruptions caused by the #Covid -19 pandemic and ensure that learners keep accessing quality education.
Sources in the Education industry say some learning institutions fear parents may transfer their students to KPS and have therefore been opposed to online learning.
