Whereas the leadership of Uganda National Teachers Union (UNATU) has vowed to push on with the teaches' strike in a protracted battle over salary increase, in a dramatic twist of events, some teachers have succumbed to the government's plea to have them turn up in classrooms, The Sunrise has established.

This follows Government's commitment to raise their pay by 15 percent this financial year.

Some of the teachers this newspaper talked to said that this increment, though meager, is better than coming out empty-handed.  

John Nsambu, a primary teacher at Shimoni Demonstration School said: "It's doubtful that we shall have the 100 percent rise, some of us have decided to go with teaching as we await what comes out in the next budget."

However, UNATU Secretary General Teopista Birungi dismissed her colleagues who are willing to teach, as being unprincipled.

"Such teachers are blind-folded by government's short promises which promises may never come to pass, what shall work for us as teachers is to agree and work together as a force," said Birungi.

Notwithstanding the teachers' change of heart to turn up for duty, UNATU has vowed to push on with the pay rise that will see the lowest paid teacher earn Ushs. 500,000 a month.

There are about 130,000 teachers on government payroll, all of which want an immediate salary increase. This push for higher pay has forced government to declare its bankruptcy, arguing that they don't have the funds to effect the teachers' demands.  

The ministry of public service states that effecting salary increments for all teachers would require Ushs. 87 billion a month, an act that would push the wage bill up and beyond what government could afford at the moment given the dire economic squeeze the country is facing.

"When we met the relevant government ministries and the President, we came up with resolutions which were both signed by we the teachers' representatives and government. The crucial part of the resolutions was that we would get our salary raised by 100 percent and government didn't find problems with that.

We are now surprised by the twist of events and government's dishonesty," said Teopista Birungi, the UNATU Secretary General in an interview with The Sunrise.

The teachers' salary concern has been a sticky issue, with various stakeholders, including parliament, calling on government to heed the teachers' plight.

However, when the problem followed a weird tangent, Prime Minister Amama Mbabazi, in a special meeting with Resident District Commissioners and District Education Officers, warned teachers against striking, threatening to delete their names from government payroll.