Your article (‘I’ll never go back’: Uganda’s schools at risk as teachers find new work during Covid, 30 September) correctly states that during the Covid lockdowns in Uganda the government has continued to pay state school teachers’ salaries, but goes on to claim that “promises to assist private school teachers have gone unfulfilled”.
There is a range of support for the private education sector. For schools, funds from the government’s Microfinance Support Centre are being dispersed from mid-October. For teachers, funds for schools are expected to be used in part to cover wages; additionally, for individuals there is also the government’s Covid relief cash scheme, which the authorities have already been paying out via mobile money to citizens most in need.
Certainly, private schools must provide evidence of being operational for two years or more. But the principle here is little different from the stipulations of the UK government’s furlough and bounce back loan schemes. In Uganda we may not have the same financial largesse but, in our way and within our own means, we are doing everything possible to assist.
Janet K Museveni
Minister for education and sports, government of Uganda
