By Tabora Bojang
Vice President Muhammed BS Jallow had to apologise to the teaching fraternity yesterday after coming under fire for his claim in the National Assembly that some teachers earn more than National Assembly Members.
He made the claim while addressing concerns put to him about the low wage of teachers during a parliamentary debate on the State of the Nation Address last week.
VP Jallow ‘s exact words: “I know that some NAMs feel that the teachers are not having much, but I can assure you that some teachers may actually earn more than some National Assembly Members at the end of the day. We are all teachers. Sometimes we can behave like we are poor but what we take home is more than what you lawmakers take home.”
The comments sparked public outrage among citizens and teachers across the country with several teachers going online to post their salary slips and contrasting it with the huge pay check of parliamentarians.
Investigative outlet, Malagen, conducted a fact-check on the matter and discovered that the salary of one parliamentarian is equivalent to the combined monthly income of seven graduate tearchers .
“Lawmakers earn a total gross monthly income of approximately between D145,000 to D150,000 while a graduate teacher under Grade 8 of the civil service pay scale receives a basic salary of D9,417 and even factoring in all applicable allowances, their total gross earnings amount to only D22,426 per month,” Malagen reported, dismissing the VP’s remarks as false.
The fndings by Malagen and other voices piled pressure on the VP who was forced to issue an apology and a clarification.
His office said the VP had no intention to offend or undermine the noble teaching profession and that his statement referencing teachers remuneration relative to members of the National Assembly was made in good faith, as an expression of appreciation for the significant progress achieved in improving teachers’ welfare.
“In light of the concerns raised by the teaching fraternity and the public, the vice president sincerely regrets any misunderstanding or unintended offence caused by his remarks and extends his heartfelt apologies to all teachers through the Gambia Teachers’ Union and to anyone who may have been affected,” the statement concluded.
The president of the Gambia Teachers Union Ismaila Ceesay told The Standard that the vice president’s apology is accepted.
“As soon as those remarks were made, the Union reached to him [VP Jallow] directly, and he regretted the statement. He is a very humble man and a former experienced educationist,” the GTU president said.
The teachers’ president also used the occasion to call for the fast tracking of teachers’ retention and professional allowances.
“The basic salary of teachers is very small and that is why a lot of teachers became very furious when they heard the vice president comparing their wages to those of NAMs. But the good thing is that we hope that this whole saga will serve as a wakeup call for the government to consider approving our allowances because we do not have the powers to increase our own salaries just as the National Assembly Members did with their own ,” he said..
