Seven ministers held a press conference last Thursday September, 28 2023 at the Ministry of Communication.

Since the 4th of September 2023, the beginning of the new school year, teachers have resumed the strike that began on the 21st of February 2022 and was suspended on several occasions. Renewed at the beginning of each week, the strike continues despite the sometimes difficult dialogue between the unions, the informal movement and the Minister of Labour and Social Security, Grégoire Owona.

In response to the strikers’ insistence that the presidential directives of March 9, 2022 have not been implemented, the government made a concerted effort on September 28  to inform the public of the steps already taken in this direction. The Minister of Basic Education stated that since 2020, at least 81,308 teacher cases had been processed in his department. In 2020, we dealt with 6,804 cases” said Prof Laurent Serge Etoundi Ngoa.

Minister Pauline Nalova Lyonga made a similar statement. Between 2020 and 2023, at least 90,000 teacher files were processed under her ministry. As for the Minister of Public Service and Administrative Reform, he said that in 2022 his ministry received 3,812 files of teachers who had graduated from teacher training colleges. 3,177 integration decrees had been signed. In the case of contract teachers, 11,515 integration decrees were signed, some of which led to cash transactions presented by the Minister of Finance. According to Louis Paul Motaze, in the Ministry of Basic Education, for example, 13,585 contract teachers were integrated in 2022. His ministry updated 40,734 steps and grades for 22,107 staff in January 2023.

“The housing allowance was paid to 3,013 staff of the basic education in April 2023, coinciding with the recruitment of over 1,322 new contract teachers, and the arrears of CFAF 6.1 billion have been paid in full between July and October 2020”. According to the minister of Finance, arrears of CFAF 16.7 billion have been paid since November 2022, and to date only CFAF 4.3 billion of the CFAF 16 billion remain to be paid. Since the Head of State’s instructions, 5,405 new payments have been made to the ministry of Basic Education. In total, the state has paid CFAF 54.5 billion for 165,539 integration arrears, family allowances, reclassifications and promotions in response to teachers’ demands, according to the minister of Finance.