It is not long since the 27th of February following the letter sent to the ministry of Education on an anticipated strike amongst the Francophone teachers on various grievances. The letter titled “Notice of strike”.  enumerates the grievances of thousands of teachers who complain about the conditions that have been thereupon completion of their trainings-graduation. With these complaints, thousands of indignant teachers threatened to go on strike on 27 March.

Pic credit- The standard tribune

The Ministry promised to look into the concerns and the teachers gave a deadline of a month else the would be strike on the 27th of march would be eminent. These include , the ineffectiveness of their care after leaving the teachers’ training colleges, the payment of arrears, the long wait for wages, among others.

The French teachers seems to have taken advantage of the Anglophone teachers’ strike and would want to use this to better their working conditions.

There is panic in the ministry of secondary education as this might add more salt into the existing injuries. The Ministry has not succeeded to get schools started in the anglophone zones for public exams to take place and avoid a blank school year, and if the Francophone  schools could join, this would be so obvious that they have labored in vain earlier than expected.

According to sources from CIN, They learned that MINESEC intended to bring the concerns raised by the outraged teachers through the attention of the inter-ministerial ad hoc committee responsible for finding lasting solutions to teachers’ problems.

Jack Bessala, the spokesperson for the collective representative of the indigenes of teachers says these are still words and would wait to see that such promises are transformed into action.

If the strike should hold, it might also hasten the solution to the Anglophone grievances everything being equal.