Ministry to cut salaries for 500 primary teachers

By John Semakula and John Masaba

The Government has slashed salaries of 500 primary school teachers from about sh360,000 (salary scale U5) to sh310,000 (salary scale U6).

Public service ministry permanent secretary Adah Muwanga announced the changes in a May 31 letter.

In the letter, Muwanga asked town clerks and chief administrative officers to submit names of the affected teachers to their district service commissions for resignation.

Muwanga said the teachers, whose salaries were affected, had irregularly been appointed as assistant education officers (Grade V). Saturday Vision has since established that the affected teachers were recruited after 2003.

“The recruitment was irregular because the position of assistant education officer (Grade V) was not provided for in the primary school establishment,” she noted.

Saturday Vision also learnt from a reliable source that the ministry was taking action after a recent State House audit exposed the irregularity.

Muwanga said the teachers were meant to be appointed as senior education assistants, whose salary scale should have been U6.

But their former salary scale of U5 in primary schools is for deputy headteachers.

The affected teachers were classroom teachers who upgraded to Grade V.

Saturday Vision also learnt that in June, the public service ministry updated the salary scales of the 403 affected teachers from U5 to U6.

The updating of the salaries of the remaining 92 teachers was to be done at the end of June.

The development comes at a time when teachers are demanding a salary increment and James Tweheyo, the secretary general of the Uganda National Teachers Union, said the action would only spell doom.