A group of aggrieved teachers have hinted at a potential protest action over working condition, raising doubts over the timely reopening of schools in Sierra Leone.
Schools in the country are expected to resume in early September for the new academic year, after the long summer break.
The aggrieved teachers, operating under the name ‘Concerned Teachers,’ are a faction of the Sierra Leone Teachers’ Union (SLT) who are unhappy with the way the main union is handling their grievances over pay and working condition. They have therefore taken to championing their own cause through a parallel body.
They became very prominent following the launch of the government’s free education scheme for primary and secondary schools.
“The expectation of teachers were high, considering the fact that the flagship program of the government is a free and quality education,” the group said in a statement seen by APA on Tuesday.
The group is particularly irked by the fact that the new administration has implemented improved working and pay conditions for several institutions and professionals, notably the military and
medical doctors.
“Teachers continue to live in deplorable condition, with very little to take home at the end of the month to face the high economic inflation in the country,” the statement signed by the group’s
Secretary General, Abdul MB Massaquoi, said.
“Considering the demands and expectation on service delivery from teachers and to meet with the unstable inflating economic situation in the country, Concern Teachers are therefore calling on the government Of Sierra Leone and SLTU to inform them that if the salary of teachers are not increased by 300 percent by end of August 2019, teachers will down tools and won’t report for work in September 2019/20 academic year,” it warned.
KC/abj/as/APA