The government of Northern Bahr el Ghazal has denied claims that local secondary school teachers had downed their tools in protest against non-payment of their salaries.
Speaking to reporters at Maluil Akong Primary School in Aweil Center County on Friday, Santino Bol Akok, Northern Bahr el Ghazal State Minister of General and Instruction said no teacher had gone on strike, adding that learning was going as usual.
“Sometimes there are these speculations that teachers are striking, but there is nothing of that kind. They are teaching, and you cannot just call yourself a teacher unless you report to your duty station. As the Ministry of General Education and the State Government of Northern Bahr el Ghazal, we don’t have any teachers on strike; most of the schools are active,” Bol told reporters.
“If you have gotten any information on such, these are people who claim to be teachers, and they are not at their duty station. How can you be calling for a strike? Go to your duty station and say what you want to say; that is how to address issues,” he added.
He said the teachers started receiving salaries through a committee instituted to ensure only genuine teachers are paid.
“Teachers were not beaten, and if something of that kind happened; it will be regarded as an isolated case. We started paying salaries three days ago. The team (committee) is on the ground to ensure the money goes to the right people. You cannot call yourself a teacher when you are not on duty; that is why the team is here to verify and make sure that whoever is getting money is a real teacher with his name correct and his job ID,” he said.
On the issue of enrolment of school children in the 2024 academic year, Bol said enrolment has been poor following the adjustment of the academic calendar from March to February following the end of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“When the issue of COVID-19 came, it brought us back because we used to have the calendar where most of the schools open in February every year, but COVID-19 made us reopen schools in March, but this year, since Corona is no longer there we have a challenge because when the new calendar was readjusted to February most of the learners are still relaxed, the turnout is still low,” he said.
“They still have that mentality that when school opens in March because of COVID-19, so we are facing a challenge of children not showing up, but we believe that things will normalize,” Bol explained.