Teachers raise concerns over the new pay scale

By Essa Bah January 10, 2022

Alhassan Ceesay spokeperson for Teacher´s for Change Movement

Teachers have raised concerns over the newly revised pay scale which sees fresh graduates from the Gambia College school of education lowered from grade 7.1 to grade five. These concerns as said by the teachers are caused by people of the same qualifications but under different fields of studies ranked ahead of them. These include public health officials, school of nursing etc who are upgraded from grade 7.1 to grade eight.

Mr Darboe, a teacher at Mayork senior secondary school urges the government to give teachers The grade they deserve. He added that teachers are the backbone for every developing country.

“If you attend three years College programme, someone from different field, let’s say health attend the same college and you both placed in grade 7.1, but recently you will go to the college and spend three years and someone from a different field like health spend the same years, is placed higher than you, this is what we are complaining” Mr Darboe said “if we are downgraded to grade five, let them as well be downgraded to grade five”.

The Gambia Teachers Union (GTU) the body that looks after the welfare interest of teachers, had a meeting with the Personal Management office (PMO) and the Ministry of Basic Education (MOBSE) to discuss proposed new scale and grading structure which has raised constellation across the teaching profession.

Following the meeting, the GTU issued the following statement “The Union wishes to inform the members that on the earlier communicated dispatch, the letter addressed to the PS-PMO, the meeting has been rescheduled to the 10th January 2022 of midday. This will avail the GTU officials the opportunity to finalize their findings and give feedbacks to the general membership accordingly”.

Mr Ceesay, the spokesperson of the Teachers for Change Movement which is a body under the GTU highlights that they are fully behind GTU for negotiations. However, he stressed that the movement would not hesitate to take “harder methods” if the negotiations turn futile.

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