Higher Qualification but Lower Jobs: Experiences of Women Teachers in Primary Schools of Uganda

Abstract

Sixty female teachers and nine district education officers from three districts of Uganda participated in this study. The researchers were interested in the invisible female primary teachers who upgraded their qualifications with the hope of increasing their chances of promotion to higher positions within the education sector. The objectives of the study were; to identify reasons inspiring female teachers to upgrade and to assess to what extent female teachers expectations were met after upgrading their qualifications. Results shoe that the government policy is that a primary teacher is “grade three’ with appropriate remuneration and benefits as policy. The affirmative policies inspired a large number of female grade three teachers to upgrade but their expectations were not met and are gravely frustrated at district and school levels. The following are recommendations; the Ministry of Education and Sports should revise the policy of remuneration so that qualifications of teachers are taken into consideration, the District Education officers should endeavor to implement the government policy of equal opportunities to promotion for both genders as recommended by the White Paper (1992).

DOI: 10.5901/jesr.2013.v3n5p125