There is a government official who is reported to have urged teachers,who feel let down by the government, to get into the business of transporting people on motorcycles. She, in effect, urged them to try their talents out of the classroom.

This opinion of the Ugandan official raised a lot of hot air.The teacher's union was up in arms.... How dare she?...... Was she not aware that because we are, the nation is!!!!..... They bought advertising space in the dailies and declared that the concerned minister should apologize and the appointing authority should fire her.

Well as at the writing of this blogpost, the said official is still in complete control of her ministerial seat and to my knowledge the teacher's union is yet to come good on their threats.

I have been an active teacher in my earlier life. I know, first hand, what it means to wait for that salary at the end of the month. A salary that would only serve to pay for the accumulated debts of the earlier month.

I know what it means to teach the child of a rich man and to admire the attachment that this man would have with his own. I know what it means for me to walk into a class of well heeled students whose only concern was that they did not get enough pocket money. Pocket money that would triple my monthly salary.

So when I saw and heard the minister uttering her opinion, blood rushed to my head. I was so hot under the collar that I felt I would choke with the bile that was rushing at my throat. I screamed at the television hoping that she would hear me. I sat down. I stood up. I walked around. Then I forced my excited heart to calm down.

With a calm and collected mind, I did realize that there is a gem of truth in this idea. The minister was simply saying that teachers should value their labour. If employer Y does not pay well, they should consider employer Z. Or better still, they should try their hands at their own business. It is known to all and sundry that running a business is much better that being employed in one.

In this Information Age, the minister had laid out the golden rule of survival. The teacher's union choose to see it through the lens of the Industrial Age. An age where being an employee was critical to survival. Fortunately, that age is long gone.

It would serve the leadership of the union to invite the minister for tea so that she can share many such ideas that would cause them to reflect at the source of the problem.

I know of many teachers who long realized that they can get better pay elsewhere. They realized that they are the cause of their circumstance and only they can redeem themselves. They may no longer be a part of what many call 'The noble profession' but at least they are putting their educational knowledge to effective use.

They have deployed their resources in a manner that is true to the spirit of what was once known as a learned profession and its proud members referred to as learned friends.





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