Students Stranded as Cameroon Teachers Strike, Demand Unpaid Salaries
Teachers in Cameroon are refusing to work, citing unpaid salaries,
some dating back years. Government-led negotiations Tuesday failed to
reach an agreement, putting the education of hundreds of thousands of
children on hold.
Students at Government Bilingual High School Deido in the city of Douala sing that the government should pay their teachers so children have access to education.
In the song, the children say their dreams of becoming government
ministers, doctors, journalists and entrepreneurs will be shattered if
the government fails to listen to teachers.
Architect David Muluh has three children in the school. He says he
visited the school on Wednesday to find out why teachers come to school
but refuse to teach and "because of COVID, children have not been
regular in school. If they continue losing [education] because their
teachers are on strike, the children’s future is jeopardized. So, my
plea is that the government should look into their problems.”
Muluh said school attendance in Cameroon has not been regular since the
central African state reported its first cases of COVID-19 in March
2020.
He said during the Africa Football Cup of Nations, which Cameroon hosted last month, the government interrupted classes so students could fill empty football stadiums. He said children have no time to waste if they are to prepare for this year’s final examinations, expected in May.
Ten Cameroon teachers’ associations and unions last week announced a
strike against what they call the disrespect of teachers by the
government.
The teachers say the monthly salaries of primary school teachers should
be increased from about $150 to at least $400. They are also asking the
salaries of secondary school teachers to be increased from about $400 to
at least $800.
Valentine Tameh, president of the Teachers’ Association of Cameroon,
says his colleagues are particularly angry because the government has
recruited more teachers than it can pay and now owes several years of
unpaid salaries.
"You have teachers who have gone for 9 years, 10 years, without salaries and the government has kept promising and kept promising and promising and what is most irksome is that those who have money, go and give bribes and they have their arrears, they have their salaries.”
The sides negotiated Tuesday, and the government promised to look into
the teachers’ grievances and pay the outstanding salaries of at least
17,000 teachers, though it did not say when.
A statement from Fouda Seraphin Magloire, secretary general of the prime
minister’s office, said the teachers agreed to suspend the strike.
Geography instructor Appolinnaire Ze, a spokesman for the disgruntled teachers, says the teachers agreed to no such thing.
Ze says all teachers should go to school, but should not teach. He says
school children should be calm and understand that teachers are going
through a very difficult time. Ze says teachers should be humble but
courageous to ask intimidating police and government officials if the
police and government officials can also work for so many years without
being paid.
The government denies that its officials and the police are trying to intimidate the teachers.
VOA
AFEEF:
Hadhwanaagnews marnaba masuul kama aha Aragtida dadka kale. Qoraaga ayaa xumaanteeda, xushmadeeda iyo xilkeeda sida. waxa kaliya oo Hadhwanaagmedia dhiirigalinaysaa, isdhaafsiga aragtida, canaanta gacaliyo talo wadaagga!