Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | As arts and humanities lecturers across Uganda discontinue a long way off from classes, disturbing salary parity with their science counterparts, one enlighten remains conspicuously quiet: UNATU, the Uganda National Lecturers’ Union.
Once the most organised and recognised platform for instructor advocacy within the nation, UNATU has changed into noticeably quiet, a silence that some people define as both betrayal and strategic ambiguity.
Shamim Mukasa, an arts instructor in Wakiso, confirms that most UNATU people remain in school rooms, but would want to brand up for the protests.
“UNATU hasn’t knowledgeable us to strike,” she says, “but we predict they must always soundless be louder, more filled with life, and support expand tension which has been build up by the new Uganda Authentic Humanities Lecturers Union.”
The dissatisfaction amongst arts lecturers is rooted within the govt.’s 2022 resolution to award science lecturers a staggering 300% pay expand as share of a broader “science-led” pattern agenda.
UNATU, at the time, had pushed for an equitable distribution of accessible sources below the rallying recount: All lecturers matter. On the other hand, science lecturers below the Uganda Authentic Science Teacher Union, arguing they had been more important to Uganda’s industrialisation objectives, broke ranks and formed their union, at last securing their requires by plan of centered lobbying. The tip consequence: science lecturers bought a most important elevate, whereas their colleagues in arts and humanities had been left within the lend a hand of.
UNATU made early attempts to bother the govt. on pay disparities, but their efforts had been repeatedly deflected, most notably throughout a assortment of high-level conferences with President Yoweri Museveni. In one such meeting at Kololo, Museveni acknowledged the importance of lecturers but bluntly acknowledged that the govt. “would no longer win cash by witchcraft,” including that no instantaneous funds had been accessible for salary enhancements. He instantaneous that phased will increase will be that that you would possibly maybe imagine in future financial years, a promise that, up to now, remains unfulfilled.
Despite persisted petitions and threats of commercial action, UNATU’s chronic lobbying yielded few tangible results. This rising sense of inertia and perceived compromise has led to mounting frustration amongst its membership, especially arts and humanities lecturers, who felt left within the lend a hand of after science lecturers efficiently secured important pay raises. In response, some lecturers have broken away to build up one other union, convinced that a more confrontational come would possibly maybe compel govt action.
Among these is the newly formed Uganda Authentic Humanities Lecturers’ Union, which is now spearheading the latest wave of strikes. Love their science counterparts, arts lecturers are seeking to negotiate independently of UNATU, arguing that the union has changed into too accommodating to govt pursuits.
But, as the strikes unfold, UNATU remains largely on the sidelines, offering neither enlighten endorsement nor vocal support, a silence many gape as a additional brand of its waning affect within the sphere.
Vincent Wambokka, the UNATU Kampala Chairperson, says the union is actively participating the govt. by plan of formal negotiations, in collaboration with other unions, to point out for equal pay across all teaching disciplines.
“We’ve taken to the streets sooner than, but we predict that come would possibly maybe also merely now no longer yield the results we need,” he successfully-known, emphasising that UNATU persons are fully knowledgeable about the union’s ongoing technique. He additionally identified that a national meeting with branch chairpersons used to be convened in mid-May per chance maybe well additionally merely to brief them on the union’s build.
In an interview, UNATU Secretary Total Filbert Baguma defended the union’s build, declaring that lecturers looking ahead to action must always soundless “educate what UNATU is doing on its platforms,” and blamed misinformation and disengagement amongst people for the latest confusion. He insisted that “UNATU remains dedicated to all lecturers no matter what or the build they educate.”
“All efforts toward salary enhancement have been championed by UNATU since as a long way lend a hand as the 2018 negotiations,” acknowledged Baguma. “Our build has continuously been determined; we desire salary enhancement for all lecturers at all ranges, and that continues to be our stand.”
