Teachers in Church founded schools who are single or cohabiting should get married or risk losing their jobs, the Bishop of Mukono diocese, James Williams Ssebagala has said.
Following this report, UG Christian News has identified that there are over 4,904 Primary Schools, 460 Secondary Schools, 50 post-Primary schools, including Vocational Training Schools, and 6 Universities that are over seen by the Church of Uganda.
Should the directive be implemented, a significant number of teachers facilitating approximately 3.7 million students enrolled in these educational institutions will undoubtedly face termination.
Bishop James Williams Ssebagala while meeting the Church of Uganda founded schools’ headteachers at Saints Philip and Andrew’s Cathedral in Mukono on Thursday said the Anglican church had been lenient towards the unmarried teachers for along while.
“Such characters get involved in teacher-student relationships and are responsible for the increasing cases of defilement in schools. The same fellows engage in love affairs with their fellow teachers,” he said, according to a state linked news daily.
The Church had organised a mass wedding for all the teachers in the church founded schools, Bishop Ssebagala said, and the costs, he added, will be met by the diocese.
The Bishop also said the church does not recognize civil marriages and, therefore, asked those in such marriages to get ready for the mass wedding.
Ms Suzan Wamala Sserunkuma, the chairperson of Mukono Church of Uganda Headteachers Association confirmed this report to the News Vision, stating that the church is doing unmarried teachers a favor.
“Some of them may perceive it negatively as if the church is infringing on their personal life, but in the long run, they will realize that the church is doing them a favor. They must therefore welcome the idea,” she said.
She stated that the Church would not force the single ones to get married, but it was putting emphasis in the ones who had been living together as couples for some time, but had failed to be joined in Holy Matrimony.
The Rev Geoffrey Kagoya, the Mukono Diocese education secretary told the New Vision that the mass wedding would be conducted on November 28 at the Cathedral.
“Many teachers have cited the lack of money as the major reason for not getting married. For that reason, the diocese will provide almost everything, the gowns, food, cake, and transport,” he said
Rev Kagoya said teachers who are not married were to blame for defilement in schools and love affairs amazing teachers. He said these teachers had lost opportunities of becoming headteachers because they were not married.
Teachers, according to the report, have been given between now and November to perform their traditional marriages and wait for the day of the mass wedding.
By Staff Writer.
