This week, the Minister of Finance presented a budget of 96 billion CFA francs to the Assembly for teachers in 2024, partially addressing the concerns of public school teachers participating in the “OTS” movement from kindergarten to high school since the beginning of the academic year.
The announcement of the 96 billion allocation follows a series of “working sessions with authorities” and a first meeting at the General Secretariat of the Presidency. However, the response is deemed insufficient by the Cameroon Teachers’ Union for Africa.
The “OTS” movement, meaning “We’ve Endured Too Much,” commenced in February 2022 and was joined by the Cameroon Teachers’ Union for Africa (SECA). This year, the movement resumed on September 4, 2023. The “dead chalk” strike tactic used by OTS involves teachers reporting to their posts on workdays, and signing the attendance register, but refraining from conducting classes, rendering them immune to absenteeism sanctions.
The government has convened multiple “working sessions” with teacher unions since September. On November 22, for the first time, the unions were received at the General Secretariat of the Presidency (SGPR) by a technical advisor.