Teachers to serve five years in one school as govt moves to implement new policy

Teachers to serve   five years in one school

as govt moves to implement new policy

KAMPALA. The Ministry of Education has announced a new policy shift bars all teachers from serving in one school for more than five years.

According to the new policy, already communicated to the district chief accountant officers and education officers, any teacher who has been at one school for 10 years is  considered to have over stayed.

“In order to rationalise management of teachers deployment,…it is therefore directed that all serving teachers ,deputy head teachers and head teachers should have their placement posting reviewed every five years,” a circular issued by Education Permanent Secretary Rose Nassali reads in part .

Government usually transfer teachers to other schools but some decline to relocate where they are posted because the founding bodies like the Church and Uganda Muslim Education Association still want them to there.

To observe quality teaching and learning, Ms Nassali said appointments of school heads’ are also  going to be re-validated and re-designated starting this month, using a criteria yet to be announced by the education service commission.

According to the PS , the re-validation exercise is aimed  at ascertaining the current bulk of head teachers and their deputies who possess proper qualifications and their current performance levels .

“All head teachers and deputy head teachers of both primary and secondary schools are expected to be lead teachers ,” says a circular dated October 15.

“Head teachers of secondary schools are required to have a teaching load of six periods per week while their deputies teach a minimum of 12 periods per week,” Nassali adds in her circular .

On the other hand, all secondary school teachers are supposed to have a minimum teaching load of 24 periods irrespective of whether they are teaching in O’Level or A’Level. Ms Nassali said teachers without   minimum teaching loads will definitely be transferred to other schools. She said starting this December ,transfer of secondary school teachers and non teaching staff  shall only be effected after confirmation from the districts that there is enough funds to cater for their salaries .

Recently, the director basic  and secondary education Yusuf Nsubuga said by knowing the number of years a  teacher  has served and  qualification ,the ministry will be able to know those who have furthered their education and qualify for promotions.

Government has since 2010 been planning to introduce the teachers  scheme of service to enable classroom teachers who have served for long  and acquired higher qualification get promotions but the scheme has always been delayed due to limited resources .

Teachers who have invested in upgrading have always complained that their salaries are pegged to the levels at which they teach and not their qualifications.

This comes after government raised teachers pay with the least paid primary teacher now bagging Shs279,145 per month , up from the old salary of Shs227,240.  All Head teachers in Primary schools are now paid under the salary scale U4 lower (Shs799,323) ,but the entry point is Shs 611,984 ,while their deputies are under the scale U5 upper, earning Shs608,822.

Secondary   school head teachers are under U1E (Shs 1,690,688) and the entry point is  1, 624,934 while their deputies get Shs 1,291,880.

Giving uniform salary to teachers  was effected recently following the abolition of the school grading system where head teachers in 1^st grade schools like those in urban centres were earning higher pay than their counterparties in lower grade schools which are  mostly located  in villages .

Currently, Uganda has only 160,000 teachers on the government payroll of which 135,000 are in primary schools.

Lack of career advancement opportunities has been one of the major complaints among Ugandan teachers for several decades. The scheme of service was drafted in 2005 by the Education Service Commission but it currently being implemented only in primary schools. If it is fully implemented, even promotions in secondary schools   will depend on the number of years one has worked as well as their academic qualifications. 

At the secondary level, seniority will push one to the rank of Senior Education Assistant (SEA), and later to Principle Education Assistant (PEA). 

Grade Five teachers would be designated as Assistant Education Officers (AEO) while graduate teachers will be   Education Officers (EO), earning the same salary as a primary head teacher.  

Experience and a Master’s degree will push one to the rank of Senior Education Officer (SEO), then Principal Education Officer (PEO), putting one at the same salary scale as a deputy or head teacher.