Guinea Contract Teachers in the Streets, Threaten More Strikes

The contract teachers in Guinea have resorted to public protests and are contemplating additional industrial actions due to their escalating grievances concerning payment arrears and lack of integration within the nation's public education system.

Related:

Guinea: Former PM Accused and Arrested for Alleged Corruption

According to the French news outlet RFI, demonstrators engaged in protests between April 24th and 30th in various regions of the West African state.

According to reports, several educators have remained unpaid for a duration of seven months, and the labor disruption occurs in proximity to the final-year assessments scheduled for the students a month hence.

As per a report by RFI, the Ministries of Territorial Administration and Pre-University Education have disclosed the implementation of salary disbursements. However, a concrete timeline for the same has not been established yet.

Nevertheless, the ministries have reiterated that it is imperative to update the contracts of teachers and meticulously screen out fraudulent cases prior to initiating any further actions.

“It is the first time that the two departments are examining the issue of contract teachers,” Alseny Mabinty Camara, the national coordinator for contract teachers, told RFI.

“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,” he said, remaining skeptical.

Uncertainties arise regarding the potential ramifications should the teachers' prospect of striking be actualized. “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,” said Camara.

Teachers’ strikes are frequently observed in Guinea, where one episode led to a fatal altercation with law enforcement personnel in February 2017. 

During the aforementioned period, a minimum of seven individuals perished as law enforcement officials engaged in confrontation with protesting scholars who were advocating in favor of the striking instructional personnel.

The primary teachers’ unions in Guinea initiated a strike in response to the government's removal or reduction of the salaries of numerous junior teachers after the civil service examinations, serving as a form of protest.