In Guinea, contract teachers have been experiencing increasing dissatisfaction for several months. The movement is gaining momentum one month before the exams. People from all across the country held several protests between April 24th and April 30th.
They are demanding their integration into the public service and the payment of salary arrears. Some have not received pay for seven months. The authorities must take their demands into account or they will strike.
Three days ago, the Ministry of Territorial Administration and the Ministry of Pre-university Education announced the long-awaited payment of salaries, though no date has yet been set. One condition, however, is that the file of contract teachers is first updated, and purged of cases of fraud. Work already in progress, assure the authorities.
“It is the first time that the two departments are examining the issue of contract teachers,” explains Alseny Mabinty Camara, the national coordinator for contract teachers. This minister has made many promises in the past that have never been fulfilled, so we remain unsatisfied and wait to see how the content of this press release will be implemented.
A shadow now hangs over the end-of-year exams. “Today, the truth is that the correct organization of national examinations is threatened in more ways than one. The day we decide to leave the classrooms entirely, that will negatively affect the proper functioning of national exams,” warns Alseny Mabinty Camara.
Five years have passed since contract teachers, recruited under Alpha Condé, began demanding their rights, including their integration into the public service.