by crossriverwatch admin
Teachers in the employ of the Cross River State government on Monday, the first day of resumption of schools for the third term stayed away from work following alleged failure of the state government to implement agreement with them.
Teachers in both primary and secondary schools in the state who in June suspended the strike embarked upon by teachers all over the country demanding for the implementation of teachers salary scale based on a tentative agreement with the state government said they are resuming the strike since the state government failed to respect the agreement by paying them what was agreed.
“We suspended the strike in June while some states are still on now because the government agreed to pay the TSS which is 25% basic salary for all teachers both in the primary and secondary schools but what we are seeing is a haphazard implementation of the agreement which is totally objectionable to us”. Comrade Eyo Nsa, State Chairman of NUT told CrossRiverWatch.
Comrade Eyo Nsa said the government appealed that they should return to work while they made provision for the instalmental payment since they could not pay the arrears and implement the new salary regime together but “They felt that we are under dogs that can be treated any how as the State Universal Education Board, the State Secondary Education Board along with the State Technical Education Board went ahead and did whatever they wanted making nonsense of the whole exercise”.
“The implementation of the Teachers Specific Allowance TSA from July 2013 must be fully and correctly paid to both primary and secondary school teachers without further delay.
“The government having failed to respect the agreement and commitment reached with the union, the suspended strike of June 2013 is hereby resumed.
“Teachers of public primary and secondary schools are therefore expected to sit at home from Monday 9th of September 2013 when schools are to resume”
He stated that the teachers would not return to work this time until they get what was their due. “They deceived us to return to work in June so that the West African Examination Council Certificate Examination and the National Examination Council Examination would not be disrupted and soon after that they forgot about us”.
He also said the Cross River State Government failed to implement promotion for its members for several years running even after they had written and passed the required examination.
“Some of the teachers who went for that interview have not been given their letters and as such not been promoted while their counterparts in the civil service have all been given theirs”.
The Union said teachers should not be held responsible for any loss of in the academic calendar.
The teachers accused the Commissioner for Education Professor Offiong Offiong,The Head of Service, Mary Theresa Ikwen and Special Adviser on Labor, Mr. Sam Oju of insensitivity and for not informing the governor about the agreement they reached with the union.
“We know our governor has a good heart and good plan for the teachers but the people around him are very bad. The Commissioner for Education, Head of Service and the Special Adviser on Labor Matters were all present when we signed the agreement.
“We will not be surprise if the Governor has not been briefed on the matter going by their attitude and the only way we can make the Governor know what we are feeling is to down tools.”
Following the strike, the teachers and students who resumed school on Monday were sent back as the NUT officials went round the schools in Calabar Municipality and Calabar South to chase them out of their classes.
Efforts to speak with Professor Offiong Offiong, the Commissioner for Education could not yield result as his phone number could not be reached and when CrossRiverWatch called at his office, he was said not to be around.
follow us on twitter @crossriverwatch
Leave feedback about this