The Catholic Church in Uganda has ordered for temporary suspension of salaries for all staff in church-founded schools due to the ongoing lockdown which has affected almost every business including schools.
In a letter issued by Rev Fr. Ronald Okello, the National Executive Secretary for Education at Uganda Catholic Secretariat, addressed to all Diocesan Education secretaries, he has asked them to temporarily suspend salaries for all their staff during this period.
“You need to notify your staff and mutually agree on unpaid leave especially those on contracts,” reads the letter in part.
“We further advise you to notify URA and NSSF to avoid penalties of statutory deductions. This is because we are not sure when the schools shall be opened,” Rev. Okello explains.
Recently, the Government through the Ministry of Education and Sports issued guidelines to all private schools to continue paying salaries of all their staff during this COVID-19 lockdown.
However, most of the school heads challenged this move on grounds that since most of the students had not fully paid school fees for first term, they have nothing to pay the teachers full salaries.
Other workers, meanwhile, cried to Government to discuss with banks and microfinance lending organizations to at least suspend interests on their loans because they don’t have income to service them which has left their homes and other belongings that were offered as security at stake.
In response to the COVID-19 pandemic outbreak in the country, President Museveni ordered the closure of all educational institutions and places of worship as per the preventive measures for the pandemic.
For almost four months now, these institutions are still closed without a clear sign on when they will resume operations.