Thousands of children enrolled in free public schools under the ‘Go to School’ campaign are idling at home as a teachers’ strike continues into the sixth day.
The strike, which started last Thursday, has disrupted learning for more than 50,000 primary school children just five months after the campaign began.
The teachers at the 12 schools established by the ‘Go to School’ campaign went on strike after working for four months without receiving full payment. Each teacher was promised a monthly salary of $200, according to Mohamed Amin Abdullahi Aden, the spokesperson of the teachers on strike.
“We only got the salary for one month and a half ($300) paid through EVC, a mobile money transfer system,” Aden told Radio Ergo’s local reporter in Mogadishu.
The 318 teachers in public schools are each missing $700 for the five month period, Aden said. Before announcing the strike, the teachers said they tried to communicate with the leadership of the education sector, but nobody would address their complaint.
“When you are hired as a teacher, there are responsibilities you should execute. We have been doing our duties for more than five months without getting paid, but we are now stating that we have halted those duties until we get our salaries,” said Aden.
Radio Ergo’s reporter in Mogadishu said no single ‘Go to School’ institution was currently operating in Mogadishu due to the strike. Somali government officials were not immediately available to comment on the teachers’ strike. The ‘Go to School’ campaign aims to enrol one million school age children over the next three years.
MR
