The Uganda National Teachers Union (UNATU) has implored the government to commit itself towards availing more funds to public education.

The remarks were made by UNATU Secretary General, Filbert Baguma in anticipation of the National Teachers Day slated for tomorrow.

The celebrations which will be held on Thursday at Kololo Independence eGrounds under the theme: “The teacher we need for the Education we want: The global imperative to reverse the teacher shortage”, will be graced by President Museveni.

Baguma highlighted that by increasing funding in the sector, it will make the teaching and learning process more convenient.

“We are in the rainy season, and you can imagine that the infrastructure in many public schools is still appalling. How do you expect the teachers to ably operate in such conditions?” he said.

He appealed to the President to pronounce himself on this challenge among others which include salary disparities and work overload to the teachers.

“Teachers are overloaded because recruitment was banned and yet enrolments in schools are just increasing. We have seen cases of a primary teacher tutoring a class of over 200 pupils,” he said.

Baguma also expects the government to offer a solution to the challenge of lack of promotional ladders in the education sector, adding that if a teacher works for over 20 years without promotion, it hugely demotivates them.

Moses Vubbya, an ICT teacher at Mukono Vine Secondary School noted that the lack of equipment leaves a big loophole in the teaching and learning process.

“As an ICT teacher, if I don't have a gadget myself, how will I even be in position to tell my students to access them. It makes teaching them very difficult,” he observed.

Moses indicated that he expects the government to address the issue of their salaries, which cannot sustain them in these tough economic times.

Teacher's Day is celebrated in schools on the 1st Sunday of October. Teachers are usually given gifts by students to show appreciation of teaching them. Between 1965 and 1994, it was celebrated on the first Sunday of October. Since 1994, it has been celebrated on 5 October to coincide with the World Teachers' Day.