Over the weekend, an announcement came from the Ministry of Basic and Secondary Education stating that the crisis of the strike, which was spearheaded by the Coalition of Change Teacher Taskforce, has been resolved amicably. The ministry promised from henceforth endeavor to pay salaries on time and also pay the double shift allowances of teachers. On the issue of salary increment, they promised to look into it.
This is a win for not only the striking teachers, but also for our democracy. It could be recalled that the ministry initially reacted by threatening to take punitive measures against any teacher who fails to report to school without ‘genuine reason’.
The Gambia Teachers’ Union serving as inter-mediators were able to arrange a meeting between the protesting teachers and officials from the ministry.
This has been – or should be – an eye opener for all and sundry. It tells disgruntled folks (of whichever walk of life) that their voices can be heard and that they just have to be organized and have one voice