Uganda Police Force in Iganga district on Wednesday, February 5, 2019, quelled a sit-down strike staged by over 800 teachers who were protesting over low transport allowances.
The teachers from the seven districts of Iganga, Namutumba, Luuka, Mayuge, Bugiri, Bugweri and Namuyingo were undergoing one- week induction training on the newly approved secondary schools’ curriculum at Iganga senior secondary school.
The teachers had been informed that they were to sign for a transport refund of 30,000 Shillings each. They stormed out of the training hall at around 12:30 pm demanding their facilitators to either increase the transport costs or cancel the training.
Joshua Mutumba, a teacher from Immaculate Heart School in Luuka district said that the government should have given each teacher 20,000 Shillings per day.
Leah Namukose, a teacher at Kigandalo Secondary school said that the proposed allowances cannot foot her transport fees estimated at 55,000 Shillings.
Habib Mukisa, a teacher from Namutumba district said that their facilitators don’t sound ready for the current training as they act rude to whoever seeks clarification on allowances and other daily classroom queries.
The Iganga Resident District Commissioner, Eva Kwesiga, later on, intervened to calm down the teachers for close to three hours with promises of engaging the ministry of education officials to intervene.
Kwesigwa however, faulted younger teachers of fuelling the strike as some of them came to the training room with their packed bags.
Credit URN