The Ugandan government announced that those teachers working in remote areas will get a 30 percent hardship allowance starting with the next school year (which is, in fact, February 2011). Basically, the basic teacher salary is 200,000 Shillings per month (100 US dollars) and will get an additional 60,000 Shillings (20US dollars) as a special motivation to work in hard-to-reach areas.
Though notable in theory, there are some problems with this new directive. This motivational allowance is awarded regardless of the distance teachers have to travel. This means that some instructors will be more motivated than others. For example, if the school where you would go to teach is 20 miles away from your township, you’re likely to accept the assignment. But if it’s 200 miles away, and in a shady area, you’re most likely going to decline. I would have rather liked to see a progressive motivational incentive based on the location and the distance from main townships.
One last thing I wanted to mention. The same communiqué specified that this governmental strategy is also designed as a step further towards making primary and secondary education free of charges for most Ugandans. This is, in fact, not the case at the time being. For example, I’m paying for my research assistant’ school fees. He is in the equivalent of the 11th grade by Western standards. He lives in a town located about 45 miles outside Kampala. His school fees amount to 300,000 Shillings per term and there are three terms in a year. This means that if a local resident wants to send his/her child to school, he will have to pay 900,000 shillings per year only in school fees. Add to that about 400,000 shillings for the uniform, textbooks and other school supplies. Indeed, the annual payment I make for my assistant’s schooling is about 1,3 million shillings or 650 US dollars. That is a lot of money by local standards. As you can see, an educated Ugandan will not get much more than that per annum. Yet locals in the town where my assistant lives make as little as 30,000 shillings per month (15 dollars). This suggests that the possibility of making school affordable to the locals is still a far-fetched dream so I don’t really believe that with the school allowance it is likely that to make schooling more affordable. Sorry, I’m not buying it.
PhotoCredit: www.muwinchester.org.uk/
