As the school bells prepare to ring for the final academic term of the year, Uganda’s classrooms may echo with an unexpected sound: absolute silence.
In a dramatic and defiant move, teachers across Uganda have announced they will not return to their schools on September 15, 2025.
Instead of standing at blackboards, they plan to stay home, doing their chores, until the state appreciates their work.
“This time round, let the empty classrooms speak for us,” declared the Uganda National Teachers’ Union (UNATU) in a statement that had the tone of both a warning and a weary sigh. “Let our absence from the school compounds be louder than the excuses from government.”
The announcement follows what many now view as a failed attempt at diplomacy. On July 4, UNATU had called off a previous strike in good faith, expecting that government would finally come to the negotiation table.
But instead of progress, they say all they’ve heard since is the sound of silence.
Filbert Baguma, the UNATU Secretary General, minced no words. “We suspended industrial action to give space for dialogue,” he said. “But the only thing we’ve received since is the same thing our payslips have shown, nothing.”
The decision to officially down tools was sealed during a special session of UNATU’s National Executive Council, held at the Teachers House in Kampala.
According to Baguma, the strike is not just an act of defiance, but a last resort after years of dashed hopes and ignored letters.
At the heart of the dispute is a yawning salary gap, one the teachers argue has left thousands of primary and post-primary and other education institution educators stranded on the wrong side of a promise.
While some colleagues are enjoying a dazzling 300% salary boost following the 2022/2023 budget cycle, others were left clutching outdated pay slips and even older frustrations.
UNATU says they’ve exhausted every polite avenue: letters to the President’s office, appeals to the Head of Public Service, petitions to the Ministries of Public Service and Education, and even a formal plea to the Equal Opportunities Commission.
Each effort, they claim, has been met with a bureaucratic shrug.
“We’ve waited. We’ve listened. We’ve trusted. Now, we’re done,” Baguma declared, adding that three years is long enough to wait for a promise that seems perpetually postponed.
Zadock Tumuhimbise, UNATU’s national chairperson, emphasized that this strike is not about politics, it’s about fairness.
“This action is lawful, peaceful, and necessary,” he said. “No teacher should be left behind. All teachers matter,” he added.
And while the doors to schools may remain locked next week, the message behind the picket lines couldn’t be clearer: If you won’t hear our voices, hear our absence.
“By staying away,” Tumuhimbise said, “we are not abandoning learners, we’re standing up for a better future for them too. Because teachers who are hungry, underpaid and ignored cannot be expected to inspire a generation.”
With just days to go before term begins, the ball is now firmly in the government’s court. But unless a miracle lands on someone’s desk in the next few days, Uganda’s classrooms may open on September 15 to nothing but the whisper of empty chairs, quiet compound, and a protest no one can ignore.
