Gulu Teachers Urged Against Multiple Loans

The Education Department in Gulu District has urged primary school teachers to avoid taking on multiple loans, citing concerns over how this affects their performance.

Jackline Akello, the Gulu District Education Officer, revealed that some teachers spend excessive time visiting various financial institutions in search of loans, diverting their focus from their teaching duties. 

“As a result of taking on multiple loans, some teachers have been removed from the payroll system. If a teacher has three loans to service, the system sometimes fails to recognize them. Our Human Resources department has informed us that this is a significant issue,” she explained.

Akello further noted that teachers burdened with multiple loans often struggle to concentrate on their work, as they are frequently evading collection efforts from lending institutions.

“Ultimately, the teacher is left with nothing, yet they have a family to care for. During school inspections, we found that teachers with multiple loans are often absent from work, and when they are at home, they are unreachable by phone due to the fear of being arrested by microfinance institutions,” she added.

Inadequate preparation by teachers was a recurring issue in more than three-quarters of the schools inspected during a recent evaluation by the District Executive Committee.

Akello advised teachers to access loans from central banks, limiting themselves to one loan at a time to prevent it from negatively impacting their focus on teaching.

“Central banks are formal institutions that do not allow borrowers to take loans that will deduct their entire salary. Microfinance institutions, on the other hand, do not consider the borrower’s ability to repay, which can have a detrimental impact on their finances,” she explained.

The district plans to prioritize financial literacy training for teachers in the 2025/2026 financial year to help address these challenges.

Her comments followed a suggestion from Okello Kenneth, the councilor representing workers at the Gulu District Council, who called for financial literacy training for teachers to mitigate the problem.

“You will often find a teacher borrowing large sums of money to build a house in the village. This house does not generate any income, yet the teacher must repay the loan monthly while also being expected to focus on teaching,” Okello remarked.

In 2023, Gulu District recorded 34 first-grade pupils out of 1,881 candidates who sat for the Primary Leaving Examinations (PLE).

The district has 599 teachers spread across its 47 government-aided primary schools, with primary school teachers in government schools earning just over 500,000 shillings.