Teachers in Lira municipality are facing an acute shortage of housing forcing many of them to walk long distances from their homes to the schools.
Less than 30% of primary school teachers in the municipality are accommodated within their work stations and a result majority of teachers are left renting in the town outskirts.
Out of the 466 teachers in 19 schools in Lira town, only 120 are accommodated at their schools while the rest commute from outside, and a result some of them reach school when they are already too tired to teach.
Erute, Starch Factory, Aduku road and Lira army primary are among the schools with poor teachers’ accommodation coverage.
At Lira Army primary school, out of 23 teachers only two including the headmaster Simon Peter Obonyo, are accommodated within the school while the rest commute from different places within town. This sometimes makes it difficult for them to perform effectively especially during the rainy season.
Frances Jane Offungi, Lira Municipal principal education officer, told URN that the coverage of teachers’ accommodation is appalling blaming the problem on insufficient funds sent from the government to cater for teachers’ welfare.
In the financial year 2011/2012, Lira Municipality received 300 million shillings to construct teacher’s houses.
Offungi says teachers who do not reside within their work stations face difficulties and that during the rainy seasons such teachers are always absent, adding that as an administrator you cannot hold them accountable.
Simon Peter Obonyo, head teacher Lira Army primary school in Central Division, where only 2 out of 26 teachers have accommodation, also said lack of teachers’ accommodation promotes absenteeism.
He claimed that when a teacher who is not accommodated at school is absent from work, it is hard to establish the truth.
In an attempt to motivate those who are not accommodated, the ministry of defense in conjunction with the school management committee pays additional 55,000 shillings to each teacher monthly to facilitate them on rent and transport costs.
But Lawrence Ogwal, the head teacher Aduku Road primary school, where only two teachers out 15 are accommodated, says poor teachers’ accommodation remains a problem, but it cannot affect the pupils’ performance.
Ogwal says some lazy teachers have turned it into trick to absentee themselves from duty and blame it on weather especially during the rainy season.
