By Mabinty M Kamara
The standoff between aggrieved polytechnic lecturers and the Ministry of Education over conditions of service has continued is set to continue after government has failed to meet the lecturers’ demand.
The strike action by the lecturers has gone into its fourth week.
The aggrieved lecturers of polytechnic institutes and colleges are vowing not to reverse their industrial action until their demands are met as promised by the public relations officer (PRO) of the Education Ministry at the start of the strike action.
Brima Micheal Turay, PRO at the Ministry of Education, told journalists last month at a press conference at the Ministry of Information that the government had agreed to meet the demands of the lecturers by looking into the long running review of their salaries and backlog salaries.
“We have invited them for a meeting tomorrow to still share with them the good news. This is now a good news because no matter what, if you have not been paid two months’ salary and you now have a guarantee that in the first week of July they are going to give you your backlog plus your new salary and the demand for 50% salary increments, I think that calls for celebration,” Mr Turay said.
The lecturers, according to the expectations of the government, were to resume lectures whiles they waited for the first week of July.
That did not happen. Mohamed Shaw, vice president of the striking lecturers, who is president of the Freetown Teachers’ College, told Politico on Monday that they did attend the meeting that was called by the ministry which ended in further promises of a settlement.
“We attended the meeting. They promised us again that they were going to meet our demands by the first week of July. They asked that we resume teaching whiles we waited for the stipulated date,” he said, adding that they told the ministry that they were going to consult their members.
“But they [lecturers] turned down that request of resuming lectures and the general membership is greater than the executive,” Shaw said.
The Education ministry spokesman did not return our calls or text message requesting for comments on the matter.
Meanwhile, thousands of students of the five institutions involved in this strike action remain stuck at home amidst uncertainty about the future of their academic lives.
© Politico 12/07/16
