Following the re-opening of the 2006/7 school academic year, teachers across the 6 educational regions in the country have called for significant increments in their basic salaries and improvement of their working conditions, especially teachers in regions 5 and 6 who claim to be struggling to maintain their families in that end of the country.

According to some teachers who spoke to The Point, “we should not boast of quality education in this country when teachers throughout the country continue to live underprivileged lives.”

They also called on the Department of State for Education to allow them (teachers) to speak their minds freely and inform government about their problems and concerns.

The teachers stressed that they need a salary increment, good conditions and further training opportunities so that they could deliver well in their classes.

According to the teachers, they are not asking for brand new cars to the expense of tax payers but what they are asking for is salary increment.

The teachers called on the National Assembly Education Committee and the authorities concerned to take note of their problems seriously.

Many teachers also commended the Speaker of the National Assembly, Mrs Belinda Bidwell, for organizing an open forum with the representatives of teachers across the country at the National Assembly grounds last May when problems affecting teachers were tabled before the NAMs and DoSE partners.

Responding to the teachers’ claims, the Deputy Permanent Secretary for Education, Mr Kunkung Jobarteh, said his institution is not to determine the increment of salaries for teachers, adding that teachers are civil servants whose salaries are increased once in a year.

DPS Jobarteh added that zonal allowance, Fast Track Initiative (FTI) and double-shift teaching are all incentives for teachers, that can sustain them in the teaching profession.