Senegalese teachers call off strike after intervention by religious leaders

The disagreements between Senegalese government and teachers' unions, which had threatened the current academic year, came to an end on Monday after unions agreed to suspend their strike following mediation led by religious leaders.

The crisis in the education sector which began about four months ago, was precipitated by the government's failure to honour its pledge to pay teachers their salary arrears and allowances.

The persistence of strikes by teachers forced the government to demand the striking teachers to return to work, and even threatened to sack those who disobeyed the order.

On Sunday evening, leaders of the teachers' union approached Muslim religious leaders and urged them to help unblock the crisis that had persisted for several weeks.

The threat to sack striking teachers as from Monday received varied reactions from Senegalese civil society groups and political class.

"I think the government has taken a dangerous path that threatens social dialogue," said Mamadou Diop, a member of the National Social Dialogue Committee.

"We were waiting for a meeting to take place between the government and trade unions, and not a statement threatening to sack striking teachers," Diop, who is a former union leader, said.

As for Pape Diop, a former Senate president and leader of Bokk Gis-Gis, an opposition party, "the responsibility of the state is to honour agreements reached with trade unions."

"What cannot be resolved through dialogue, cannot be resolved through force. The teachers must also be more flexible. Sometimes, we must forget about ourselves in the interest of the country," he said.

Former basic education minister Mamadou Ndoye deplored repeated strikes in the education sector.

"When we often have to abandon classes for a week and resume later, we can never tell what a child loses. Discontuinity of learning negatively impacts a child's success," the former minister said.

"Senegal cannot achieve accelerated development if half of its population is illiterate because no country in the world has ever succeeded with such performance," Ndoye said.

Despite numerous strikes by teachers and lecturers, authorities in the education sector have expressed confidence that 152,582 candidates at various learning levels will be able to sit their forthcoming national examinations. Endit