By William Madouk
As schools, country wide open today, thousands of learners in Northern Bahr El Ghazal State (NBGs) will miss classes as teachers vow keep gates locked over their sliced pay.
According to the national ministry of general education and instruction, the education calendar commences today, February 5th 2024, to May 10th 2024.
But, in a petition to the national minister of general education, Awut Deng, the dissatisfied teacher said they are demanding the release of SSP 214 million, which has been deducted from their salary for the month of July.
Teachers’ representative, who identified himself as Luka Lual, said they have been having issues with deductions for the months of June and July 2023, which total 214 million.
“Of which we raise the complaint against the payment committee led by James Liai, and that committee formed by the national government brought this money, but the money brought a conflict between the teachers of NBGs and the police commissioner,” he said.
He added that they met with the minister last Friday over the matter but failed to offer an amicable solution, forcing teachers to downgrade.
“The teachers said the schools will not be open unless their issue is solved, and if that thing is not solved, the school will not be open, and they are not ready to teach,” Lual noted.
Another teacher from Aweil, Joseph Alou, explained that “you have heard the issues of teachers since January, and up to this time, the NBGs teachers have been raising complaints about the salary cuts for the month of July.”
“Afterward, we complained to the committee, and the committee released that money to the ministry, and then the ministry of finance interfered and took the money,” lamented.
Another teacher who identified himself as Lino alleged that there’s concrete evidence that money was released by the national government, but unfortunately, they were only paid SSP5, 000, which a section of them rejected.
“NBGs teachers have heard that the portion of cut salaries has been released by the national government, but it was not given to us; only five thousand per each is the one release, and the big balance remains,” he alleged.
“So, this problem is telling us that we have not been given our rights, and we are fighting for the right course of action for teachers in NBGs unless the remaining portion of slashed salaries is given to us to go back to classes,” he added.
Also, Yel Yel, one complaining tutor, said, “We went through so many procedures, and they promised us that they would pay us back, and the national committee was able to pay back the cut in salaries.”
“And within the ministry of general education, we don’t know what happened, and they don’t want to tell us the truth. Now we are in the process of claiming the remaining balance; if not, our position is very clear from all teachers in NBGs—all schools will remain closed until our problem is solved,” Yel stressed.
Efforts by No. 1 Citizen Daily Newspaper to reach the NBGs Ministry of General Education remain futile by press times, as known contact has not been able to connect.
Last month, teachers in Aweil accused the state ministry of education and salary committee of cutting their wages.
They said that their July salary scales are lower compared to other government institutions and in their respective states.
In their plea, the NBGs teachers submitted their petition to the Attorney General, who in return gave a 3-day grace period for the education docket and committee to cooperate and pay tutors their rights.
But Mr. Santino Bol Akol, the director general at the ministry of education in Aweil, said the teachers’ balance was already paid out.
Clarifying what transpired, Mr. Akol said they were the first to pay their staff using the payment structure sent by the national ministry of finance. Conversely, they later discovered stipend variance with that of the labor scale.
However, teachers in Aweil disputed the report that they were fully paid their slashed salaries, saying only SSP 5,000 was paid to each tutor, respectively.