Goban salon2/18/2023 The country is not made up of sciences alone Supply and demand is also on the government’s side: At an October recruiting event at Kololo Senior Secondary School in Kampala, the capital, educators from across the country braved scorching sun for a chance to interview for positions as public school teachers. The union may be less firmly united this time, given that the salary increase has benefited some members. “We shall decide what to do as events unfold, especially after the meeting with the president over this issue,” Baguma says. The union has requested a forum with Museveni to discuss the August announcement but is still awaiting a response. All belong to the teachers’ union, which organized strikes in 20 for higher pay, says Filbert Baguma, the union’s general secretary. Uganda has 1,226 public high schools, with 550,000 teachers - three quarters of them in humanities subjects, including history, English, literature, geography, religion and art. “Policies should not devalue but unite,” he says. Since 2015, more than 70% of government scholarships have gone to students pursuing related career paths, says Dennis Mugimba, a Ministry of Education and Sports spokesperson.Īs a more effective, less divisive way to encourage STEM learning, government funds could help improve science labs and classroom tools, rather than increasing teacher salaries based solely on the subject matter, says Peter Okware, director of Teachers in Need, a Kampala-based organization that offers professional development and advocacy resources for educators. National efforts to improve these outcomes began with the 2005 Uganda Science Education Policy, making physics, chemistry and biology compulsory for high school students. Uganda’s teenagers historically underperform in science and math, according to the National Examinations Board, with fewer than half passing exams in those subjects each year from 2003 to 2016. Supporters of the pay raise hope to motivate STEM teachers to give their full attention to students - and encourage students to see those career paths as lucrative. “Science is the base of our livelihood, economy and whatever we do,” says Chris Baryomunsi, minister of Information, Communications Technology and National Guidance, adding that “while all civil servants should be paid better, scientists must be motivated to enhance on a knowledge-based economy and have more employed countrywide.”
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