IS IT RIGHT TO TRANSFER TEACHERS WITHOUT THEIR WISH?

Those in authority in Uganda ought to realize that things are really different on ground. It is like a punishment to transfer a person from one area to another today in Uganda without looking at how it inconveniences him. Many people who are not corrupt cannot survive on what they get as salary or wage, hence do what is possible in form of other employment to survive and take children to school. Unlike old days when Government was paying a living wage, today, it is not only unreasonable to give people transfers anyhow because you think they should transfer. We need people in such sensitive positions to be in touch with the employees like the teachers, be considerate. At least if a teacher has made his/her strategy to survive at a given place, transfers should not be routine, because where you take him may mean his/her children do not go to school. Let us be reasonable in this country. let us stop using power for the sake of it. Let us be in touch with the people and not just make them suffer. William Kituuka Kiwanuka ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- GOVERNMENT TRANSFERS 1,093 TEACHERS By AL-MAHDI SSENKABIRWA Posted Wednesday, January 9 2013 Weeks after transferring secondary school head teachers and deputies, the Ministry of Education has gone ahead to reshuffle 1,093 teachers in a similar move of trying to improve efficiency in public schools . According to Mr Francis Agula, the assistant commissioner secondary education, the majority of affected teachers have either overstayed in the schools and can longer perform while others do not have the required minimum work load of 24 lessons per week or have social problems. “Some of these teachers were under -loaded –meaning that they teach less than the required lessons yet there are schools with few teachers which need their services,” he said yesterday. Mr Agula said those who contest their transfer with sounding reasons, should report to their new stations and later appeal through their new supervisors. “By doing that, it will be evident that they have accepted the transfer and therefore, we can listen to their complaints,” he said. Background Last year, about 400 classroom teachers were transferred across the country but many continue to grapple with challenges of accommodation at schools where they were posted and a good number of them rent houses far from their work stations thus making them trek long distances to work. Last week, President Yoweri Museveni said his government had not given up on its promise to give decent accommodation to teachers and medical workers across the country and urged them to remain patient.