Teachers ask KCCA to lobby for reopening of schools

Private schools teachers in Kampala have asked Kampala Capital City Authority (KCCA) to lobby government to reopen schools.

The teachers on spoke to the KCCA political leadership describing their situation as dire and expressed the hardships they are going through to survive the new order set by the Covid-19 pandemic.

Pledging to adhere to standard operating procedures (SOPs) as set out by the government for schools to reopen, Asadu Kirabira, the chairperson of private schools in Kampala, lamented that the teachers are doing jobs which undermine their dignity and the teaching profession asking KCCA to lobby government to open up schools.

He sited teachers who had resorted to other business like frying chapatis on the streets, and boda-boda riding, among other businesses, to make ends meet.

In a meeting with the KCCA education committee at City Hall presided over by the chairperson, Ismail Kisuze Ddamba, members of the Uganda Private Teachers Association in Kampala asked the government to rescue the distressed groups.

In a move to tame the spread of coronavirus, President Yoweri Museveni in March ordered the closure of schools and Universities as one of the measures of stemming the spread of COVID19. 

According to Kirabira, the decision has been more detrimental to teachers in private schools since they were shut down without a standing notice.

"This left teachers in private schools languishing with no jobs, no payments from either schools or government," he said.

The teachers also made an appeal for schools to be exempted from paying taxes to KCCA for the next two years, to enable them to cope with the effects ushered in by COVID19.

The KCCA Executive Secretary for Education, Oliver Namazzi, said; "We are adding our voice to say that it is time for the government to reopen schools."

On their demand for tax exemption, Namazzi said she will steer the KCCA cabinet into discussing the matter before a resolution is made.

She, however, revealed that KCCA political leadership has a plan of ensuring that some taxes are halted for a given period of time, to enable people and businesses to recover from the effects of Covid-19.

It is not clear if the President will discuss the education sector in yet another COVID-19 related address.