Teachers want pension office decentralised

By Chris Mugasha

Head teachers in Bushenyi district have urged the Education Service Commission to decentralise their pensions scheme.

They said they were disappointed with the way retired teachers are treated as they try to access their pension at the public service ministry in Kampala.

“We are seeing our grandfathers languishing at the ministry while trying to follow up their pension,” said St. Kaggwa Boarding Primary School headmaster Celestine Twinomugisha.

“Why can’t you make the process easier so that we retire comfortably?” asked another head teacher.

The teachers raised the issue on Friday, while meeting officials from the Education Service Commission, who had gone to the district to deliver copies of teachers professional code of conduct at the Bushenyi district multi-purpose hall.

Twinomugisha said some teachers cannot afford transport to Kampala and spend there several days processing their pension.

The Bushenyi district service commission secretary, Aron Birimbo, said some teachers were afraid of retirement due to the hassle involved in processing pension.

Birimbo asked head teachers to give a chance to teachers to process their retirement benefits when they are about to retire.

Fred Ssenoga, the Education Service Commission personnel officer, said they were only implementing the policies, which were set a long time ago.

Ssenoga also explained that the districts don’t have the capacity to verify who has fake retirement and academic papers.

The district service commission chairperson, Lydia Rwakishaya, appealed to the Ministry of Education to update the schools’ grading list, which was done in 1999.

She argued that some teachers are in wrong schools.