There is some confusion on the plan by government to increase salaries of secondary school arts teachers in the next financial year (FY 2025-2026) starting July 01, 2025.
In July 2022, government prioritized the salary enhancement of science teachers, leaving behind their arts counterparts of the same academic qualifications and experience.
Since then, arts teachers have been pushing for harmonization of salaries to close the gap between their salaries and those of science teachers – with whom they teach the same students
Currently, the salary of a graduate arts secondary school teachers (education officers – EOs) on government payroll is about Shs 840,000, while arts teachers with diplomas (assistant education officers – AEOs) take home about Shs 600,000 every month.
In 2022, government raised salaries of graduate science teachers (education officers – EOs from Shs1.2m to Shs4m, and the monthly pay of science teachers with diplomas (assistant education officers – AEOs) rose from Shs930,000 to about Shs2.2m.
In the run-up to every financial year’s budgeting process, arts teachers have been hoping that government will find money to raise their salaries.
In January 2025, arts teachers under their umbrella body Uganda Professional Humanities Teachers Union (UPHTU) renewed their complaints.
UPHTU secretary general Francis Muteesasira painted a worrying picture of the situations arts teachers go through with the meagre salaries in the face of increased cost of living.
“Our [salaries are] not even equivalent to school fees paid by students we teach in secondary schools. We have other bills to meet like school fees for our children and in rented homes,” said Muteesasira.
“How does the government expect us to operate with low salaries yet we are tasked to produce better results?”
The UPHTU secretary general also made it clear to government that arts teachers have continued to “work diligently with disgruntled hearts” and that they “deserve fair treatment because we share the same or even more working load than science teachers.”
Uganda Professional Humanities Teachers Union leaders also expressed concern that government had omitted them in their five-year salary enhancement plan.
The implementation of the plan started in the 2024-2025 financial year (FY2024-2025) and targets civil servants who still earn below 77 per cent of the approved salary targets.
“We learned with great shock that arts teachers were left out of the government’s five-year salary enhancement plan which came into effect in 2024-25 covering those earning below 77 per cent of the approved salary targets,” said UPHTU vice president Teopista Akello at the union’s offices in Kampala in January 2025.
“This omission is a bitter blow for arts teachers, and some have begun to lose hope of seeing any tangible changes.”
Those whose salaries were raised in the current financial year include secondary school headteachers and deputy headteachers with science qualifications, as well as police, prisons and UPDF officers. (See Details Here and There).
CONFUSION
As of today, there is confusion on whether government really plans to raise arts teachers’ salaries or not. The confusion was recently amplified by comments made by Prime Minister Robinah Nabbanja on the plan to raise arts teachers’ salaries in the next financial year. (Read what Nabbanja said Here).
Yet there is no formal commitment on enhancing salaries of arts teachers starting July 01, 2025.
The budgeting process offers some clues on government’s plan on this issue.
In April 2025, the Ministry of Education and Sports as well as that of Finance, Planning and Economic Development presented budget estimates of up to Shs843.9bn for the education sector to Parliament’s Committee on Education and Sports.
Junior minister in charge of planning said there was no money to raise salaries of arts teachers in the next financial year.
“We still have a challenge with mobilising resources,” said Amos Lugoloobi, the state minister for finance (planning).
Junior minister for higher education John Chrysostom Muyingo explained that about Shs200bn of the education sector budget would come from external sources, and that they have been secured for specific purposes, not salary enhancement.
“All the additional resources provided to the Ministry are not discretionary but earmarked for specific activities,” noted Minister Muyingo.
“This implies that the fiscal space available to the Ministry to implement emerging priorities is still very limited.”
Previously, public service ministry’s permanent secretary said that salaries of arts teachers would probably be increased in 2026. (See Details Here).
You can see the full salary structure showing how much each government employee category earns every month, as well as the list of Uganda’s most highly paid government employees Here and There.
For comments on this report, story tips or sponsored content, send us a Whatsapp message on +256 705 690 819 or E-mail us on pearltimesug@gmail.com).
Please Follow our Whatsapp Channel for More Stories Here
