By Leonard Kamugisha Akida and Ritah Atukwatse,
KAMPALA
The Uganda People’s Congress (UPC) has asked the government to honor its promise to increase salaries for arts and humanities teachers.
On Tuesday, the government announced that they had approved 500 billion shillings to pay arts teachers in a phased manner starting the Financial Year 2026/27. This was after a heated meeting with leaders of arts teachers union, the minister of education and the President at State House Entebbe, calling on teachers to call off their strike over salary increment demands.
Despite this attempt, UPC argues that the government has always given hot air promises to teachers which compromises their works.
Muzeyi Faizo, the Head of Media and Communication at UPC says the government has a responsibility to restore the dignity of arts and humanities teachers, by giving them the necessary support to facilitate their day to day activities.
Muzeyi welcomed government’s move to increased arts teacher’s salaries, but warned against failure to fulfill this promise.
“It is our hope that the government will this time round respect and implement this commitment,” Muzeyi said, calling for equal payment for both science and arts teachers.
“Both science and arts complement each other and we need to recognise that people have different skills,” Muzeyi stressed.
The UPC further welcomed the government decision to provide decent accommodation to teachers within school premises stating that it is an absolute necessity as a teacher is considered to be on duty 24 hours a day.
