Thousands of government-paid secondary school teachers in Uganda are not meeting their required teaching hours, with some not teaching at all, despite earning salaries, a new report has revealed.
According to findings from the Education Service Commission, over half (54.4%) of teachers on the government payroll are underutilised, and 1,255 teachers (4.2%) have no lessons assigned to them in the school timetable.
Meanwhile, many schools continue to hire additional teachers through the Parent-Teacher Association (PTA) to fill staffing gaps.
Teachers with No Workload
The Ministry of Education and Sports requires teachers to conduct at least 20 to 24 lessons per week, or a minimum of 18 if they teach both A-Level and O-Level.
However, the report found that many teachers are far below this threshold.
-348 teachers are assigned just one to four lessons per week.
-1,890 teachers teach at least nine lessons per week.
-3,572 teachers conduct between 10 to 14 lessons per week.
-11,553 teachers (30.8%) are fulfilling the required teaching load.
Some teachers are posted to schools where their subjects are not even offered.
In one case, a music teacher had not taught a single lesson since 2019 due to a lack of student interest but continued to receive a salary.
At another school, a History teacher was only assigned two lessons per week in “Life Skills,” while other schools with high student populations lacked enough History teachers.
Schools with More Teachers
In some cases, schools have more teachers than necessary for their student numbers. The report cites Rwamiramira Community SS in Kibaale, which has 192 students but 26 teachers.
Beatrice Byakutaga, a member of the Education Service Commission, said some teachers end up teaching subjects they are not qualified for just to fill the timetable.
While some teachers remain underutilized, others are overwhelmed with excessive workloads. The report found that 2,189 teachers are handling more than 24 lessons per week.
James Bato, deputy head teacher at Kitante Hill School, said teachers of technical subjects, Kiswahili, and Physical Education often struggle with heavy workloads.
“Some schools have many streams, meaning a single teacher may handle multiple classes, while others have fewer students and a lighter workload,” he explained.
Calls for Action
Filbert Baguma, General Secretary of the Uganda National Teachers’ Union (UNATU), blamed poor teacher deployment on government mismanagement.
“The government has tracking systems in place, such as the Teacher Management Information System (TMIS) and the Teacher Employment and Learning Application (TELA), which should ensure proper allocation of teachers,” he said.
According to Dr. Kedrace Turyagenda, a senior official at the Ministry of Education, the government is reviewing teacher deployment and will soon reassign those with low workloads to schools where they are needed.
She also warned that schools hiring PTA teachers in subjects where government-paid teachers are underutilized must stop.
“We will not allow schools to claim they need more teachers when those on the payroll are not fully engaged,” she said.
With thousands of students lacking enough teachers, the government faces growing pressure to fix the imbalances in teacher deployment and ensure efficient use of public funds.
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