Non-essential? COVID-19 disruption to teachers’ economic citizenship in low-cost private schools in Kampala City

Education systems across the globe witnessed vast disruptions during the COVID-19 pandemic. In Uganda, the state categorised the education sector as ‘non-essential’ and schools closed for almost two years. Among other outcomes, the prolonged closure had ramifications for teachers in low-cost private schools whose main source of income was greatly disrupted. Building on the notions of economic and pandemic citizenship, we explore the redefined status, everyday practices, and feelings of teachers employed in low-cost private secondary schools located in Kampala’s slum areas during the COVID-19 pandemic. Based on a thematic analysis of qualitative interviews with teachers and head teachers, the article shows how their economic citizenship status changed when they were excluded from the ‘essential’ workforce which abrogated their right to work. Teachers’ practices demonstrated their flexibility in entering the informal sector – stretching restrictions when their survival required it – and their feelings towards the teaching profession were altered. We conclude that to be categorised as ‘non-essential’ was not only a manifestation of pandemic citizenship but also a more fundamental change in the economic citizenship of the teachers in low-cost private schooling, and in the education sector at large.