Teachers across the country have stood up to call for better conditions of service.
It could be recalled that the Government of President Julius Maada Bio promised the people of Sierra Leone better conditions of service and an enviable profession upon the launch of his Flagship Project, “The Free Quality Education” (FQE).
The teachers say two years after the president assumed office, a 30% increment was made to the salary of each pin coded teacher and that two years had passed since that sum was added to their take-home and nothing more was added to it.
“We have seen the harmonisation of salaries of Civil Servants and other officials of the Ministries Departments and Agencies (MDAs), ranging from grade 9 down to 14 as recent as March 2022. We have also witnessed increment of the salaries of politicians but teachers have been abandoned to starve” the aggrieved teachers stated.
They added thus: “We have again witnessed the salary increment of Lecturers by 50% in two instalments, while the Minister of MBSSE said government cannot pay us more than this because we are the largest workforce.”