By Tabora Bojang
The Gambia Teachers Union, GTU, called on all teachers in grant-aided schools (schools government support in paying teachers salaries) to put their tools down beginning today until further notice.
The union said the strike is necessitated by non-payment of November salaries for board schools in the senior secondary category and government’s failure to honour the payment of School’s Improvement Grant (SIG) for mission schools.
It warned it will call a nationwide strike if these demands are not met before closure of work on Tuesday.
The GTU president, Ismaila Ceesay, warned in an interview with The Standard last month that the union may declare a sit-down strike if the government fails to honour payment of SIG among other precarious situations faced by schools and teachers.
The SIG was introduced following the abolition of school fees in public schools and is meant to reduce parental education costs and help schools to financially address their basic needs, including payment of ancillary staff and provision of teaching and learning materials.
But according to Ceesay, payment of the grant to schools has not been made at the right time, causing serious problems for the schools. He added that the government only acts when it is pushed to the wall by the union.
In a statement issued on Saturday the union said it has made repeated efforts to address this issue through “dialogue and negotiation” but the government failed to honour its commitment causing “significant distress and financial hardship” for members of the union and the affected schools.
“This industrial action is an urgent and necessary response to the Ministry of Finance’s blatant disregard for the livelihood of teachers and ancillary staff in the affected schools,” President Ceesay said.
Meanwhile, as we were about to go to press last evening, the Ministry of Finance released a statement clarifying that “all payments were processed on Friday, November 29.
