Makerere University lecturers in the department of Journalism and Communication and the School of Law have stopped teaching evening classes, decrying the failure by the University Management to pay their incentives allowances.
The lectures say that the incentives earlier promised by the University have not been paid yet unlike other Colleges, they are face extra workload equivalent to teaching two programs (day and evening) without extra pay.
SoftPower News has obtained a copy of a letter stating the decision by lecturers in the Department of Journalism and Communication to cease offering lessons to evening lessons following a departmental meeting held last week in which a unanimous resolution was reached.
In his letter written on Monday, to the Principal College of Humanities and Social Sciences (CHUSS) of Makerere University, Dr William Tayebwa, the Acting Dean of the Department of Journalism and Communication, said; “I write to inform you that during our staff meeting held on Thursday January 25, all staff in this Department unanimously decided to withdraw their services on the evening undergraduate program”.
The lecturers argue that the evening program of the Journalism and Communication class consists of several students that pay significant amounts of money in tuition fees.
“We noted during this meeting that the University has failed to honor the promise to remunerate staff teaching on the evening program, which as you know is after the Public Service stipulated working time,” Tayebwa wrote.
They say that the decision does not affect the students on the graduate program as the fate of the said students is yet to be discussed conclusively.
“As a Department, we bring to the CHUSS a significant number of well paying students on the evening program. For that reason, the staff teaching on that program should be remunerated accordingly,” Dr Tayebwa added.
In the meantime, all journalism students who have been attending evening classes have been advised to merge with those on the day program.
Just last week, lecturers in the Makerere School of Law announced that they had stopped teaching evening classes for the same reason of remuneration. Subsequently, the University Deputy Vice Chancellor for Finance and Administration, Prof William Bazeyo met with administrators in the School of Law and the University Bursar to resolve the issue.
In a subsequent letter, the Deputy Vice Chancellor for Academics, Prof Okello Ogwang said that all allowances relating to Colleges that offer evening classes were available and would be paid in the course of this week.
However, Harriet Musinguzi, the Public Relations Officer for the School of Law told SoftPower News on Monday that the teaching staff were not satisfied with the outcomes of the meeting and that the classes are still on hold. The University Management is still in negotiations with the lecturers.