He added that whereas some folk once in a whereas in fact feel that UNATU is no longer vocal ample, they on the total lower free to build up separate platforms aimed at pursuing private or neighborhood-particular pursuits, barely than advancing the collective welfare of all lecturers.
UNATU has been continuously lobbying the govt. to place into effect a more equitable pay structure for lecturers across all disciplines and education ranges. Namely, the union is advocating for a salary of 4.8 million shillings for graduate science lecturers and 4.5 million shillings for his or her counterparts in arts and humanities. To boot to, they are pushing for a minimal wage of 1.35 million shillings for most important college lecturers.
For the time being, on the other hand, there remains a stark disparity within the govt.’s salary structure. Graduate science lecturers in secondary faculties receive 4 million shillings, whereas arts and humanities lecturers build roughly 1.07 millionshillings. Diploma-level science lecturers are paid 2.2 million shillings, as in contrast with suitable 780,000 shillings for diploma arts lecturers. At the indispensable level, the everyday month-to-month salary stands at round 500,000 shillings, a long way below the proposed threshold.
Pressed on whether UNATU is shedding people and affect due to fragmentation, Baguma remained defiant. “Some of those forming new unions had been never people of UNATU to delivery with,” he acknowledged. He argued that these emerging voices are steadily driven by temporary grievances and warned that with out determined objectives, they would also merely give plan fancy earlier splinter groups, referencing the now-defunct Liberal Lecturers Union that faced scandals and arrests.
He did, on the other hand, acknowledge rising perceptions of external interference aimed at dividing instructor representation for political or strategic ends: “I’m in a position to no longer verify or assure it, but the build there’s frustration, anything else can happen,” he successfully-known.
Despite criticism, Baguma maintained that UNATU “has no longer moved off-tune” and continues to pursue a structured, lengthy-term engagement with the govt. for sustainable enhancements. The union has no longer urged the latest strikes but remains, in his words, “centered on what adds charge to teaching and finding out.”
The Spirited Terrain of Teacher Unionism in Uganda
The roots of instructor organisation in Uganda stretch lend a hand to the colonial technology. In 1947, the Uganda Lecturers Affiliation (UTA) used to be established below the leadership of John Kissaka, essentially advocating for official standards in education.
On the other hand, inner tensions emerged as a segment of most important and junior secondary lecturers felt their welfare wants had been no longer adequately addressed. This led to the formation of a breakaway neighborhood, the Foremost and Junior Secondary Lecturers Union (UPJU), which later rebranded as the Uganda National Union of Lecturers (UNUT), signalling a broader, more inclusive point of curiosity on all teaching categories and a sharper emphasis on welfare.
For a long time, UTA and UNUT operated with parallel mandates, one pushing professionalisation, the opposite championing economic and labour rights. In 2002, in a enlighten in self assurance to consolidate their affect and unify instructor representation, the 2 groups merged to build up the Uganda National Lecturers’ Union (UNATU), formally registered in March 2003. This merger used to be positioned as a brand new technology for instructor advocacy, combining the beliefs of official excellence with the strive against for greater pay and dealing stipulations.
On the other hand, the promise of unity has since faced important tension. Over time, UNATU has been repeatedly rocked by inner divisions, on the total fueled by political interference, ideological rifts, and disputes over transparency. In 2011, the union skilled its first most important splintering when over 400 lecturers broke away to build up the Uganda Liberal Lecturers Union (ULITU), citing an absence of accountability and inner democracy within UNATU.
More moderen years have seen additional fragmentation. In 2022, science lecturers, buoyed by govt-backed salary enhancements, formed their union, frustrated by what they saw as UNATU’s ineffective bargaining. That momentum has since spread to arts and humanities lecturers, just a few whom now gape UNATU as being too conciliatory with the say. Even private college lecturers, once informally aligned with the union’s vision, have formed honest structures to push for sector-particular requires.
What used to be once a novel enlighten for Uganda’s Lecturers has now changed into a chorus of competing pursuits, every vying for attention in a strained and extremely politicised academic panorama.
